Providing Multimodal Options for Course Content via Panopto

Why?

One strategy for creating an inclusive learning environment is to provide students with a choice in how to engage with the course materials. This approach is grounded in Universal Design for Learning, a framework and curriculum design approach that seeks to identify and ameliorate barriers to student participation in the learning environment at the moment of curriculum design (more about UDL).

Offering choices means that your content is usable by a wide variety of learners, with a variety of needs and preferences. Offering an audio option instead of video can also support students who may have low bandwidth and can’t access large video files.

(This approach can work across disciplines, even for those disciplines that rely more heavily on visual information. As you’re recording your video, the trick is to make sure that you describe what’s on your slides, rather than assuming that the viewer or listener can see them.)

How?

If you’re using Panopto to create video content for your students, it’s easy to share out an audio-only version with the video, without doing any extra work. Once your video is ready to share, in the Panopto web interface:

• click on the Settings icon next to your video
• click on Outputs
• scroll down to the Audio Podcast section, and copy the links for Play Audio Podcast (which will play in the Panopto viewer) or Download Audio Podcast (downloads to the user’s computer). Share these links with your students, along with the link to the video.

Find out more about using Panopto at DLINQ’s Toolshed.