Adding Panopto to Blackboard

To add Panopto to your course, press on the + symbol at the top of the Blackboard menu panel, and select Tool Link. [View Screenshot] Name your tool link Panopto and select Panopto Course Tool Application from the drop-down menu. Click on the newly-created Panotpo menu item to ensure that Panopto is properly linked. If you have not linked Panopto to your course yet, follow the prompts to do so. Occasionally an error occurs where the LTI Link is not created – if this happens, reach out to LTS.

Navigating Panopto in Blackboard

Once Panopto is properly linked to Blackboard, selecting the Panopto menu item will open up Panopto Content. By default, you will be inside the parent folder for that particular course. You can change this folder by selecting the downward arrow adjacent to the name of the course on the top of the Panopto screen. However, you will want to use this folder for lectures that you create in that particular course – this gives students enrolled in your course “permission” to view these videos when they are deployed on Blackboard.

Note: Although not easy to find, students can technically view every video inside the main course parent folder. If you want a “staging area” to prepare lectures, it’s a good idea to create an additional folder with restricted permissions.

You may select Add Folder if you wish to create sub-folders for your lectures. The gear symbol at the top right-hand corner of the screen is where you can change your “global” settings for the entire folder. Once you click on the gear, you can select Settings and choose whether or not you want students to be able to download the videos, whether you would like captions to be created automatically (recommended!), and what kind of public commenting you would like on each video within that folder.

You can associate other course folders with this course by selecting Re-Configure at the bottom of your Panopto screen. For instance, if you use Panopto in the Fall and wish to use the same lectures in the Spring, you can add the Fall folder into your Spring course.

Downloading Panopto Software

To record using Panopto, you need to download the Panopto software on to your computer. If you select Create → Record a New Session, there is an option to open or download Panopto. Select Download Panopto and follow the prompts to get the software set up on your computer.

Using Panopto to Record Lectures

Once Panopto is on your computer, select Create → Record a New Session. Choose the option to Open Panopto. You will see something like this:

The default setting is to upload your recording to the folder for the course in which you selected Create. You can change this by changing the Folder located on the top of the screen. You can also change the name of your recording. Panopto automatically saves a copy of the files on to your computer. When you Record, Panopto creates three separate files: one with the sound and recording of you (Primary Source), one with the lecture slides (Secondary Source), and another file of the slides themselves.

The Primary Source should be your face. If students watch the lecture in full-screen, they will see the Secondary Source as the main content with a smaller image of you on the bottom of the screen, so make sure the Secondary Source is your lecture slides or a document camera. (If you wish to use a document camera, you can change the Source below from Built-In Display to your external camera.) If you have sound within your lecture you want to be recorded (e.g., an embedded video), make sure Capture Computer Audio is selected. Lastly, select the option to Record PowerPoint/Keynote if you are using one of these programs to display your lecture slides.

If you are recording PowerPoint slides, make sure you have your PowerPoint file open and ready to go. You will click Record in Panopto, and then navigate to your slides and press Presentation Mode. You won’t be able to see the Panopto software, but it will be recording your face and built-in display in the background! Once you finish recording, go back to Panopto and select Stop.

Note: Yes, there will be an awkward piece of footage at the beginning and end of each video as you navigate to your slides and back. This can easily be edited out inside of Panopto later.

Adding Already-Made Videos

Select Create → Upload media to upload pre-created mp4 (video) files if you choose to record lectures using other software.

Making Cuts

Likely the first thing you will want to do is cut out the beginning and end footage where you are preparing to record and ending your recording. The bottom right-hand panel is where you will make cuts. Notice in the image above, the first and last portions of the video editing area are grey – simply press down in this area, and drag your cursor until the grey area covers the portion you wish to cut. If you go too far, drag it back. If you want to remove the cut entirely, drag it all the way back.

Note: Panopto never cuts footage permanently. If you want to remove a cut you always can.

Table of Contents

Panopto uses slide titles to create a table of contents. You can edit these by selecting Contents on the far left-hand side, and then hovering over the title you wish to change. You can also add a title for portions of the lecture with no slides, or slides with no title.

Adding Captions

It’s recommended that you change your global folder settings to automatically import captions. Otherwise, you can select Captions and choose Import Captions. Panopto is not perfect at this, so check these to make sure that your words have been accurately translated.

Merging Panopto Videos

Press down with your cursor in the video editing area where you wish to add another Panopto video (e.g., the end of the video). You should see a red line appear. Select the + symbol on the panel just above the video editing area (next to a pair of green scissors that, as far as I know, don’t do anything). Select Add a Clip and a menu will appear with all your other Panopto recordings. Select the recording you wish to add and choose Insert.

Note: Quizzes cannot be added inside of clips! If you string together multiple lectures, quizzes can only be added to the original parent lecture.

Adding YouTube Videos or Other Clips

To add a YouTube video, select the + symbol and choose Add a YouTube video. Make sure the red line appears where you want the video to show up in your lecture. Paste the YouTube video link, and choose the start and end times you wish to show if applicable. Make sure Show YouTube controls and Autoplay are both selected.

If you have “raw” Panopto files (as in, each of the separately recorded videos), you can manually add them by selecting Add a Stream. You will be prompted to drop both a primary video and audio file (recording from Primary Source) and a secondary video or PowerPoint file.

Adding Questions

Select the + symbol and choose Add a Quiz. You may give the quiz a title by editing the top area that says Quiz. If you want Blackboard to automatically grade it, only do a multiple choice or a true/false style question. Type in your question and the appropriate answer choices. I recommend adding only one question to a single quiz, but you are able to add as many as you like.

Once you finish adding your questions, you can choose from a variety of options. You can allow students to re-take the quiz (or not), you can show them their grade immediately (or not), and you can prevent them from advancing in the video until they take the quiz.

Linking Panopto Questions to Grade Center

Keep note of how many questions you embed in a lecture, and determine how many points you want each question to be worth. All questions must be worth the same amount of points. Now, let’s imagine you have deployed your lecture in a lecture folder (more on how to do this below). You want the embedded questions in this lecture to be associated with a column in Grade Center.

Follow this procedure:

1. In the Blackboard toolbar area, hover over Assessments and select Panopto Quizzes.
2. Name your quiz something meaningful (i.e., indicating the lecture to which it belongs).
3. Under Grading select Enable Evaluation.
4. Choose the number of points – if you have 3 questions and you want them to be worth 1 point each, choose 3 points. If you want them to be worth two points each, choose 6 points.
5. Visible to Students is referring to the column in Grade Center. Select Yes or No.
6. A due date is somewhat meaningless, as late answers are indistinguishable from on-time answers within Blackboard.
7. Permit Users to View this Content is referring to this quiz link. Select Yes. Students must click on the quiz link within Blackboard to access the Panopto quiz, or the grades will not be recorded in Bb!
8. Click Submit.
9. Click on the link of the item you just created. You will be prompted to select a video to which this quiz item belongs. This last step is very important!

There is currently no way to add a “due date” to the Panopto quiz questions. You can simply hide the link to the Panopto quiz when you no longer want students to be able to attempt it.

Changing primary display image

You may notice that your embedded lecture displays an ugly image of when you were preparing to record. If this happens, head to Panopto Content, hover over your video and select Edit. Select the option to Edit the Preview Image. You can choose an image from your computer. Remember to select Save.