Panopto
Panopto automated captions change
What has changed with Panopto captions?
We will turn on Panopto auto-captioning for all content uploaded after 21/03/2022. This means that automated captions will be available to all viewers who wish to use them.
Previously, Panopto created automated captions on uploaded content and the content owners had to make them available to viewers. This change empowers viewers to use captions on new recordings sooner and lightens the administrative load for content owners.
Content owners can turn on captions for recordings made before 21/03/2022. We are investigating ways to automate this process.
Viewers can follow this guide to use captions, and to change caption style and position.
Auto caption accuracy
Auto captions are created using Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) technology, which is where a computer translates spoken words into text. The quality can vary from one speaker to another – eg: 70-75% accuracy depending on the audio quality, but it is often much higher. Accuracy is affected by low-quality audio, use of jargon, and unclear pronunciation, but captions can be edited to make them more accurate or removed completely.
Panopto aims to improve the accuracy of auto-captions over time. It is a high priority for the team at Panopto.
Students with transcribers
Automated captions are not a replacement for Learning Support Assistants or note-takers for students who have them. The University is turning on this feature is to enhance the student experience and empower students to learn in ways they prefer.
What should teaching staff do?
Nothing. This feature will be turned on automatically. If you experience any issues with the automated caption service then please contact ServiceLine.
There are a number of steps you can take to improve the quality of auto-captioning:
- Use a good quality microphone if you can.
- Reduce background noise as much as possible.
- Avoid acronyms and jargon.
- Use clear speech and pronunciation – try not to speak too quickly or merge words together.
- Multiple speakers can impact the quality of auto-captions. Where possible stick to a single speaker at one time and avoid speakers talking over each other.
More information about Panopto captions
Frequently Asked Questions about video captioning.
Lecture capture tutor agreement
Thank you for agreeing to participate in the University of Southampton’s lecture capture system. This covers, Panopto or any other method of lecture capture used at the University. The system enables you to record live lectures or other sessions and make them available to students to view on demand. You can choose which sessions you record and can delete recordings at any time, provided you give your students fair warning.
- The lecture capture system only focuses on the tutor (or presenter) so students will not ordinarily be recorded although any questions or comments they make during the lecture will be recorded. It is important that tutors alert students to the fact that a lecture is being recorded and this can be done by announcement at the start of the lecture, which should be recorded or by showing a PowerPoint slide at the beginning of a lecture (an example is given in the Lecture Capture Guidance). Students who do not wish to be recorded can ask, using a prearranged signal if required, for the recording to be paused while they ask a question or make a comment.
- Be aware of intellectual property rights and review the JISC Tutor checklist for lecture capture https://www.jisc.ac.uk/guides/recording-lectures-legal-considerations
- Ensure that recordings do not:
(a) infringe the intellectual property rights, including copyright, of any third party;
(b) contain any restricted information in actionable breach of confidence or in breach of data protection law; and
(c) constitute a breach of publishing or collaboration or other agreement that governs research or work at the University or elsewhere.
- Advice on copyright and the availability of open-licensed materials can be sought from legalservices@soton.ac.uk.
- If you need to show third-party copyright works that are not cleared for recording, pause the recording and resume afterwards. Remember that material not cleared for recording may also be restricted from use in a live lecture.
- Note that although students should not re-publish recordings to public websites, there are no technological barriers to prevent them from doing so but they will be made aware of the University’s acceptable use policy and any breach of this will render them liable to academic misconduct proceedings and the University agrees to pursue these rigorously. Other infringements will be reviewed by Legal Services on a case by case basis.
- References to the CDPA 1988 are to the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 as amended from time to time.
Terms of Agreement
- By signing this agreement you are agreeing that the University has the right, as referred to in the CDPA 1988, to:-
- take photographs or make recordings of you; and
- use the photographs or recordings made which includes using your image, likeness and voice;
- publish, broadcast, show, distribute or otherwise communicate the photographs and recordings made; and
- make multiple copies of, adapt, extract or edit the photographs, recordings & publications made under Clause 1.1 to 1.3;
in each of the cases above making use of different forms of technology without any restrictions and without the need for your further consent, and always in accordance with the University’s Lecture Capture Guidance.
- You hereby grant a non-exclusive licence to the University for a period from the date of the making of the recording to the end of the following academic year of all performance rights in the recordings taken and waive all moral rights in your performance in the recording.
- The University’s Intellectual Property Regulations still continue to apply with regard to the works which you create for the purpose of or for use in the recorded lecture (“Lecture Materials”) but in addition you grant the University, as referred to in the CDPA 1988, the right to copy, issue copies to the public, perform show or play the Lecture Materials in public, communicate the Lecture Materials to the public and to adapt or do any of the above in relation to an adaptation as part of the recordings taken.
- The University reserves the right to remove and/or delete any recordings made which are in contravention of the University’s charter, statute, regulations, policies or any enactment of the law.
- The period for which the University may retain recordings under the Agreement will start from the date the recording is made and last until the end of the following academic year. If the University does not take the recording down at the end of the period, and you cannot delete it yourself, please e-mail serviceline@soton,ac.uk and request deletion. mailto:serviceline@soton.ac.uk
- You hereby consent to your personal data, including special category data, being processed for the purposes of this recording and subsequent publishing, as referred to in the CDPA 1988. Your personal data will be processed in accordance with the provisions of the Data Protection Act 2018 and the UK GDPR. You understand that your image and/or recordings will be used for teaching, learning and assessment activities, only and that copyright in the recordings will be retained by the University of Southampton.
- This Agreement will apply to all the recordings you make using the University lecture capture system on or after signature of this Agreement.
Please complete the electronic acceptance form.
How to allow students to submit a video assignment in an assessment system
Louis Pliskin Bb Assessment, Bb assignments, eAssignments, Panopto
Example scenario
It may be the case where you wish to allow your students to submit an assignment with a video file in conjunction with some written work or just submit a video file, the video could be a group presentation, a individual presentation, a performance piece, demonstrating something the list goes on. As part of this assessment you would want your students to submit to your preferred assessment system such as Blackboard assignments, Turnitin, eAssignments or even ECS Handin, allowing you can continue to do marking as normal. However, the problem is that these systems do not work in accepting large video files or allow multiple file types to be submitted at the same time. The problem is how do you continue to mark as normal, but allow videos to be submitted.
Solution
To make this work create your assessment as normal in your preferred system. You can then let students know that they can use video in the assessment, but must submit a document like normal except this time the document needs to have a weblink to the video.
We recommend that you get your students to either make their video in Panopto directly, or upload a video they have into Panopto. Students can submit to a Panopto assessment folder that you may wish to set up on your course. If you wish to create an assessment folder on Panopto then use this guide: Panopto assessment
If you do not want to make a Panopto assessment folder, then students can make or upload content to their own personal Panopto ‘My Folder’ area. From this space they can change the sharing options to share with you or a marker.
Important: Sharing a video assignment from a students ‘My Folder’ rather than a ‘Panopto assessment’ folder, gives the student, rather than you, control over the video. Whilst it is easier that a student uses their My Folder as there is no setup work required, it will allow a student to edit or delete a video after the assignment deadline.
If students wish to create their own video in Panopto then the following guide pages will help them: Panopto Web recorder and Panopto create
If students wish to upload a pre-existing video file to Panopto then this guide will help: Panopto upload
Once the video is in Panopto the students can then change the sharing options of the video so it can be shared with you (Note: in a Panopto assessment folder you can skip this): Panopto sharing
They will then need to obtain the link to the video in Panopto. This can be done by either playing the video and copying the link from the browser and pasting it into the document, or by going to the video in Panopto and clicking on the ‘Share’ button.
On the share page at the top simple select and copy the ‘Link’ text.
Once the student has the link pasted into the document, they can submit the document to the assessment system as normal.
When it comes to marking you will now have a document with a link to a Panopto video that you can watch, and you can continue to mark/make comments about the video in the assessment system as normal.
Why use Panopto?
We recommend using Panopto rather than other systems for several reasons; Panopto is easier to use, Panopto has unlimited storage capacity for students to upload/create videos, students can do basic editing in the Panopto online editor, it is easier to share videos, we have more control and ability to help students with recordings or changing sharing permissions and the videos can be shared with external examiners if needed.
Still need help?
Get in touch with us via ServiceLine if you wish to look into this more or have any other questions.
How to repair a MS Office installation Windows 10
Right-click the Start button (lower-left corner), and select Apps and Features on the pop-up menu.
Select the Microsoft Office product you want to repair, and select Modify.
Note: This will repair the entire Office suite even if it’s just one application you want to repair such as Word or Excel. If you have a standalone app installed, then search for that application by name.
Depending if your copy of Office is Click-to-run or MSI-based install, you’ll see the following options to proceed with the repair. Follow the steps for your installation type.
Click-to-run
In the window How would you like to repair your Office Programs, select Online Repair > Repair to make sure everything gets fixed. (The faster Quick Repair option is also available, but it only detects and then replaces corrupted files.)
MSI-based
In Change your installation, select Repair and then click Continue.
Follow the instructions on the screen to complete the repair.
How do I share a Panopto recording?
Sometimes you may wish to share a recording with a colleague, to someone external securely, to the whole University or to be open to anyone without needing to sign in to view. This guide will show the various options and what they mean.
Please note: Be careful when sharing content from your personal ‘My Folder’ in Panopto. You should only share content from this folder to individuals.
This guide shows you how to share with an Individual then how to share to a wider audience.
To share a Panopto session first find recording you wish to share, then move your mouse over and you will see you the menu options. From here click on the ‘Share’ button.
Individual recording share
On the share page to invite an individual look for the box that says ‘Invite people:’ and click into the text box.
When you start typing in the name or username of the University it will automatically fine them, select the name with Blackboard\username. If you want to share with an external person you can just type in their email address.
When you have added the people you wish to share the recoding with and are happy you can click on ‘Save changes’ to instantly grant access.
Note: The checkbox option to ‘Notify people via email’ is useful to tick if you are sharing the link with external people, because they will get details of how to access the recording and a link.
After it has updated the menu page you will see the peoples shared name show in the list. Also from here it will allow you to un share the recording with the individual by simply clicking on the X next to their name and saving the changes.
Wider sharing options
If you wish your recording to be shared out with a wider audience then there are four possible options. This is done by clicking on the word button ‘Change’ under ‘Who can access this video.
The options are:
By default the setting of your recording is set to ‘Specific people’, this normally means it is shared with only the people on the Blackboard course. Or in the case of ‘My Folder’ just you.
A: This will enable viewing access for anyone who has a University IT account and has the direct link.
B: This option will enable viewing access for anyone who can log into the Panopto website and will show to them on a what’s new list.
C: Allows viewing access for anyone on the Internet who has the direct link, no login is required.
D: The session can be found by anyone on the internet and watched by them too without logging in.
If you are unsure where the link is to view your recording it can be found at the bottom of the ‘Share’ menu page. Each session no matter how many copies have been made of it will have a unique ID code. To get the link just click on the ‘Copy Link’ button.
Captions with University services
Matthew Deeprose Accessible Content, Blackboard, Blackboard Collaborate, captions, Collaborate, Office 365, Panopto, Teams
Captions are a text version of the spoken part of audio or video content, such as videos.
Automated captions are when speech recognition is used to attempt to create captions automatically without extra input from a person.
The accuracy of automated captions can vary depending on:
- the accent of the speaker.
- the quality of the audio (e.g. microphone, internet connection).
- whether the topic has lots of jargon or specialist terms.
- the speed at which the presenter speaks.
- the language used, some automated captioning services only recognise English speech.
Different services use different speech recognition tools and the quality and consistency of captions will inevitably vary between systems.
Below are guides on how to enable captions for and whether they are automated or not:
- Panopto (aka Recorded Sessions/Lectures)
- Blackboard Collaborate
- Teams
- Bob National / Learning On Screen (TV catchup service)
- Stream
- YouTube
- PowerPoint 365
- Other online videos
- Glossary of terms
Panopto (aka Recorded Sessions/Lectures)
What type of caption? | Automated |
Can captions be edited? | Yes |
Who needs to do what? | The owner of the video (usually the instructor) has to turn on automated captions for a video before students can view them. |
Automated Captions for recorded Sessions or Lectures created using Panopto are available only after an instructor has changed a setting.
- First, the instructor must follow this guide to enable automated captions for their recorded session.
- Then viewers may watch a recorded session and turn on captions if you wish by following this guide.
Editing captions is also possible, instructors may edit automated captions by following this guide.
Blackboard Collaborate
What type of caption? | Automated |
Can captions be edited? | No |
Who needs to do what? | As automated captions have to be enabled on each computer this is for the viewer to do for themselves, not the instructor. |
While Blackboard Collaborate does not have a built in automated captioning feature, you can configure Chrome to enable automated captions. Be aware that during a live session captions are not shown when you speak, only when others speak.
Since Chrome now offers automated captions and shows four other user videos, while Firefox shows two and does not offer automated captions, Chrome is recommended as the default browser for use with Collaborate.
Because automated captions are created in realtime, they cannot be corrected or adjusted.
Watch the video to find out how to set up captions with Collaborate.
Teams
What type of caption? | Automated |
Can captions be edited? | Only once the recording is viewed in MS Stream |
Who needs to do what? | Each viewer can turn on live captions. |
During a teams meeting you may enable automated captions by selecting the ellipsis button (three dots) and choosing Turn on live captions.
Teams meeting transcripts
Teams can also produce a transcript during a meeting. This is useful to view during a meeting, and particularly after a meeting. If you wish to have a transcript it’s important to turn it on at the start of the meeting.
Learn more about using the transcript feature in Teams.
Bob National / Learning On Screen (TV catchup service)
What type of caption? | Captions are available where the original broadcaster provided them. Where not available automated captions in Chrome can be used. |
Can captions be edited? | No |
Who needs to do what? | Each viewer can turn on subtitles, or use automated captions when using Chrome. |
Not all programmes on Bob National have subtitles available, but when they do they may be enabled by selecting the S icon. When subtitles are not available you could still use Google Chrome’s automated captions feature.
Stream
What type of caption? | Automated |
Can captions be edited? | Yes |
Who needs to do what? | Each viewer can turn on automated captions. |
Recordings of teams meetings and other videos can be found on Microsoft Stream. To enable automated captions on a video you play through Steam use the CC button that appears during playback.
When viewing a video on Stream a searchable transcript is also available. When you select a line from the transcript the video will play from that point.
Owners of videos may edit the captions or transcript.
YouTube
What type of caption? | Automated by default, creators can make their own captions. |
Can captions be edited? | Yes |
Who needs to do what? | Each viewer may turn on automated captions if they wish. |
This support guide from Google explains how to use captions in YouTube.
PowerPoint 365
What type of caption? | Automated. |
Can captions be edited? | No |
Who needs to do what? | The presenter should turn on captions before starting their presentation. |
PowerPoint for Microsoft 365 can transcribe your words as you present and display them on-screen as automated captions in the same language you are speaking, or as subtitles translated to another language. This can be useful during a live session that is not recorded.
Other online videos
If you are viewing other videos using your web browser and they do not have captions, the automated captioning feature in Chrome may help. A good example of this is Vimeo videos that do not already have captions.
Learn more about captions
Meryl K. Evans maintains an excellent frequently asked questions list about captioning videos.
Glossary
Subtitle: captions displayed at the bottom of a cinema or television screen that translate or transcribe the dialogue or narrative.
Caption: another name for subtitle.
Closed captions: transcription or translation of the dialogue, sound effects, relevant musical cues, and other relevant audio information when sound is unavailable or not clearly audible. For example a closed caption may feature wording such as “Dogs barking” or “tap dripping”.
SDH: Subtitles for Deaf or Hearing impaired, another name for Closed captions.
Panopto folder and individual recording stats
If you would like to see how your Panopto content is being watched by your viewers, there is a wealth of information that can be provided to you from the Panopto stats pages. This is useful for being able to see how engaged your viewers are with your content and highlight any learning and understanding trends. The stats available for the whole recording folder, individual sessions down to individual viewers on your courses.
Folder Stats
To view the stats for your course Panopto folder go to your Blackboard course and in the top right click on the bar chart icon for ‘Folder Stats’.
The stats page will show you how much content has been viewed and list the most popular sessions in the folder. It also shows how many different viewers have watch a session, this can give an indication of how many people out of a course have seen the content.
By default it will show the last 30 days of data, in the top right click on the drop down menu to select a different date range.
Notice on the charts there is a download icon, click on that to instantly get a .CSV file of the raw data that created the chart.
To see more than top 5 sessions click on the ‘See All’ word button and to download additional reports click on the word buttons under the ‘Download Reports’ section.
Individual Session Stats
To view more detailed stats on an individual recording go to the recording you wish to know more on and move your mouse over it. You will now see more menu options to the session, click on the ‘Stats’ button.
It will now show the stats page with high detail. It has the same options of being able to change the displayed date range and to be able to download the raw data.
There is a very useful chart on ‘Viewer Engagement’, this shows a timeline for the session and how many times a certain point of a session is watched. This could mean that your viewers find a part of the session very interesting, it could also show an area of content that they are finding difficult to understand and need to review further. It also shows if viewers have made more notes or comments about key points in the session timeline more than others.
It also has the names and data of individual viewers showing their individual engagement to the session. It is also possible to click on their name to get further detailed information.
For an individual user it will show you their interaction with all content that you are a instructor on and gives the same abilities as the other stats pages.
Installing Panopto on Apple Mac
The following guide is only for installing Panopto on a Apple Mac computer whether it be a UoS or personal device.
To download Panopto on any device open a web browser and go to: https://southampton.cloud.panopto.eu
Whenever you are asked to sign into Panopto, please select the option to log in with Blackboard.
Sign into Blackboard as normal.
On the logged in Panopto page, look to the top right of the page where you name will show. Under that will be the option to ‘Download Panopto’ click on this.
There should be only the one option presented to download Panopto, click on the blue button to download the software. Once downloaded run the Panopto installer.
Follow the steps to install the Panopto recorder software.
Once the software has been installed load up the Panopto Recorder software. In the top right click on the button to ‘Sign In’.
It will show a new window that should have the server information prefilled in as southampton.cloud.panopto.eu If not change it and click on the ‘Go’ button. It should display the Blackboard log in page, where you should sign in as normal.
You should see that you are now signed into the Panopto recorder and ready to record. Click on the ‘Create New Recording’ button to see the recorder interface.
If you need any additional help on the next steps of making a recording please go to our create a recording page.
Installing Panopto on a Non University computer
The following guide is only for installing Panopto on a personal non University computer.
To download Panopto on any device open a web browser and go to: https://southampton.cloud.panopto.eu
Whenever you are asked to sign into Panopto, please select the option to log in with Blackboard.
It will then show you the Blackboard login page, where asked please log into Blackboard as normal.
On the logged in Panopto page, look to the top right of the page where you name will show. Under that will be the option to ‘Download Panopto’ click on this.
There should be only the one option presented to download Panopto, click on the blue button to download the software. Once downloaded run the Panopto installer.
Before the installation starts some Windows users may see this prompt before installing, click on ‘Yes’ to proceed.
The first part of the installer you will see a section that should be prefilled with information about where it will save recordings and the server it will upload to. Just double check that the server address is southampton.cloud.panopto.eu and continue to install.
Once installed load up the Panopto recorder application, it will ask you to sign in. Once again make sure you say to sign in with Blackboard.
It will show you the Blackboard login page, possibly in a new web browser, where you can login as normal.
Depending on your version of Windows you may get a prompt asking if it is ok to switch applications, please say ‘Yes’ to this.
You should see that you are now signed into the Panopto recorder and ready to record.
If you need any additional help on the next steps of making a recording please go to our create a recording page.