Training videos hosted on SharePoint?

Question

Rather than drag the whole company into training when we roll out a new project, we have started developing short training videos. We'd like to host these in our SharePoint (MOSS) intranet and

1. Track who has clicked on the video to watch it
2. If possible, track who has watched the video to the end

Is this somehow possible using SharePoint?

I know one option might be to deploy the Podcasting Kit for SharePoint. Has anyone got any experiences to share about that?

Answer 1

Yes, I've spent a decent number of hours on Podcast Kit deployment, and it is very much suited to the use case you're describing. We have been reasonably happy with it, but we also have a staff of relatively knowledgeable SharePoint developers and admins. You should keep a few caveats in mind if you want to use it though:

• It's really a hodge-podge of a lot of different components (many solutions, features, custom field types, etc). This shows when you want to figure out a change
• Be careful if you plan to host this on a "shared" SharePoint farm with, say, a bunch of team sites. You'll have lots of new things showing up in your environment that you may not want users messing with (e.g. a "Network File Store" field type that can be added to any list)
• In any given "release" there are going to be bugs, so be prepared to deal with them. There may also be some parts you don't have source code to. For instance, I never could find all the source code necessary to build the IS Content Query Web Part that is used for creating the views on most of the pages
• You'll need a license of Expression Encoder, so it's not really quite free
• Most of the functions in PKS (outside of re-encoding on the server) are doable out-of-the-box or at least without deploying any code to the server in SP2010. There's an internal MS whitepaper that has detailed steps on how to do just that. So you may want to hold off and look at that as an option if you can wait a couple of months.
• The download tracker only tells you if the user has downloaded a video, not whether they have watched it

Answer 2

We like the MS Productivity Hub

from sharepoint for end users

If you’re looking to reduce training and support costs or drive end-user technology adoption in your organization, you might be interested in checking out the Productivity Hub.

The Productivity Hub is a downloadable SharePoint Server 2007 site collection that is pre-populated with over 300 pieces of content about Office programs (including SharePoint Server!). The content includes videos, documents, and PowerPoint slides. It’s a great solution for organizations that block Internet access—including access to Office Online — but want to support end-user technology needs.

In addition to offering end-user productivity resources, the Hub features training for "coaches," or power users internal to each customer. Coaches reduce the burden on training and helpdesk staff by adding another level of support.

Microsoft will provide quarterly content updates beginning August 2009. Future content additions for Windows 7 are planned. The Productivity Hub will eventually be upgraded to SharePoint Server 2010 and Microsoft will have a migration path for customers currently using the SharePoint Server 2007 Hub.

An online demo of the Productivity Hub is available, and you can download it directly from the Microsoft Download Center.

Answer 3

If you want to set up training I recommend you to take a look at the SharePoint Learning Kit at http://slk.codeplex.com/

/WW

Answer 4

I've seen some SharePoint training organizations using CloudShare for virtual training. It includes VMs you can build in minutes, preinstalled/licensed SharePoint templates and a lot of other functionality so you don't need to invest in physical servers - http://www.cloudshare.com/proplus. Also take a look at Asif Rehmani's e-learning - http://www.sharepoint-videos.com.