Video Conferencing

Access

To use the service it is necessary to log in with you valid institution credentials to AcademicCloud.

Installation

Web-Access

You can enter the service via the web interface

Behavioural rules

Mute your microphone after entering a room. Only activate your microphone when you are about to say something. This drastically reduces noise during a session. Keyboard shortcut: Alt+Shift+M Only activate your camera if it is required. Especially in large groups, processing multiple live images can become a problem for the performance of your or other users’ devices. It is expected that you respect social courtesies (be polite!). Communication is supposed to be constructive, appreciative and respectful. This also encompasses you not showing up in your pyjama or underwear, but rather in appropriate clothing.

Client Access

Manage

Creating a conference/an online seminar

If you want to create a seminar displayed in course programs please choose the system they should belong to. For example Stud.IP or Moodle.

Conferences created directly via the video conferencing service are not linked to any course. Conference participants can join via in invite link.

Share

Presentations:

There are two options for presenting:

Use “Screen sharing” and use your preferred presentation application (e.g. PowerPoint) to give your presentation. Please consider that audio signals from media playing in your presentation will not be transmitted! Upload your presentation directly into BBB. Supported formats are: pdf, doc, docx, xls, xlsx, ppt, pptx, txt, rtf, odt, ods, odp, odc, odg, odi, jpg, png The following restrictons apply:

BBB will convert uploaded data into PDF format. Animations inside of presentations may be lost due to this. Slides that are hidden will not be shown after the converting process. Converting Word or other text documents may lead to hardly readable results. BBB will convert uploaded data into PDF format. Animations inside of presentations may be lost due to this. Slides that are hidden will not be shown after the converting process. Converting Word or other text documents may lead to hardly readable results. Information:

Use the chat function or shared notes for exchanging information belonging to the sessions topic. Before closing/leaving the session the user can save the chat record.

Groups

With “Breakout rooms”, you can create up to 8 additional rooms for group work. The rooms are independent from the session’s home room. When creating breakout rooms, you can set a time limit. After this time, the breakout rooms will be dissolved. Please beware that content created inside a breakout room (e.g. sketches, shared notes, …) may be lost if the time limit is up. A new tab will open for the users and put them inside their respective breakout room. Each user can switch from a breakout room to the home room at any time to contact you. Within a breakout room, each user becomes a moderator.It is not possible to rename breakout rooms. The last slide shown in the main room is displayed in breakout rooms. Within the breakout rooms, each group can hold their own conference. You as a moderator of the home room can join the breakout rooms. To create breakout rooms

Click the cogwheel next to “Users” (located above the user list). Choose “Create breakout rooms”. Provide the number of rooms and time limit you wish for. Decide whether users should be assigned at random or if you should be able to choose a room by their own. You can alternatively drag-and-drop each user into a room specified to manually assign their rooms. Click on “Create”.

Preferences

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User manual(s)

The official user manual can be found here.

Additionally there are several tutorials available. For example here: https://bigbluebutton.org/html5/

FAQs

Q: Can I use my mobile device (tablet or mobile phone) to participate?

Yes. Big Blue Button is a web application that works in most current web browsers. Also for mobile devices, we recommend the usage of a headset! ATTENTION: please consider the increased data rate for a mobile connection (3G/4G/5G)! If you participate in multiple sessions, your data volume may not be sufficient until the end of the month. ATTENTION: functionality is limited on Safari. For iPads, Safari is the browser recommended by BBB. On iPads, Safari is working reliably, while using Firefox may lead to problems. To have a better performance, it is recommended to open the options menu in the conference at the top right and deactivate web cams (“Options” → “Settings” → “Data savings” → untoggle “Enable webcams”). Otherwise, more than 8-10 webcams can lead to a crash.

Q: My Laptop has a microphone and speakers. It that sufficient?

For listing only: yes. For active participation: no. The built in components of a laptop typically produce feedback (loud sharp noise) and echo effects. Built in microphones also transmit keyboard presses and touches on the laptop case. Online sessions require polite considerateness. Should you continuously produce sounds or disturb others, you have to expect that a moderator may mute you or even remove you from a session. Such problems do not occur when using a headset. Also more simple headphones as they are often included when purchasing a mobile phone should be sufficient.

Q: Do I require a webcam?

This depends on the type of course (lecture, seminar, tutorial, …) and on the moderators / lecturers. Please ask them.

Q: Which browser is best suited for being used with BBB?

Generally, BBB is compatible with all modern browsers, but it is possible that certain functionality is not available when using Safari or Firefox.

We thus emphasize the usage of browsers based on Chromium (Google Chrome, Vivaldi, Microsoft Edge versions 79 and higher).

Q: I have received a link. What am I supposed to do?

Login with your credentials (email address and corresponding password) on Video Conferencing Click the link or copy it into the address bar of your browser (Firefox, Chrome, Safari, Vivaldi). If necessary, enter the passcode that should be provided to you with the link. Your name (to change the name, see “The displayed name is my account name”) will be displayed automatically. If this is not the case, enter your name. Click on “Join”. Chose how you want to participate in the session, “microphone” or “listen only”. We recommend that you always chose the microphone, since changing this later is a little cumbersome. In case that you do not intend to speak directly, you can mute yourself after joining. Should you have chosen “microphone”, a echo test will follow, that tests the functionality of microphone and speakers/headphones. This process may need a couple of seconds.

Q: Is BigBlueButton barrier free?

Yes. BBB reaches level AA for WCAG 2.0 with the following exception:

Shown presentations and documents have to be created in a barrier free manner to provide completely barrier free access. The functionality “Shared Notes” is not barrier free. The subtitle function is only partially barrier free. The help section is not barrier free. Source

Q: I have clicked on “listen only” and now I cannot participate in the session

Click on the headset symbol and leave the audio session. Then press on the now displayed crossed out telephone handset. Choose “microphone” to join the session with your microphone. Now you can participate in the session.

Q: Can I change the language?

Click on the three dots in the top right corner (Options). Click on “Settings”. Here you can choose the application language.