Video Q&A

This is a site where you can find most frequently asked questions regarding videos and different video applications used in the Tampere Universities community. This site will be updated regularly, so you might want to routinely check the tips. All in all, sit back and find new ways to refresh your way of working or make a few new application acquittances. What’s more important, do not forget that you are not alone (even whilst teleworking), you can always ask your colleagues, Digimentors or IT Helpdesk for ideas and technical support.

What do I need?

Reflect first what you would like to do with videos (e.g. live meetings, streaming or recording your PowerPoint presentation) and what kind of qualities (e.g. chat or just voice-over) should your video tool possess. Then choose the corresponding video tool.

  • Panopto: a video service which offers diverse ways to share videos and create new content in Tampere higher education community. Videos can be shared inside or outside the community and service makes it possible to stream and record events. With Panopto you can record and stream lectures or seminars using your own laptop or mobile device, share videos for TUNI Moodle course students, create video assignments in TUNI Moodle and create and share flipped classroom videos for students. Read more and how to use Panopto here.
  • Zoom: a video meeting service used by the Tampere University community. It enables video and audio connections, screen and material sharing, as well as small group work using Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS and Android devices. Zoom can be used to organize online meetings, remote lectures and webinars with large numbers of participants. With Zoom you can share your screen and material, chat, use whiteboard, do polls and quizzes, divide students into smaller groups (breakout rooms) and do video recording. Read more and how to use Zoom here.
  • Teams: a service that enables you to organize online meetings with groups and individual participants. Participants can share their video, audio and desktop through Teams. Microsoft Teams also works with the TUNI Groups service, so when you create a TUNI Group for your group, a collaborative Teams space will also be created for your group into Teams. Teams space offers communication and collaboration tools that combines instant messaging capabilities and video conferencing with tools for collaborative writing, task assignment and videos. Read more and how to use here.
What should I do?

You can find the applications described above direct from your work computer or you can download them from Software Center. Download it via TUNI VPN. Some of the applications can be used with web brownser and some with your TUNI account.

Interaction in teleconference and in distance education:

How can I create interaction in real-time distance education?

This all depends how many participants you have in your meeting. With small amount of people, it is possible to use microphones, but with more members it is reasonable to ask questions beforehand or encourage them to ask questions and give comments on the chat. Then of course the moderator (you) would have to check the chat from time to time. Both Zoom and Teams have the chat option.

Video adds feeling of presence. During sessions with many participants it is recommended to have the video off, hence the video strains the internet connections. However, the speaker can always turn the video on, for example during introductions.

You might want to consider also, whether you can give some advance work before the live meeting or if you can continue working afterwards on Moodle (or on some other platform e.g. wikiplatform). This way you can during the live session answer to the most complex questions and the simpler questions could be answered on some other way (or perhaps students could search for the right answer by themselves?).

In Zoom you can also use the Poll function, which you can use with larger number of participants as well. Do the poll beforehand and share it during the meeting.

I would like to divide students into smaller groups. How do I do that?

In Zoom you have the option called Breakout Rooms. Read more here: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/206476313

You can divide participants into smaller groups beforehand or during the meeting. You can also time, how long participants “stay” in their designated room. The Host (admin of the room) can “move” from room to room if wanted. Persons with Co-host can not automatically move, you must add them manually to the rooms.

What kind of tools there are in Zoom to support interaction?

With Zoom you can share your screen and material, chat, use whiteboard, do polls and quizzes, divide students into smaller groups (breakout rooms) and do video recording. Read more and how to use Zoom here.

How is it possible to co-write documents even though there is no shared memo in Zoom or in Teams?

In Zoom there is Whiteboard, which you can use for sketching and brainstorming. For longer texts, you might want to use a shared document. If you have created a Teams space for you group, you can easily share a Word document or a OneNote document for co-writing. During the live session one can of course share one’s screen and the others can suggest what to write.

Recording and publication:

How do I load a Panopto video to Moodle?

On TUNI Moodle you can create a Panopto section, from where you can load your video. Watch a hands-on video here. (Unfortunately, it is only in Finnish, but you’ll see where you must click.) If there are teachers outside the Tampere University community, they can also get the right to load Panopto content to Moodle. Watch a hands-on video here. (Unfortunately, this video is also only in Finnish.)

With what tool can I edit a recording made in Teams or Zoom?

If you publish the video with Panopto, you can also edit your video with it. You can for example cut off silences in the beginning or at the end. It is also possible to insert another piece of video or pictures to your original video, if you get excited by editing.

Where is my Zoom recording saved to? Can I change the default folder?

Your recording will be saved by default into Documents > Zoom Folder after the meeting has ended. You can change the default folder, if you please. You can choose for example your OneDrive folder.

What is a proper duration for an educational video? What should I take into consideration whilst creating a recording (pedagogically and technically)?

This is a good question with many versatile answers. Creating a recording for students who cannot participate is better than leaving students just hanging on reading materials. However, if you want to exceed yourself and gain competence in videomaking, you can do recordings from your sessions and then edit those into smaller fragments and post those videos on Moodle. Or you can use only voice-over with your PowerPoint presentation.

From here you can find instructions on Panopto.

How do I create a return folder for students’ audio/video assignments?

Firstly, you can use Panopto. On Panopto you can create a folder, where students have right to publish video and audio files. There’s a direct linkage between Moodle and Panopto, so you’ll be able to get a direct link to the videos and audio files. Go to Moodle > Course Settings > Overview > Create Assignment Folder. You can rename the folder from Settings.

Secondly, you can use Stream from O365. This is an easy alternative, if you have already a TUNI Groups (e.g. Teams, SharePoint) group for students or if you have a small number of participants. You can find more info about TUNI Groups here.

How do I create a Moodle assignment, in which students can turn in videos for others to watch and comment?

This can be done with Panopto. After you have created an Assignment Folder to your Moodle platform, students are able to link their videos to messages in the conversation area. Please, find more information from these links: From Here you can read how to record video assignments with mobile devices and from here with a computer. Please see also this site, since there is info how teacher can do the same.

Other Questions:

Is it possible to give Host rights in Zoom to someone outside the Tampere Universities community?

Yes, you can give Host rights to a person outside the Tampere Universities community. You can do this, when the person enters a meeting, not beforehand. In the meeting you can find the button to do this by the person’s name.

How can I upload Zoom and Panopto to my computer?

Read instructions here. Please take safe teleworking also into consideration.

You can upload both applications from Software Center, which you can find from your computer by using the Search tool (magnifying glass at the left corner of your screen.) Make sure you have VPN Connection on and after uploading you may have to restart your computer. Please note, that this is possible only for members of the Tampere Universities community (mainly staff members) and who have a computer provided by employer.

What application should be used, if the instructor/teacher is the only one without a TUNI account?

If everyone else have TUNI accounts and can access the systems provided by the Tampere Universities, it is possible to add this one person without the TUNI account to Teams and Zoom. Important is that this person can cooperate with someone who has the rights and access (e.g. a staff member). The staff member can create a meeting on behalf of the instructor.

Once the meeting is created and it has started the staff member can give host rights to the instructor. However, please note, that in Zoom can each person have only one meeting at a time. This means that one person cannot create all the rooms, if they should be active simultaneously. In Teams this kind of restriction does not apply, but please notice that the possible recording is saved only to the meeting’s host. Afterwards the host must share the recording with everyone (e.g. via Moodle.)

Is it possible to use Zoom in my mobile phone?

Yes, it is possible. You can use both Zoom and Teams on your mobile phone, just go and download the application from your phone’s App Store.

Should I keep my video on during a Zoom meeting?

You may keep your video on during a meeting, but it is recommended not to do so. This is, because if many the participants have their video on, it strains the internet connection and sometimes as a result the quality of audio or video weakens significantly. If you wish to have video on, you can use it e.g. during introduction and turn it off afterwards. Please notice that you can use audio and chat all the time without weakening the connection.

What is the maximum participant number in Teams or in Zoom?

The maximum number of participants in Teams is 250 and in Zoom 300. Please note that in Zoom you can use Stream and that carries over 300 participants.

I have already created a Zoom account (not TUNI account), so how do I get my personal Zoom account combined with my TUNI account? I accidentally incorrectly logged in Zoom, so how can I now use my Zoom account with my TUNI account?

Please follow the following steps:

  • Open Zoom OSOITE and sign in.
  • When Zoom asks you to confirm your E-mail, please confirm this.
  • You’ll get an E-mail with a link, so please open it.
  • Choose from the page the option Switch account, and combine your Zoom profile with your TUNI account.
What should I consider?

If you face any obstacles, please do not hesitate to ask guidance from your colleagues, Digimentors or IT Helpdesk (it-helpdesk@tuni.fi / helpdesk.tuni.fi ). We all are here for you!

Find more information:

In Intra there are many useful sites how to work with videos. Please check them out!