Share Panopto Videos Through Canvas Modules: A How-To Guide

You may already know that Canvas Modules are a handy, economical way to organize the content of your Canvas course – but did you know that you can share Panopto videos through Modules without worrying about the videos’ permissions? In this post, we’ll lay out how to share your Panopto content through Modules and explain what your students can (and can’t!) do with the videos you share with them.

The step-by-step method for adding Panopto content to Modules laid out below has a number of advantages for you and your students. It ensures that permissions are passed through correctly from Panopto to Canvas, so that all students who are enrolled in your Canvas course via the registrar feed can view the videos you share. In addition, if you reuse your content in the future via Canvas’s Course Copy feature, this method ensures that you will not need to tweak permissions for your videos manually – they will persist following the copying process.

(Note: we do not recommend that you link to a Panopto video directly with the External URL option. This method will not pass video permissions through to Canvas, nor does it permit permissions to be updated automatically in Course Copy. Your students may therefore experience difficulties viewing your videos if you use this method.)

Here are the steps for adding a Panopto video to a Module.

1. Click the + icon to add a new item to the Module.
   
2. You will see a dialog box titled “Add Item to [Module Name]”. In the “Add” dropdown menu that appears, select External Tool.
   
3. In the list of tools that appears, scroll down to the blue Panopto Video link and click on it.
   
4. A dialog box titled “Link Resource from External Tool” will now appear. (You can expand this box by clicking and dragging the lower right corner.) By default, it will point to the Panopto folder associated with your Canvas course.
   
   1. If the video you wish to add does not reside in the course folder, click to open the dropdown menu at the top of the dialog box. You can then scroll through a list of folders to which you have access. You can also search for a folder by typing in the space provided.
      
5. When you find the video you wish to add to the Module, click the radio button next to it to select it, and then click the maroon Insert button. Note that you can only add one video at a time.
   
6. You will be returned to the “Add Item to [Module Name]” dialog box. Click the maroon Add Item button to complete the process.
   
7. A link will then appear in the Module. Please note the following:
   1. As with most content types in Canvas, the resulting link will initially be unpublished. To make it visible to students, click the crossed-out circle to change it to a check mark.
   2. By default, the link will open in a new tab. We recommend that you leave this setting as is, so that your students will have maximum screen “real estate” when viewing the video.
   3. By default, the name of the link will be the same as the title of the Panopto video. If you wish to change this, simply click the column of three dots across from the link name and choose Edit. You can then type in whatever you wish as the link name.
      

When your students click on a link added via these steps, the permissions will pass through, and they will be able to view the video. However, they will not be able to download the video unless you expressly enable downloads. This is a security measure to ensure that you retain control over videos you have created and to uphold FERPA protections of student data.

For further information, please see the article How to Insert a Video Link into a Canvas Module at the Panopto support site. If you have questions, you are welcome to contact us, drop by our virtual office hours, or book a consultation with an instructional designer.

(Cover Photo by Sirisvisual on Unsplash)