How TAFE Queensland Switched from MediaSite to Panopto in Just Two Weeks
Achievements
256,000 Video Views from 2018-2022
5,830 Videos Made using Panopto
Improved Accessibility for 1,000 Creators and 7,000 Users
The Challenge
TAFE Queensland is one of the largest vocational education and training (VET) providers in Australia, with a history dating back over 140 years. The college delivers practical, industry-relevant training across a range of industries, from entry-level certificates to bachelor degrees, at more than 60 locations in Queensland.
For over 10 years, TAFE Queensland has used a single video hosting platform, MediaSite, to accommodate their video needs, primarily capturing video recordings. But as time passed and technology progressed, video became an increasingly essential component of teaching and learning, especially in online delivery. Independently from this, one college department introduced another platform for a specific area of delivery that they felt was not covered in the current video hosting platform. This increased need for video, and now the addition of new video platforms to solve edge cases wasn’t sustainable, and it was time to look deeper into what was available.
The team researched their business requirements and went to market to see what else was available. It made sense to consolidate the two systems into a single platform and see what integration capabilities were available with the Learning Management System, “One that could be used across the organization that was also interoperable with our LMS Brightspace and, importantly, one that was intuitive for our teachers to use,” says Simon Lewington, Manager of Educational Technologies, TAFE Queensland.
The challenge? Not to go with the status quo and introduce real change. TAFE Queensland employs over 5,000 staff in 60 locations, so it was vital to demonstrate the benefits of implementing a state-wide video solution. “We showed how it would help streamline the recording and sharing of lectures and practical demonstrations, save time for teachers, and provide students with a better learning experience,” says Lewington.
The executive team set specific criteria, including cost-effectiveness, value for money, ease of use, scalability, and security. They then conducted external research to better understand the use of video in education, which included directly surveying teachers, administrators, and students. “Through our research and talking to teachers, it was clear that the use of video was not only growing but also that students expected that option,” says Lewington.
The Solution
After considering several top-tier potential platforms globally, TAFE Queensland decided to switch from MediaSite to Panopto in 2022.
“The LMS integration is the part that can really impact user experience and their adoption, either negatively or positively,” says Steve Ambrose, Edtech Experience Team Lead, TAFE Queensland. “Often, you might only get one chance to win the users over.”
The next step was preparing users for the upcoming change. TAFE Queensland had only a very small window during the semester break—two weeks to be exact—from the changeover from MediaSite to Panopto, and it was critical that the college’s locations had uninterrupted lecture capture.
To ensure a smooth transition in such a short timeframe, the college prepared faculty by providing training and resources before the implementation. When training the teachers who previously used the older platform, TAFE Queensland implemented workshops and monthly 30-minute lunchbox training sessions, each highlighting a different aspect of Panopto.
“We held workshops and provided online tutorials to ensure everyone understood how to use the new platform,” says Ambrose. “We also communicated the benefits of Panopto to the teachers and those who would be training them and provided a way to answer any questions they had.”
The benefits shared included how Panopto would save teachers time, provide students with a better learning experience, and make it easier to share videos. “We also pointed out specific features that would make their everyday work lives easier, such as the ability to search for specific moments in a video and the ease of sharing videos with other teachers,” says Ambrose.
It was also important to ease teachers’ concerns about switching from a different platform. “We wanted to reassure them that they wouldn’t lose any of the functionality they had come to rely on and that we were going to make the transition as easy as possible for them,” says Daniel Hausin, Project Manager in AV Media and Systems, TAFE Queensland.
The college already used many videos for learning content, so it needed to figure out how to point the hyperlinks to a different system. In the end, all the existing links were kept, and a redirect server was set up to point back to the migrated content in Panopto. “This meant that we could tell users who may have been apprehensive about the change that they didn’t need to do anything, and their videos would keep working,” says Ambrose.
“Since implementing Panopto, we’ve seen a significant increase in the use of video by teachers. We’ve made it easier for teachers to create and share the video out, and the students are benefiting from that.”
Simon Lewington, Manager of Educational Technologies, TAFE Queensland
The Impact
With the help of Panopto, TAFE Queensland was able to migrate all its video content from MediaSite to provide a better learning experience for teachers and students.
“Since implementing Panopto, we’ve seen a significant increase in the use of video by teachers,” says Lewington. “Teachers who weren’t using video before – they may have had video embedded into their content, but they’re creating video now. We’ve made it easier for teachers to create and share the video, and the students are benefiting from that.”
Analytics have been a game changer for the college, as monitoring student engagement when viewing videos is now possible. “Whether students are not watching a video or dropping off because they’re not actually paying attention to these videos,” says Ambrose, “being able to have the analytics and statistics within the Panopto system has been fantastic.”
These insights have been helpful in informing the college about what specific content is working and what is not. “One of the key [analytics criteria] is completing a video and seeing where there might be a need for change in the content, so we can continue to make improvements to the content to better our students’ participation,” says Ambrose.
Panopto’s interactive features have also enabled the school to explore video beyond just uploading a static lecture. From quizzes to video commenting, learning is much more engaging, promoting active student participation and collaboration. “We have a range of trainers across the organization who have been helping teachers explore new ways to use video in the classroom and online, such as interactive video quizzes and flipped classroom models,” says Ambrose.
What has been the most surprising outcome since implementation? “One thing that was slightly unexpected with this implementation is the rate of user adoption and almost universal acceptance of the change. It’s been extraordinary,” says Lewington. That’s partly due to the change management and partly due to one of the criteria that we went to market with a product that is easy and intuitive to use.”
The Future
Looking to the future, TAFE Queensland has developed a statewide video collaboration working group that meets monthly to discuss various video technologies, focusing on Panopto features. “We use this forum to improve and tweak Panopto and share valuable learnings,” says Hausin.
Currently in the testing phase, the college is working on enabling students to use Panopto to submit video assessments with the support of the D2L Brightspace integration. “The results have been really positive as this integration has removed a range of barriers that prevented students from being able to upload, specifically with larger file sizes and longer videos,” says Ambrose.
Panopto’s folder structure will also be a key part of future assessments, providing an instructor with one location for student submissions. “It provides us with a single location for all video assessment evidence,” says Ambrose.
At the core of technology growth at TAFE Queensland is continuing to understand the needs of faculty and students. “We’re also interested in connecting with other Panopto customers as the user base grows in Australia,” says Lewington.
With a strong commitment to the Oceania region, Panopto proudly serves a growing number of esteemed customers across Australia and New Zealand, supporting their video learning needs and fostering a vibrant community of learning innovation.
