Content management systems for higher education are shaping learning. Students expect new technologies for flexible learning. You may have even heard of the focus on “The Big Three” technologies for the classroom: 

• Video Conferencing
• A Learning Management System (LMS)
• A Video Management System (VMS)

Many higher education institutions already use video conferencing tools such as Zoom or Webex and LMSs such as Moodle, Blackboard, or Canvas. Adding a VMS offers a central hub that connects your LMS and video conferencing, making all video content easy to use. Even if you already have a VMS in place, you may be wondering if it is still the best solution for your institution.

There are a variety of platforms to help create, manage, and distribute video content. It’s important to weigh all options to ensure you are choosing the best VMS for your needs.

What is a content management system for higher education?

A video management system (sometimes called video libraries, video platforms, or video content management systems) is an asynchronous video technology for creating, hosting, searching, and streaming videos online. A VMS enables the easy capture, management, and viewing of video content for the purposes of communicating, educating, or entertaining. Different from synchronous real-time video conferencing technologies that support live, two-way video conversations, video platforms offer a range of solutions for on-demand video and, increasingly, live, one-to-many streaming video.

“Our Audio Video Technologies (AVT) team, in consultation with the TLT team, ND Learning, and IT architecture colleagues, responded to the urgent task of planning, designing, ordering and implementing AV systems to enable real-time participation between remote students and their instructors and classmates in the physical classroom. The Zoom + Panopto integration was a critical element that facilitated the real-time interaction and the asynchronous access to the instructional material in our LMS.”

Dan Skendzel, Executive Director, ND Studios and Teaching and Learning Technologies, Notre Dame

Video Management System: Panopto

Panopto is a comprehensive video platform purpose-built for education that comes out of the box with a complete set of tools for secure video management and video creation. Panopto provides universities and businesses with an industry-leading video management system, along with integrated tools for creating online presentations, recording screencasts, lecture capture, accessibility features, automated captions, highly searchable video content, and more. 

Panopto is the central hub for higher education institutions that connects the LMS and the VC and makes all video content easy to use. Panopto’s deep integration with LMS prioritizes seamless workflows and user experience, and intuitive, flexible online video recorder options allow all users an easy-to-use experience.

Recommended for: securing and sharing videos and meeting recordings, secure live streaming,  remote video communication & collaboration, and online and blended learning

Video Management System: Kaltura

Kaltura is a highly customized “video platform as a service” designed for those looking for a build-your-own video solution. Kaltura offers video recording, webcasting, storage, and sharing options à la carte with support from a professional services team to help you design your own platform for implementation. Comprehensive integrations with major LMS platforms are available, and basic integrations are available with any LMS that supports the LTI standard. Kaltura also offers automated captioning services with a searchable index of words, terms, or phrases.

Recommended for: OTT video streaming, video monetization, creating a customized video platform with components tailored to your needs

Video Management System: Echo360

Echo360 offers four categories of solutions based on your video management needs.

• Echo Video – Echo Video offers video needs such as video management, lecture capture, video recording, live streaming, video editing, video delivery, video search, analytics, video captioning and transcription, and more. 
• Echo Engage – Echo Engage offers a suite of collaborative, real-time tools, such as live lessons and proctoring, designed to increase engagement.
• Echo Author – Echo Author allows you to effectively create video content, including templates, a content library, flexible course outputs, and more. 
• Echo Exam – Echo Exam improves quizzing by offering test generation, test administration, question creation, and test analytic tools. 

Recommended for: hardware video services, real-time quizzing, collaboration tools, and video and engagement analytics.

Video Management System: YuJa

The YuJa Enterprise Video Platform offers a portfolio of video tools designed to create, manage, discover, collaborate, and live stream video content across any device. YuJa features a user-friendly drag-and-drop interface to upload video content, and all videos within the platform are highly searchable. Along with video content management, YuJa also offers essential tools built for lecture capture and lecture live streaming.

Recommended for: video transcribing and searchability, simplified video management with drag-and-drop uploading

Video Management System: Mediasite

The Mediasite video platform offers video capture, management, and streaming solutions. While recognized for lecture capture in higher education, Mediasite is a combination of separately licensed software, hardware and services:

• Cloud services for video management and storage
• Hardware rental for small- and large-scale events
• Events management services (full live stream production.

Recommended for: software and hardware solutions, webcasting, events services and management

How to choose the best VMS platform for your needs

The best content management system for higher education for one institution may not be the ideal choice for another. Today’s top VMSs vary widely in terms of their capabilities. With so many differences between VMS technologies, it can be daunting to unpack and compare all the various features and plans. 

To get started, here are the top features to look for in a video library for education.

• Integrations: To ensure your “Big Three” technologies are used most effectively, ensure that your video conferencing and LMS integrate with the video library. Ready-made integration modules for LMSs such as Blackboard, Moodle, Desire2Learn, and Instructure Canvas enable seamless course provisioning from within the LMS. With integrations to a video conferencing system like Zoom, all synchronous video communications can easily be uploaded to your video platform and readily accessible.
• Features: While you may initially look for a VMS to simply manage video content, there are many features and capabilities that you can explore once you get more familiar with your system. Stay up-to-date with trending technologies by confirming that the video library you choose offers advanced features. This can include video analytics, search capabilities within the video library and each individual video, broad device and file format capability, live video, in-video quizzing, and automatic captioning. 
• User experience: Viewing, uploading, capturing video, live webcasting, and managing video content all must be intuitive to learn and simple to perform. Additionally, user accessibility through features such as video captions and the ability to watch content on any device at any time offers higher user satisfaction and increased user engagement. 
• Scalability: The ability to scale out easily and based on demand can be critical to the success of your VMS. Whether you are increasing the amount of video content or have higher faculty adoption rates than anticipated, it’s important to have the resources available to you to successfully scale your VMS.
• Company reputation: Feel confident in your decision to use a VMS by choosing a company with a positive reputation. Look for customer service reviews, company viability, and a trusted brand that is used by some of the top educational institutions in the world.