As announced during the fall of 2019, SMU’s Academic Technology Council selected the Panopto video platform for campus-wide video content management, recording, and streaming. As part of the announcement, SMU and Panopto are converting over 10,000 hours of existing content from the University’s legacy video platform, Kaltura.
The Challenge: Unleashing Video Learning Across Campus
In 2019, SMU’s Office of Information Technology’s Academic Technology Services commissioned an analysis of the current landscape of video solutions at the university. Like many institutions, SMU had initially adopted a plurality of video systems throughout different departments, including the Kaltura platform for use with Canvas-based video. As the use of video becomes increasingly prevalent across all modes of SMU courses, a search was conducted for a more cost-effective, unified, fully-featured video platform that could address the teaching needs of faculty, staff, and students.
The Solution: Panopto
A working group consisting of SMU’s Academic Technology Services, the Center for Teaching Excellence, Online Production Services and the Lyle School of Engineering’s Distance Education team, and representatives from other stakeholders on campus reviewed the capabilities of several video platforms. Each platform was evaluated based on a range of criteria, including:
- Ease of use
- Tools for video creation and curation
- Accessibility
- Integration with Canvas
- Responsiveness of customer support
- Quizzing tools
- Video search
After an extensive review by the working group, members voted to adopt Panopto, replacing the university’s existing contract with Kaltura. The working group also recommended that existing Kaltura video content be entirely migrated to the new Panopto system.
“Video materials are becoming fundamental ingredients for how SMU students learn within any modality of teaching,” said Jason Warner, Executive Director of Academic Technology Services. “As more faculty take leverage video throughout SMU courses, we needed a better, integrated solution to meet changing instructional needs and student expectations. Panopto provides an easy to use, powerfully appointed tool for transforming video-based teaching experiences at SMU.”
What does this mean to me?
Faculty might already have noticed that Panopto is immediately available for use in Canvas, alongside Kaltura. For the Spring 2020 semester, the Kaltura and Panopto systems will run in parallel. Kaltura and your personal Kaltura video library will be available until the end of May when Kaltura services will expire. On June 1, 2020, videos within Kaltura will no longer be available for use in Canvas courses. The ability to upload new videos into Kaltura will be disabled starting Monday, March 9, 2020, and all new videos will need to be uploaded via Panopto. OIT will work closely with Panopto to ensure that the remaining Kaltura video libraries and copied into Kaltura. No video materials will be lost— merely transitioned from your Kaltura library into your Panopto library into a folder named “Kaltura Migration.”
What will happen to my Kaltura video(s)?
Your Kaltura video library will be copied to your Panopto library. Videos in your Kaltura library will be available throughout the entire Spring 2020 semester, though the ability to upload new video into Kaltura will be restricted as of March 9, 2020. After that, all remaining Kaltura videos will be migrated to Panopto and any new video materials should be created natively or uploaded using Panopto.
How can I learn more/get help with Panopto?
OIT has launched a Panopto service page at smu.edu/Panopto where users can find Training & Documentation. In the coming months, we will be offering Panopto training sessions and video development workshops. Academic Technology Services team members will be communicating with school faculty about Panopto in the months ahead. If you have any questions or require help at all—please contact the IT Help Desk at help@smu.edu or by calling 214-768-HELP and someone will follow up with you.
