At SOAS we are currently in the process of installing Panopto lecture capture software on all staff and teaching computers. The university previously invested in Echo360 lecture capture software which was rarely used by staff and therefore support for it by our internal Audio Visual team discontinued. Common reasons for lack of use by staff included a reluctance to transport the device to the location of recording and the system, and a lack of awareness of the technology, as it was not widely publicised.

The 2012-13 NSS (National Student Survey) and further discussions with the SOAS Student Union, highlighted that there was however substantial demand for lecture recordings by the student population.

The main benefits for the introduction of lecture capture, as reported by students, was that they could:

• watch recorded lectures from wherever they like, whenever they like (especially useful for distance-learning, part-time, and international students)
• review or catch-up on lectures that they might have missed
• view lectures at their own pace (especially useful for students for whom English is not their first language)

For SOAS, the main requirements for the new software were:

• integration with Moodle
• uncomplicated install
• user friendliness
• mobility and transfer
• storage of data
• support
• budgetary implications

The IT department trialled several available software that could replace the existing lecture capture system, including:

• Adobe Connect
• Blackboard Collaborate
• Mediacore
• Panopto

After testing the above software and examining usage in other institutions, consensus was reached that Panopto fulfilled the above criteria for the following reasons:

• software solution
• option for hosted solution as time was crucial
• ease of use
• support of product
• live streaming and interactivity
• wide use by other HE Institutions

In 2013-14 the university purchased five licenses to pilot, and the level of uptake for Panopto increased beyond the minimal uptake of Echo360. It was therefore decided to acquire a Panopto site license for 2014-15.

In preparation for its introduction, I created a Moodle page (see below) dedicated to the Panopto software, which included training guides on how to set up, record and edit recordings.

Panopto was due to be rolled out across the university in January 2015, but the process was delayed due to a number of issues such as the availability of our network team who were pre-occupied with completing other ongoing projects within the university. In addition to this, creating an image for the installation was a time consuming task because of having to identify the variety of machines available across the teaching spaces and offices.

This resulted in time consuming ad hoc installations of Panopto as well as one-to-one training sessions as and when staff wanted to use the software. As installations were done on an ad hoc basis whilst the image was being created, the BLE team (myself and my manager) worked hard to publicise the software across the university as much as possible through a number of ways:

• lunchtime dropins - quick demonstrations of the software in the staff common room
• working closely with faculties - to introduce the Panopto software and identify which lecturers would be interested in using it
• meeting with administrators - providing support and guidance to administrative support
• tweeting and blogging about Panopto (see below)
• informing new staff about Panopto software at the BLE staff induction training sessions
• advertising training sessions to all (GTAs) Graduate Teaching Assistants

Even with the slow rollout of the software across the university, the April 2015 usage report yielded encouraging statistics as to the uptake of Panopto:

It was apparent from the BLE team's efforts that there was a growing interest and usage of Panopto. However, the availability of the software was a key constraint. To try and tackle this key issue, I arranged a meeting for 30th September 2015 (see below) and invited key colleagues within the university, including the Bloomsbury Service Manager, Senior Networks Officer, colleagues from Audio and Visual, Information Compliance Manager, Head of Technical Services as well as the Lecture Recording Coordinator from Birkbeck.

The meeting had a positive effect in that it raised the priority for Panopto being made available across the university and within a week of the meeting (in early October 2015) it was successfully made available to all staff and teaching desktops.

To ensure the news was communicated to everyone, I posted a message on the BLE Site News (see below) and group training session dates were included in the Moodle Market Site News post (see below).

Going forward I aim to offer more regular group training sessions as well as continuing supporting one to one training where required. In addition to the training sessions I intend to create video tutorials to compliment the existing 'how to guides'.

One tactic employed to increase interest was to get colleagues to present May 2015 Learning and Teaching Conference on how they utilise tools that I have trained them on (quizzes and timeline), which resulted in attendees requesting further information and training after the conference. With this in mind, during the September Panopto Working Group meeting, I proposed a conference specifically themed around Panopto that is organised in collaboration with the local universities. The idea was warmly received at the meeting and the Service Manager agreed to communicate with the key contacts from the local universities to identify possible presenters.

The roll out of Panopto at SOAS has clearly highlighted the various factors which can hinder the progress of uptake of a technology even when the correct testing, planning and communications have taken place. However, now that the software is available to everyone I feel positive that the BLE team can encourage even greater usage of the software.