What is Panopto?

Panopto is the University of Pittsburgh’s secure video hosting and lecture capture recording platform. If you wish to record a lecture or provide a narration for a PowerPoint presentation or do a simple webcam recording to supplement your online course material, or if you have a video file that you wish to provide to your students and do not want to post it to a public site such as Youtube, you can use Panopto to record that video and/or deliver this video to your desired audience.

Panopto video presentations can be delivered through Canvas. However, you are not obliged to use this Canvas integration. Video presentations hosted on Panopto can be shared independently of Canvas, through viewer links, an embedded video, a podcast, or even a SCORM package that can be emailed or posted on other websites.

Regardless of your choice regarding Canvas, Panopto video presentations are hosted on Pitt’s video website called My Pitt Video. You can directly upload video files that you have captured or downloaded on your computer or an SD card. However, Panopto also offers a video creation tool, which can capture and combine webcam video, a PowerPoint presentation, and/or a screen recording. You can use any combination of these video streams using the Panopto Focus Recorder to capture and upload these recordings to the Panopto website.

Finally, before you begin your recording, please review this list of Guidelines for Creating Instructional Recordings for some general tips for recording good video.

To use Panopto with your Canvas course, you can move ahead to Enabling Panopto in Your Course. If you do not wish to use Canvas, you will be better off with our guide to using the Panopto website to record videos or as a video hosting platform (we recommend creating a Sub-Folder within your personal Panopto folder for this purpose).

Enabling Panopto in Your Course

Click on settings in your course navigation.

settings in course nav

Click on the Navigation tab along the top of the settings page.

picture of navigation in settings page

Panopto Video will be automatically disabled when you first start your course.

panopto in nav

To enable Panopto, click on the vertical ellipses icon. Clicking on "Enable" will automatically move Panopto Video to the bottom of the "Enabled Pages" category. You may also click and drag your page to the enabled category to enable it.

picture of enable option in panopto nav

Click the "Save" button at the bottom to save your changes.

Panopto Video should now appear in your Course Navigation Sidebar Menu.

panopto in course nav

Clicking on it will bring you to an integrated version of Panopto within Canvas (example shown below). Most buttons and options will appear here as they do if you were to go to Panopto directly.

panopto video integrated in canvas

Adding a Panopto session to a Module

To add a Panopto recording to a module in Canvas, click the "+" icon at the top of the desired module.

Click the plus button to add new content to a module

From the pop-up window, switch the "Add" option to "External Tool," and scroll down to find the Panopto option. Click the Panopto option to proceed.

Select External Tools and choose Panopto

The Panopto tool will load, allowing you to choose from existing Panopto sessions, or add or record a new one if desired.

pop out of panopto video selector with numbers 1 through 7

1. Drop-down selection of folders that you have access to within Panopto.

2. Search bar within your current folder.

3. Choose a video that is already available in Panopto.

4. Upload a video file from your computer (.mp4, .mov, etc.) to Panopto.

5. Record a video or audio file with your computer's web camera and microphone.

6. Selected video that will be included in your content area.

7. Insert Button - clicking this will insert the Panopto Video inline with the text in your content box.

Once you have selected the desired video, select "Insert" to go back to the External Tool selector. With Panopto selected from the list of tools, select "Insert."

Select Insert to add your Panopto session

Your Panopto session should appear in sequence with the rest of your module's content.

Panopto link embedded in a module

Adding a Panopto session in the Rich Content Editor

Whenever you are given the option to create content in a Rich Content Editor (the toolbar shown below) you should see the Panopto logo. You can insert Panopto videos anywhere you see that logo, including in Assignments, Pages, Announcements, etc.

panopto button in rich text editor

Clicking on the Panopto logo in the Rich Content Editor will bring up a pop-up window that will give you options to include a video via Panopto.

1. Drop-down selection of folders that you have access to within Panopto.

2. Search bar within your current folder.

3. Choose a video that is already available in Panopto.

4. Upload a video file from your computer (.mp4, .mov, etc.) to Panopto.

5. Record a video or audio file with your computer's web camera and microphone.

6. Selected video that will be included in your content area.

7. Insert Button - clicking this will insert the Panopto Video inline with the text in your content box.

pop out of panopto video selector with numbers 1 through 7

After clicking "Insert," the video will appear inline wherever your blinking cursor is within the content box. If you upload or record a video, it may take some time to process the video before it becomes available. If the video is not playable immediately, give it a few minutes and then refresh your page. You may play your video, download it, watch the video within Panopto, or watch the video in Full Screen Mode.

picture of how panopto video will be inserted inline

Once you are finished, click "Save" or "Save & Publish" if you wish to publish the content.

save button

For info about using the Panopto application, see the Panopto support page for How to Record with Panopto for Windows and How to Record with Panopto for Mac.

For help using the My Pitt Video site, see the Panopto support page for How to Navigate the Video Library.

For a tutorial on using Panopto Quizzes in Canvas, see the Panopto support for Canvas Quizzes.

For upcoming and pre-recorded Panopto training webinars, see Panopto Webinars.

See also: Differences between Panopto in Blackboard and Canvas.