All CLS bench PCs have Panopto software installed, which makes it simple to record the screen, the tutor’s voice and, in some rooms, video of the tutor or a whiteboard. Panopto is tightly integrated with Blackboard and access to your recordings is automatically restricted to the students on a module.
Recordings are not a substitute for attending a face-to-face session but do provide students with valued benefits:
- the opportunity to review parts of the session afterwards; for example parts they didn’t quite understand.
- this is especially useful for international students with English as a second language. They can play the recording slower and rewind/repeat to pick up points they have difficulty with.
- students with dyslexia can use the recording to take notes at their own speed, enabling them to concentrate on what their tutor is saying during the session.
- students who miss the session due to illness or timetable clashes are able to access its content.
Getting started with Panopto
Online support is available from iSolutions, who also run training courses.
You can install Panopto on your office PC, home PC or laptop (Windows and Mac) and create recordings anywhere; no internet connection is needed.
- Panopto can be used to live-stream a lecture, so is also used for research presentations and conferences.
- Panopto also enables students to create and upload video assignments.
Panopto and ceiling cameras
An increasing number of CLS rooms have ceiling-mounted video cameras which can be used with Panopto. Some just show a static view of the front of the lecture room, while others use pan-and-zoom to select predetermined views, typically the lecturer, a close-up of an experimental bench or equations being written on a whiteboard.
The camera will never video the students in the room, unless they are at the front e.g. giving a presentation. You should always tell the students that a recording is being made, and ask them to confirm on camera that they are willing to be recorded.
- A list of CLS rooms which have cameras
- A video tutorial on using the cameras (see list on right side of this page)