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Panopto Organization Guide

Due to their integration with Canvas, the default is using course folders. Also, instructors can put content in their My Folder (or sub-folders within their My Folder) and share the videos from there. Below we will outline the benefits and drawbacks of both and are meant to be used as general guidelines. Due to the highly subjective nature of any organizational system, it is recommended to set up a one-on-one consultation with Blake Ide in the CTL if you have any questions, special concerns, or needs.

Course Folder (default)

When courses are created in Canvas, a course folder gets created in Panopto for them as well. This is a folder that pulls in the name of the course, and enrollments of the course (both faculty and students) to automatically give access to the users in the course.

Using the Course Folder option is recommended if you use the videos to your course for that course alone and do not share it with concurrent or future versions of the course.

My Folder

All users in Panopto have a My Folder associated with their account. This folder works as the instructor’s space to organize any content. Instructors that use the My Folder for sharing videos to live courses typically create sub-folders based on the course being taught. For example, if an instructor teaches FYS-101, BIO-102, and CHE-201. They may have one sub-folder for each of those courses to collect the videos and keep them organized. Of course, they may also have sub-folders within each of those dealing with semesters taught or units within the course.

Using the My Folder option is recommended if you share videos across courses and/or terms or if you just want to be able to organize similar content videos in the same location.

Course Folder Sharing

  • Course Folder sharing is the most secure because videos stored in course folders are, by default, only shared with the users that are enrolled in that Canvas class. For outside users to be able to see these videos, they would need to log in as a member of the course.
  • However, instructors can also share these course folders with other courses or individuals. For example, if an instructor teaches the same course to multiple sections at the same time (FYS-101-MM01 and FYS-101-MM02 for example), they can “invite” the MM02 students to be able to see the MM01 course folder (click here to see how).
    • Keep in mind that sharing the course folder shares all of the videos in the course folder. It is still recommended to link individual videos in Modules or on Pages to give students the most structured and easy-to-navigate environment possible. Click here for a video on how to share course-folder videos in Modules or on Pages.

My Folder/Individual Video Sharing  

Sharing videos from the My Folder (or more likely its sub-folders) is easy, but there are a few options to consider.

  • Step one: Understand a little about the structure of sharing in Panopto. There are three layers: Folder vs Individual video permissions, Posting options, and Permission options. Posting and permission options are the ones that affect how controlled access is to a video.
    • Folder vs Individual video permissions just means that instructors can decide to make changes to the sharing and permission options (listed in steps 2 and 3) to individual videos or to a whole folder of videos (which would change the permissions of all included videos to match).
    • Posting options (covered in Step 2) are about how the instructor will post the video for the students to see. This is mostly about where students will go to see the video.
    • Permission options (covered in Step 3) are about who can see the video, regardless of where it may be posted.
  • Step two: Posting Options: For this, Decide how you are going to share the video in Canvas. The common options are by a link in a Module, a link (usually on a Canvas Page), or by embedding the video onto a Page.
    • RECOMMENDED Embedded videos on a page (click here to see how): This allows you to put the video directly onto a Canvas page. It is the safest way to share individual videos because it requires the viewer to be able to log in to the course but does not allow them an easy sharable link. This also allows for more context to be included about the video, which pedagogically is better for learners. From there being put on a page, the page can then be put into a Module to give the students a well-structured and easy-to-navigate environment.
    • Link in a Module (click here to see how): This allows you to put a link directly from Panopto into a course. It works the same as adding the link from a Course folder but you will need to go to the My Folder instead and then select the sub-folder and video.
    • Using a link (click here to see how): This allows you to get a link to the video that can be put onto a Canvas page or sent to users to allow them to click, open, and watch the video. Keep in mind that links can be easily shared by those who have the approval to see the content, which could result in the content being seen by those who do not have approval.
  • Step three: Decide what kind of permissions/restrictions you want to have for the shared videos. Ideally, this choice will be made for the sub-folder that you are sharing the videos from so that the permission is applied to all of them the same. However, you can also decide this for each video individually. When sharing, you can share to…
    • Canvas section or course rosters (click here to see how)
      • This will be the most common selection for sharing content and still restricting it to specified rosters of users.
    • RECOMMENDED The whole organization (click here to see how)
      • This option enables anyone with a Marian ID to see the video IF they have the link to the video or access to the embedded content within Canvas.
        • Keep in mind that a link can then be shared by that person, which could lead to the video being accessed by non-approved individuals (although this is still limited to Marian users).
      • This is the recommended option especially if using the embedded video option from step 2.
    • Individuals (click here to see how):
      • This is the method used if you need to add individual people to the access list for the video or folder.
      • If you add a Marian user, they will need to log in to view the video.
      • If you add people using a non-Marian email address, it will send them a link to the video.
        • Keep in mind that a link can then be shared by that person, which could lead to the video being accessed by non-approved individuals.
    • NOT RECOMMENDED Public
      • This enables anyone to view the content if they have the link.
      • If you are wanting non-Marian users to be able to view the content, please follow the instructions for “Individuals” listed above rather than make the entire video Public.
      • This option also can be listed or unlisted. While neither of these are recommended due to the lack of any restrictions, between the two, the better option is to keep the video unlisted. If you choose Public - Listed, then your video can be featured on the Panopto public site

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