How to handle student access to Panopto videos embedded in LMS Quiz Questions?
John Piegors
Tyro
Hello and thank you in advance for anyone who's able to help. I'm probably missing something obvious, but can't seem to figure out how to handle a common occurrence at my College. Relevant background: We're using D2L/Brightspace (though I'm posting this in General Q&A because I don't know if this interaction is specifically linked to that LMS or not), and frequently have instructors who create D2L/Brightspace quizzes in which they sometimes create questions that have an embedded Panopto video, as quiz questions are made via the WYSIWYG editor. Because of the way permissions are handled though, students are granted viewer access to any Panopto videos that are embedded in the course. This means that, should a student navigate correctly, they could find the Panopto video associated with this quiz question completely outside of its intended restrictions.
To that end, my question would be: Is there a way to embed Panopto videos in LMS Quiz Questions such that students are given viewer access during the Quiz, but otherwise do not have access to the video?
Apologies if this question has been addressed already. I sincerely tried to look for it for a solid half-hour before posting this.
Thank you!
Best Answer
-
Michael Espey
Superstar
We typically recommend using a sub-folder within the course folder, change the permissions of that folder to be restricted to only the "Creators" group, then use the embed tool to provision access at the moment in time (we use Canvas, but I believe something similar is available in D2L).
The only real downside to this is that students will retain access after they finish their quiz, but I've been told that Panopto is working on a solution for this.
0
Answers
No, you're not missing anything obvious.
I would suggest either not putting the video in the course folder (putting it in your personal folder and setting the permissions on it to "Your Organization (unlisted) Anyone at your org who has the link").
Or using session availability to make it so students can't watch the video prior to the actual opening of the quiz.
Embedding videos in Canvas automatically sets permissions correctly so regardless of where the video is saved, students can see it.
I just tested this process and could be done this way:
Even if they open the quiz before due time. When time passes the due time, it will not take the answer. Also, once past due time, the video is no longer unavailable to students.
Might be a little work, but it seems to work.
Hi @John Piegors,
Sorry to reignite this if you already feel you have the answer but I saw this post and wanted to put in my two cents worth...
I guess the key thing here is "students are granted viewer access to any Panopto videos that are embedded in the course". When you say "any", you mean all videos.
We also use Panopto with Brightspace but using the Panopto option in the Insert Stuff tool allows us to assign access to individual videos. This stops students from coming across the course folder in the Panopto folder hierarchy and being able to view all the course videos. I believe it's a different LTI to the one that allows course folder access.
To expand on what @John Piegors says, using Embed creates an entry in the video access rights to ensure the video is accessible to anyone that clicks on that link from D2L. Therefore, in theory, anyone that has this link to the video will be able to see it - regardless of class. So, in theory, a student for any class, could see the video!!! I guess that is something that can cause issues, but maybe there is a way to embed the video without the "allow full screen" option may help here. I would suggest try using the "enter Embed Code" option in D2L and see if this works. You can do some tests and see.
My experience of our set up is different... we use the Brightspace Insert Stuff tool to create the embed rather than copy/pasting the embed code (which would also require the share setting to be altered from the default: 'Only specific people and groups'). I believe this set up required the Panopto LTI to be configured as a Remote plugin for use in the Insert Stuff tool. There is info about it here:
How to Set Up the Panopto Insert Stuff Tool in D2L Brightspace (force.com)
This ensures that only students who open the page on which the video is embedded gain access to the video. Permissions are not automatically assigned to others - even if they have a link to the video. Folder access is not provided. And if embedded in a quiz question or answer, permissions are only given to the viewer of that video - not all in the folder.
The main advantage of this for us is that permissions are ultimately granted in our Student Management System and pushed over to Panopto automatically. They can still be overridden in certain cases but for us it makes for a smoother application all round.
@Paul Douglas correct! That was my first answer on Nov 4th. It works as explained there. However, the question seems to imply how to limit the video so it is only available from the quiz, not directly from the Panopto web page. I can't see an easy way to do this. If the video can be played by a student (in the class) in the D2L Quiz, it will also be available to any other student directly from the Panopto web page for all the students in the class.
Hi @Carlos Coronel,
This is simply not my experience and we don't have the problem outlined in the subject of the post either. I'm just offering the idea that perhaps that it is our configuration that has allowed us to avoid the issue entirely.
In your earlier answer you mentioned:
For us, the Panopto folder where the videos are created/uploaded to is irrelevant. It has no influence on the viewing permissions granted. The only thing that matters is the video being embedded with the Insert Stuff tool - which is available in the HTML editor in the Quiz configuration.
I'm still not clear what you mean by "Panopto embed". Do you mean Insert stuff tool or copy/paste Panopto embed code?
It's curious to see how different institutions have implemented Panopto in conjunction with Brightspace. Of course, I'm interested in making any improvements that might be possible.
Hello @Paul Douglas
Yes, I am referring to the Insert Suff (D2L) that has the Panopto embed option on it.
The issue is that, as I understand it, the instructor wants to have a video that is only accessible for the quiz and it is not viewable any other way. (I might be wrong!)
The solution is to store the video in a folder that the students do not have permission to, usually inside the teacher's My folder. Then, use the Insert Stuff, Panopto Embed to add the video to the quiz. That way the video is visible to the student taking the quiz only!
So, the video should not be stored in the class folder. The Insert Stuff, Panopto Embed adds a "Watch in Panopto" option that exposes the link to the video (if the video is stored on the class folder). A student using that option can copy the link and share it with other students before they take the quiz; defeating the purpose of the instructor (I believe...)
However, when you user Insert Stuff, Panopto embed, for a video in a folder that the student does not have access to, the "watch in Panopto" option is not available!
Thanks for clarifying @Carlos Coronel. I've just done some additional testing. Here's the process I followed:
My interpretation of this is that just because Student B has the link to the video, the permissions have not yet been granted to access the video. The same applies to all other videos that are embedded in the course unless the student has watched them by opening a page that has them embedded.
My understanding of Panopto permissions is that the only way to circumvent this default behaviour is one of the following:
So, going back to John's query, he stated: "Because of the way permissions are handled though, students are granted viewer access to any Panopto videos that are embedded in the course. This means that, should a student navigate correctly, they could find the Panopto video associated with this quiz question completely outside of its intended restrictions." I have not been able to replicate this issue with our default settings applied. If I've missed something fair enough. Like I said, it's interesting learning how others are using the same systems. I guess we all have our settings applied to work best for our own purposes.
Two questions
Where is the video stored?
What are the "default" settings of the integration?
In our D2L/Panopto LTI integration, Panopto creates a class folder and assigns the proper rights to the teachers(Creator) and students(Viewers). By default, videos are stored there and students can always see them as long as they are available. If you use the D2L Insert Stuff, Panopto Embed tool, to embed a video in this folder, then the student will always have access to the video and the embedded player will "Watch in Panopto" option.
The behavior described by @Paul Douglas, is correct when the embedded video is stored in a folder that students do not have viewer rights to. So, Paul is correct! John can use this technique as long as the video is stored in his My Folder in Panopto, for example.
Regards,
The video is stored in the Panopto folder that corresponds to the Brightspace course offering. That folder is automatically created when a user with teacher access to the course offering opens the Teacher - Panopto page. The viewer and creator groups are created but students are not automatically added to that unless they access the folder via the External Learning Tool LTI link I mentioned above.
The default Share setting of these course offering folders is: 'Who can access this video' set to 'Only specific people and groups'.
How are your students added to the permissions of the class folder?
@Paul Douglas & @Carlos Coronel Thank you for the extra dialogue and work you've put into exploring the answer to this question. To clarify the initial post a bit (and apologies for not being clearer up front.; hindsight is always 20/20 it seems), the issue in question wasn't that another student could access the video, but that a student's access to the video was not able to be "confined" to the quiz-context only. Specifically, students were retaining access to high-stakes test questions after midterms & finals. The reason I selected @Michael Espey's answer as the "accepted" one was that he mentioned this is something that Panopto is apparently working on. In the meantime we'll simply make use of session availability restrictions even if it's not the "ideal" solution.
Looking back I realize my original question was not likely interpretable in this manner, and apologize for the lack of clarity.
Thank you all though!
@John Piegors I suggest you try the solution we used. If the video is stored in a folder under the teacher's My Folders then, they only have access to the video when they are in the quiz! I tried and it works! Remember, by default, the students don't have access to any video that is in the teacher's My folder. Using the D2L, Insert Suff, Panopto Embed, creates a "tunnel" by which the video is visible, but only if they are in the quiz. There is no way to know the link to the video because it is not exposed by the embedded player.
Best regards,
@Carlos Coronel I might be misunderstanding you or doing something wrong. Is there any chance you'd be willing to watch my example video of the problem below and tell me what steps I could take to avoid the outcome I get in the video?
@Carlos Coronel There is one major drawback to using the embed tool in the LMS to manage permissions for this type of content. In Canvas, because the sharing happens when the student loads the page by adding the viewer to groups, the permissions are implicit and irrevocable (short of deleting the group and embedding again). Once the student visits the page, they will have access until that access is manually cleaned up; right now this cleanup process involves talking to support. In many cases that level of access is fine, but it is something to consider when working with test/quiz materials.
This is the part that Panopto is working on long-term. Ideally, these groups would only allow access through the specific page that they were generated for, but as it stands today, the student could go directly to the Panopto site and find the content again if shared with the embed tool.
If you aren't using the embed tool and only manually embedding, this isn't an issue, but then you need to manage permissions in another way. One such way I've tested with is a single video at the start to introduce the test/quiz that uses the embed tool to sign the student into Panopto, then the rest of the embeds will be simple iFrames for the actual quiz content and would be shared with the "Anyone at the organization with the link" level. It isn't ideal, but no access is really retained and because it requires authentication, you would be able to see when/which students are accessing content.
@Michael Espey We are a D2L shop, so no Canvas here. I believe @John Piegors is also using D2L. In our D2L integration, the workflow we use works as indicated. As long as the Video is in My Folder, they only have access to the video in the embed. I also did separate testing using an URL of a video stored in the My Folder's subfolder with "Anyone in my org with the link". When we post an URL link to a D2L Content page, the video is visible but the viewer can not "navigate" to other videos in the same folder, using the bread crumbs as it happens with videos in the Panopto class folder. I thought that was a very good feature from Panopto.
@John Piegors I see the issue now. My D2L student does not see the video in Panopto Everything but the video appears in Share with Me in Panopto. So, as you said the additional step is to limit the availability dates as @Michael Canute, you, and I also suggested earlier. I kind of like to have the video in the My Folder rather than in the class folder. In particular, if the quiz is going to be reused in future classes.
Thanks for the clarification @John Piegors. Being part of this discussion has been an interesting reminder on a few things - particularly the semantics and nuances of permissions in the connected environments of the LMS and Panopto site.
For what it's worth, Michael's idea of a subfolder I think works really well. All of your quiz videos (questions and/or answers) go into that subfolder which then makes use of Carlos and Charles's idea of using Session availability to set the folder to stop being available in conjunction with the end date of the quiz. This works nicely and only has to be set on the folder. Also, the folder can live anywhere - even the class folder.
At our institution, we actively encourage staff to avoid using My Folder in teaching areas because it causes much headache managing content that is stuck in personal folders when staff leave us. With a staff of over 600 teachers, turn over is quite common and content can be time-consuming to find and relocate. Centralised Panopto folders (combined with centralised courses in Brightspace) that are shared between relevant staff are preferred as they offer the most flexibility and future-proofing with regards to content management.