Achievements
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An improved learning experience for 28,000 students
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Video search capabilities excite and engage students
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Video analytics provide instructors with valuable insights
The Challenge
A leading global educational institution and one of the top universities in Hong Kong, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) is committed to delivering a modern learning experience for its more than 28,000 students.
For years, the eLearning Development and Support Section (eLDSS) in the Educational Development Center (EDC) at PolyU had sought to use video for lecture capture, meeting recording, and staff development, but hadn’t yet found a solution that would work well to support staff and students.
Meanwhile, the demand from PolyU students and staff for a video solution had reached a tipping point. Students wanted access to lecture recordings as a study aid. Instructors, too, had a growing list of ways they wanted to use video, including adopting new blended learning pedagogies like the flipped classroom, engaging students with more active learning approaches, and providing better feedback on assignments that would help students improve faster.
The time was right for PolyU to find a video solution that could support a wide range of teaching and learning initiatives across campus.
The Solution
After again reviewing the options for lecture capture and video management solutions, PolyU chose to adopt Panopto’s video platform as its campus video solution. Panopto would not only make it easy for everyone to record videos, but also provide everything the university needed to support a wide spectrum of teaching and learning initiatives.
Panopto provides a flexible recording solution, enabling staff to produce their own videos from anywhere. Instructors have access to Panopto’s intuitive video editing tools that make it simple to polish and even update video learning content. Panopto’s video platform also includes native support for interactive quizzing, so instructors can engage students throughout their videos and reinforce key concepts.
With support for video accessibility built into Panopto, PolyU can ensure that all students on campus will have equal access to video learning materials. Every video uploaded to Panopto is automatically captioned with machine-generated captions. And along with captioning, Panopto’s video player supports screen readers and keyboard navigation.
Panopto also provides PolyU with a secure system for video content management. Every video recorded with Panopto is automatically uploaded to PolyU’s video library, where it’s optimized for playback on any device. Existing videos can be added with a simple drag-and-drop. Best of all, Panopto also integrated with Blackboard, enabling students to find their recordings in the same place they already go for course content – without requiring extra steps from staff.
PolyU students were perhaps most excited about Panopto’s video search capabilities. While their recorded lectures often capture an hour or more of information as a single video, Panopto’s inside-video search ability helps students quickly locate the relevant moments and discussions they want to replay. Panopto automatically indexes every word spoken and shown on-screen in every video uploaded to PolyU’s video CMS, enabling students to instantly fast-forward right to the information they need.
Finally, with Panopto’s video analytics dashboard, administrators and instructors could dig into video-based learning and gain valuable insights into everything from student engagement with specific videos to campus-wide viewing statistics. This would enable academics to understand where students were most engaged with course content, as well as where they were dropping off. Further, the data would give administrators a bird’s-eye view of how video is being used on campus so they could assess how the new system was helping them meet broader goals.
The Impact
Ian Brown, a Senior Educational Development Officer at PolyU, has been on the team overseeing the implementation of Panopto. “To put it simply, Panopto helped us do things we’ve wanted to do for many years,“ he says.
At PolyU, Panopto’s video platform has helped with:
- Recording lectures for personalized learning and revision
- Freeing up lecture time for active learning
- Engaging students with in-video quizzes
- Student video assignments and self-reflection
- Video feedback from instructors to students
- Self-paced professional development for staff
Mr. Brown notes that he’s received extensive positive feedback about Panopto from instructors, students, and administrators. “Already even more people are using Panopto than we initially expected.”
Panopto has become an important part of PolyU’s efforts to modernize its learning environment. Not only does Panopto’s video platform seamlessly integrate video into the university’s existing systems, but its robust features also allow PolyU to implement more modern pedagogies. These new capabilities will help to enhance student learning experiences and ultimately pave the way for improved student outcomes.