Prep for Panopto: New Video Management System Coming May 2021
DELTA will lead NC State University’s transition to the video platform Panopto in May 2021. This change comes as a result of DELTA’s routine efforts to review enterprise-level technologies and core products in order to provide best-in-class technology services to NC State faculty and students. Panopto will replace Mediasite, which the university has used for classroom and lecture capture since 2008.
Panopto was chosen after a rigorous evaluation of 11 video management software platforms with special consideration for university and end-user needs related to security, scalability and functionality. The evaluation began in October 2019. Executive Team Assistant Janna Martin compiled a list of peer institutions and comparable tools. After narrowing the list, four contenders were invited to the NC State’s campus for onsite demonstrations. The process of testing the service and hardware began in the summer of 2020.
Several factors pointed DELTA toward Panopto. The leading video platform for higher education, Panopto boasts a strong client list of colleges and universities as well as high-quality customer support and demonstrated care for the needs of faculty and students. DELTA was searching for a tool that would provide essential features such as two-way communication, recording integration and adaptive streaming, which Panopto provided. The chosen product also needed to adhere to university accessibility standards. With features such as flexible video captioning, auto-transcription, variable speed playback and screen reader support, Panopto fit the bill.
Panopto not only meets basic requirements but provides features to be excited about. The platform provides enhanced innovation and more engagement tools for faculty and students. For example, Panopto has a robust and feature-rich editor with the capability to splice recordings together. It also gives students many engagement tools such as the ability to take notes and ask questions within the player. Faculty can look forward to Moodle and Zoom integrations, including recording capabilities in Zoom and automated publishing to Moodle courses.
Panopto also provides technical features that make it a good fit for NC State. The Panopto desktop recorder has the same interface across all platforms, making it significantly easier to navigate and support.
DELTA is conducting a stress test during fall 2020 with the expectation that new content will go into Panopto starting in May 2021. This will come with a number of necessary updates. Existing Mediasite recordings will be automatically converted to Panopto. To allow for the extended time needed to complete the transfer, DELTA will keep the Mediasite server online and accessible for two semesters after Panopto goes live.
Support to faculty and students is available from Panopto 24/7, and quality training materials are available for users. DELTA is also in the process of training support staff and developing original support materials such as workshops and articles to respond to NC State faculty and student needs.
Become an Early Adopter
DELTA is recruiting faculty members for the Panopto Early Adopters Program. Early adopters will gain access to the platform in January 2021 to serve as preliminary test users. They will also work with DELTA staff to provide feedback and contribute to articles regarding Panopto. If you are interested in becoming an early adopter, please complete the early access interest form. A limited number of classrooms will be configured for Panopto during the spring 2021 semester, while increased capability will be available for desktop users. We will notify respondents whether or not they have been selected before the spring 2021 semester.
Stay tuned for DELTA updates and instructions regarding the transition from Mediasite to Panopto. Email group-panopto-implementation-2021@ncsu.edu to ask questions and receive additional information.
