Features

There are several features available in BigBlueButton, which you can use (accordingly to the number of participants) in order to support you students with their collaborative working process and exchange.

• Chat: All participants of the videoconference are free to use a public chat in order to communicate, ask questions or give feedback to each other. There is also the opportunity to use a private chat (direct messaging). You can deactivate this feature, for instance if there is a large number of participant.
• Status messages: By using status messages participants can communicate nonverbally in case they want to say something (status signal feature). Afterwards you can invite the participants to speak in turns.
• Shared notes: In BigBlueButton you can write notes which are visible for all participants and can be developed collaboratively.
• Whiteboard: By using the whiteboard you can visually support your videoconference. For instance, you can use the whiteboard in order to welcome your participants to the sessions and to illustrate your agenda. In addition to this, it is possible to collaboratively (multi user) make a note of discussion arguments or results. You could also use the whiteboard in order to conduct a brainstorming or to test the public opinion (barometer of public opinion).
• Upload presentations: During the videoconference you can upload your materials/slides directly in BigBlueButton (please be careful to convert it beforehand in PDF, as the file size should be as small as possible). If you provide your participants with the role of a presenter, they can also upload materials.
• Screensharing: Content which is not part of the session (e.g. documents or webbrowser tabs) can be presented to your participants by sharing your screen. If you provide your participants with the role of a presenter, they can also share their screen.
• Vote: You can use the feature survey during your videoconference in order to test the participants’ opinions (barometer of public opinion) or to check the learning processes.
• Breakout Rooms: By using breakout rooms, you can divide the participants into smaller groups. Those smaller groups are relocated into separate sessions for a certain amount of time. Students can then talk about the contents of the teaching course, discuss certain aspects or present results.