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Why do my students need to request access to view videos in Panopto?

Why is the automated email request being made?

This happens when your students are first trying to watch a video that has been embedded into a Moodle label, book or page. Panopto needs to authenticate students as Panopto viewers and currently the only way for this to happen is by students clicking on the Panopto LTI activity or clicking on the videos in the Panopto block (Figure 1). They need to do this once and then will be able to view all embedded videos without clicking on the Panopto LTI activity or block.

Moodle screenshot that highlight the Panopto LTI activity and block in pink. Pink rectangle with white text appears in the middle that reads "Students need to click either the Panopto LTI activity in your course or the individual video links in the block (if you have made it available to students)."
Figure 1. Students need to click either on the Panopto LTI activity or block.

Important: If your students are reporting issues with accessing videos in Panopto, don’t change the permissions of the folder that Panopto has created automatically for your course. Changing the permissions may result in your videos being visible to people outside your course. For issues please contact digitalservices@brookes.ac.uk.

What should the correct permissions look like in Panopto?

Folders for each module in Moodle are created when the Module Leader adds the Panopto LTI activity to the module. Panopto assigns two permissions by default based on the roles in Moodle:

  1. Creator role, which is assigned to the Module Leader and any other instructors who have editing access to the course (e.g. co-teachers).
  2. Viewer role, which is assigned to students so they can watch the videos.

Panopto assigns the above permissions only when course instructors and students interact with the Panopto LTI activity.

  • The person who added the activity to the course gets the Creator role automatically and co-teachers become Creators (so they can move their seminar recordings to the course folder) only when they click on that same Panopto LTI activity.
  • Students become Viewers in that course folder only when they click on the Panopto LTI activity. Videos embedded in Moodle labels, pages and books won’t give students the required Viewer role.

Pro tip

To avoid issues with students not being able to watch your videos, make sure you add the Panopto block in your module. The block will give students the Viewer role automatically when they access the course, without them having to click on the Panopto LTI activity.

The permissions for each course folder (that is created automatically for your module) should look like below and should never be changed by anyone for any reason:

  • Who can access this folder: Specific People and Groups
  • People and groups are:
    MODULECODE::Creator can create
    MODULECODE::Viewer can view.
Screenshot of Example
Figure 2. The correct default permissions in Panopto should never be changed.

Changing the above permissions may result in your videos being visible to people outside your course.

Updated on June 28, 2021

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