Three Huskycast features you should know about

Huskycast

Huskycast is Michigan Tech’s branded Panopto video platform. In the years leading up to the pandemic we saw a steady increase in video usage, both in lecture capture recordings and in content uploaded to the system. With the dramatic shift to remote instruction over the last year video usage has exploded (not surprisingly). With more users than ever creating and/or viewing content in Huskycast let’s review three great features that you may not know about.

Panopto-Zoom Integration

Many instructors are using Zoom to provide a synchronous remote environment for their course meetings. The ability to record Zoom sessions is a great way to allow students to review the class sessions again, or to catch up on sessions they may have missed. With the use of a recurring Zoom cloud meeting instructors can automatically have their recordings transferred to a designated Huskycast course folder in Canvas. This can save you lots of time managing content between Zoom and Huskycast and all students enrolled in the associated Canvas course automatically have access to view the recordings. You don’t need to manually share links to the recordings either, since students can just click on the Huskycast course link and select the recording they wish to view. You can learn more about this integration and contact elearning with any questions. Don’t forget to enable the audio-transcript option in your Zoom recording so that a transcript file will transfer to Huskycast along with the Zoom recording.

Video Assignments

Looking to provide your students with an alternative mode for demonstrating competency of your course objectives (multiple means of action and expression)? Why not consider using video? Huskycast allows instructors to create video-based assignments that students can submit directly in Canvas. Students can use the available recording tools in Huskycast to create their video, use other video software, or just record on their phone. When they’re ready they can upload the video either directly in the Canvas video assignment, or into the Huskycast assignment folder in the course. By default student-submitted videos are viewable by only the instructor (and the submitting student), but you have the option to allow other students to view and comment on videos if desired. Some examples of effective video assignments:

  • Student introductions
  • Video-based discussion post
  • Multimedia-based final project presentation
  • Student teach-back session (students explain new concepts they recently learned)

Embedded Quizzes

A low-stakes knowledge check can be a good pedagogical tool for measuring student comprehension during instruction. In Huskycast you can add a quiz and ask one or more questions within your videos. This quiz allows learners to verify comprehension and can give them confidence to learn deeper. When building the quiz you can require correct answers before moving on, or just provide correct answers. You can even create Canvas assignments tied to a Huskycast quiz and have the points earner for correct responses be recorded in the Canvas grade book. Multiple choice, multiple answer, true/false, and fill in the blank questions types are available in Panopto-Huskycast quizzes.

Resources

Need Help?

Contact the elearning support team in the Jackson Center for Teaching and Learning if you have questions about Canvas, Huskycast, Zoom or other educational technology tools.

elearning@mtu.edu | 487-3000