New Panopto research: Video-based learning delivers measurable learning gains, and AI is making it easier for students to access

Global study of 760 students finds video already delivers measurable grade and time gains, but institutions risk losing students to ungoverned AI tools unless they close gaps in findability, trust, and usability

PITTSBURGH, Sept. 1, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Panopto, the global leader in AI-powered video knowledge management, today released The Next Era of Video-Based Learning, new research conducted in partnership with Hanover Research. The study surveyed 760 higher education students across the United States, Europe, and Asia-Pacific, and found that video-based learning already delivers results, but generative AI has reset what students expect from it.

Three-quarters of students (77%) say video-based learning saves them an hour or more of study time each week, 69% report a grade improvement of six percentage points or higher, and 98% report at least some measurable gain. The challenge is students' ability to access specific knowledge within a video or video library to support self-directed study: 38% struggle to locate a particular topic inside a recording, and roughly a third point to missing summaries or missing chapter markers as the reason.

That phenomenon shows up in how students use recorded lectures: rewinding, skipping ahead, hunting for one specific explanation, scrubbing back and forth until they find the moment they need. It's not a new behavior. Now more than ever, students need efficient, personalized access to materials to keep up with coursework. 

Generative AI, paired with curated, accurate visual knowledge, meets students where they need it most. Ninety-one percent of students now use AI in some form to study, nearly two-thirds several times a week or more, and 36% daily. But AI without curation erodes students' success. More than half of the students who avoid AI altogether (56%) say they simply don't trust the accuracy of what it generates, and over a third of the students who do use it (35%) worry about being accused of an academic-integrity violation just for using it, a fear serious enough to shape behavior even among frequent users. Pairing AI with content created, curated, and organized by faculty and instructional designers eliminates those fears and powers students to find accurate answers efficiently.

"Great pedagogy empowers students to own their learning, guided by caring and thoughtful faculty," said Stephen Laster, CEO of Panopto. "Our research shows students already trust and rely on the video their instructors create and curate. What's changed is how we can help them access specific questions and answers through the safe application of Generative AI. We are already seeing the positive impact of AI-powered findability on student engagement, student success, and faculty impact."

By the numbers:

• 77% save an hour or more of study time each week using video-based learning; 69% report a grade gain of six points or more
• 84% of students with AI built directly into their video tools rate it very or extremely valuable to how they study
• 91% of students use AI in some form to study; 65% several times a week or more, 36% daily

Video has proven it scales the reach of good instruction. The research suggests AI as the mechanism to drive findability accelerates student success.

View the full findings of The Next Era of Video-Based Learning here.

About Panopto
Panopto is a global leader in AI-powered video knowledge management, used by more than 13 million learners each month across 1,600+ higher education institutions in over 70 countries, including 22 of the world's top 25 universities. Originally developed as a research project at Carnegie Mellon University more than 20 years ago, Panopto's platform helps institutions turn recorded expertise into searchable, trusted knowledge.

About Hanover Research
Founded in 2003 and headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, Hanover Research is a global research and analytics firm serving more than 1,000 clients through a fixed-fee market intelligence model. The American Marketing Association has named Hanover a Top 50 Market Research Firm every year since 2015.

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SOURCE Panopto