Below are some Frequently Asked Questions by faculty members regarding Panopto Session Analytics. Session analytics can give instructors insight into how students are interacting with the video sessions on GauchoCast. Alongside viewer engagement, other viewer statistics are also recorded and found in the Session Analytics Dashboard.
To access the Session Analytics Dashboard, hover over the video you'd like to check, and then click on the "Stats" icon:
Case #1: Can I tell whether or not students have viewed a session? Will I be able to distinguish whether a student has viewed a session completely or partially?
Case #2: My student swears they viewed the entire video, however, the stats show only 75% completion. Is there a chance the software is incorrect? Or is it possible that they are skipping sections of the video?"
Case #3: If a student watches a 10-minute video at 1.25x speed, will Panopto Statistics report that the entire 10 minutes were viewed (100% completion)?
Case #4: My student reported that their computer crashed while viewing a video. They picked up where they left off and now they are not receiving full credit for viewing the entire video. Is this possible?
Case #1: Viewer engagement is recorded anytime a video is accessed.
When a student clicks and opens a GauchoCast link, Panopto will immediately begin recording that viewer's engagement for that particular session. Whether a student opens a link and immediately closes it, or they sit through and watch it to completion on their first run, you'll be able to confirm through the Session Analytics Dashboard. Look for the "Top Viewers" heading and select "See All" (you may not see this if less than 6 people have watched the session). For each individual student, you'll be able to confirm: the total number of views and downloads, total minutes delivered, average minutes delivered, percent completed, as well as the number of notes or comments recorded by that user. If a student is not listed under "See All Viewers," it's possible they have not clicked on the video yet.
You may also download this information as a CSV spreadsheet file by clicking on the "Top Viewers" link under "Download Reports" at the end of the page.
Case #2: Skipping through a video could result in a completion rating under 100%.
Completion percentages are determined by dividing the video into 100 equal segments, or "blocks", in which each "block" represents 1% of the video. A user will receive full credit for viewing the entire 1% "block" as long as they view at least 1 second from that segment. If a student completely skips any of these segments, they will miss out on 1% completion credit per segment. For example, if a session is 10 minutes long, each 1% segment would amount to about 6 seconds of video. In order for the user to receive the full 100% completion rating, they would need to watch at least 1-second from every 6-second block. If they skip over any of these blocks, they would lose that 1%. If a user skips over several blocks, they will not attain 100% completion.
You may download a session "heatmap" as a CSV spreadsheet file for refined details on user's viewing behaviors. To download the heatmap CSV file, navigate to the Analytics dashboard for a particular video and then click on the "Viewer Engagement" link under "Download Reports." With the heatmap, you'll be able to determine if a user was "skipping through" a video by comparing various "Starting positions" and "minutes delivered." Each row on the spreadsheet represents an independent "viewing session" that is time-stamped. Example below:
Case #3: Playback speed does not affect completion statistics.
If you have a video that is 10 minutes long, and a user watches the video at 1.25x speed, Panopto will report that the user has watched all 10 minutes, aka 100% completion. Viewer playback speed, faster or slower, does not affect the viewer completion percentages.
Case #4: A computer or browser crash could drop some viewer statistics.
Session analytics are updated every 30 seconds. Should a viewer's browser or computer crash, there is a potential of losing the last 30 seconds of that user's viewing statistics. Since analytics are updated every 30 seconds though, that means that the maximum amount of data potentially lost is limited to only 30-seconds worth. When the session is reopened, Panopto resumes recording viewer engagement. Each viewing session is tracked independently, so you'll be able to verify if a computer/browser crash is the reason for an incomplete viewing. See Case #2.