Webcasting a session is as simple as ticking a box in the Panopto Recorder before you record your session. However, a little bit of preparation will ensure a much smoother experience for your viewers.
Create the session in advance, so you can distribute the link in advance. Your viewers can follow the link, and they’ll be able to view the session as soon as you start recording. If you don’t do this in advance, your students will still be able to see the webcast but
- They will have to keep refreshing a page waiting for the live link to appear
- The link will only appear when you’ve started recording, so the webcast viewers might miss out on the start of your session
- You might forget to tick the webcast option in the recorder, meaning those students depending on the webcast will miss out
Create a link in advance
- Log into Aston Replay
Click the Create button at the top of the screen- Click Webcast
Enter the details of the webcast – give it a name, select a folder to record to, etc, then click Create
The next screen shows the session information. This lets you copy the viewer link to send to your viewers in advance
Record and broadcast
Now you’ve created your session in advance, you can record to it. The process is nearly identical to making a normal recording.
When you open the Panopto recorder to record your session, instead of clicking on Add New Session when choosing where to record to, click on Join Session then click the name of the session you want to webcast to.
If you don’t click Join Session
This will create an entirely new session which will be accessed at a different URL. Anyone who tries to view the session with the link created by the tutorial above will not get to see the webcast.
If a viewer follows the link to the session before it has started, they will see a screen notifying them. The page will automatically update when the live stream starts.
