At the University of West London, Panopto (known on campus as UWL Replay) is used for lecture capture and for individual recordings, both by staff and students. Nathan Vasanthan from London Geller College of Hospitality and Tourism has found it very effective for reflective assessment in one of his modules.

Como parte del módulo de Técnicas de Pastelería Moderna del curso BA Food and Professional Cookery, los estudiantes deben realizar una demostración de 10 minutos de sus habilidades en técnicas de pastelería y presentar una reflexión crítica sobre su actuación utilizando grabaciones de vídeo de sus presentaciones y comentarios escritos del instructor y de sus compañeros.

Each student’s presentation was recorded using the Panopto Recorder and the recordings were shared with individual students through Blackboard.

La retroalimentación y la reflexión desempeñan un papel vital en el dominio de las competencias profesionales, tanto en la EF como en la ES. Las grabaciones realizadas en UWL Replay se utilizan para ayudar a los estudiantes a evaluar su rendimiento y facilitar la autorreflexión. Observar su actuación permite a los alumnos mirarse a sí mismos desde la distancia y formarse una imagen más realista de sus habilidades, ayudando así a la adquisición y mejora de las mismas. Además, el diseño de la evaluación facilita que el alumno se apropie de su aprendizaje y asuma su responsabilidad individual.

Before we started using Panopto to make and share the videos, students’ presentations had been made using an external video camera or a web cam, and made available to students for viewing and reflection on USB sticks. This posed various problems related to transferring video files from a portable device to the PC and then to students’ USB sticks one at a time. It was time consuming and there were other issues involved such as students losing their memory sticks or not being able to play the recordings. A new, more viable solution was needed.

El módulo de Técnicas de Pastelería Moderna del curso BA Food and Professional Cookery se imparte en cocinas de formación equipadas profesionalmente donde los estudiantes desarrollan sus habilidades culinarias. Las cocinas están equipadas con cámaras de vídeo y micrófonos situados encima de una mesa de presentación en la parte delantera de la sala, un PC y pantallas planas. Los PC tienen instalado el grabador personal. Esto resultó ser un sistema muy eficaz, y las grabaciones podían hacerse simplemente pulsando una tecla del teclado del PC.

After the presentations, the tutor shared the recordings with the students by moving them to their individual folders in Panopto. Students could access them through Blackboard by clicking a link in the module menu.

The use of Panopto eliminated or at least minimised some of the issues that had been experienced previously. The videos are uploaded to a Panopto folder automatically, saving time, and are available for viewing almost immediately. The PPT presentation is integrated with the video. The file sharing, if done correctly, complies with data protection and confidentiality.

The feedback from students was very positive: they saw the value of watching the recordings to improve their performance and found them useful for developing professional and career-related skills. The access to the recordings was very easy, and all the students watched them and submitted their reflective reports on time – which had been a rare occurrence before the Panopto workflow was introduced.

In July 2016, Nathan Vasanthan (LGCHT) and Agata Sadza (INSTIL) delivered a presentation at the Panopto Regional Conference in Derby on using Panopto for reflective assessment in Culinary Arts. You can see his presentation embedded below.