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The BigBlueButton activity is intended to be used only once or for the duration of a session. |
Part 1 - Preparation and implementation in Moodle
Adding a session to Moodle
To use BigBlueButton as part of your Moodle course, you first have to integrate it by selecting Add an activity or resource.
Configuration
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9. Save your settings and return to the course page.
Accessing the virtual classroom
1. Open a BigBlueButton-activity on the course page .
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Please have only one browser tab or window open, when clicking Join session as it may occur that the session will not be assigned to the right activity. |
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If you have activated the option to use the external guest access link (within the BigBlueButton activity settings), persons without a u:account can also access your session.
They will be redirected to an invitation page, where they can login to the session.
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This access code needs to be generated manually by using the button 
(on the right of the field). With this button you can also generate a new one, if necessary.
Further you can copy the access code to your clipboard 
or delete it entirely 
, so that participants accessing the session via guest link don't need any access code to participate again.
Ending a session
There are three ways to end a session:
- Automatically when the time period you specified under Schedule for session ends.
- Manually by clicking the End session button on the Moodle page of the session. This button will be displayed on the right-hand side of the “Join” button as soon as a session is started (see screenshot).
- You can also end a session from inside the session by clicking on the "End meeting" in the menu on the top right corner.
Part 2 - Using BigBlueButton
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By default, BigBlueButton is displayed in the language you selected for your web browser. You can change this setting manually any time by clicking on Settings. |
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You have to pass all of the following steps to set up your audio successfully. |
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If your internet connection is unstable, you can switch on the data saving mode. In this mode, all webcam streams are switched off and only the presentation is shown. To activate the data saving mode:
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Functions
You can use the following functions to customise the session:
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You can find information about editing the permissions of participating students under Editing participant permissions.
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You can upload a presentation when creating the activity. If you have not done so, you can do it also during a running session.
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Please have a look at the further information in our FAQs concerning the use of links and animations within your files! |
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If you selected in the settings the instance type Room/Activity with recordings, you can record your session in the BigBlueButton virtual classroom. The recording includes audio, video, presentations or your desktop screen.
Using this option allows you to record the session and make it accessible to students afterwards. This is especially useful for large courses, since the maximum number of session participants is 100.
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To make in your session a recording only without students present (cf. Screencast, ...), you can hide the activity after adding it to Moodle and change the visibility again when your recording is ready. note: The button presentation for playing the recording will not be visible – also for teachers – as long as the activity is hidden. |
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You can open a shared notepad by clicking Shared Notes above the list of participants on the left-hand side of the screen. It will be displayed on the right to this list, instead of the chat.
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- Bold
- Italic
- Underline
- Strikethrough
- Ordered list
- Unordered list
- Undo most recent action
- Redo most recently undone action
- Export all notes as file
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You can decide to share audio and video via the bar at the bottom in the middle of your screen:
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- Click the left button to restore your default settings. If you accidentally chose the wrong settings when entering the virtual classroom, you can rectify that here.
- Click the middle button to turn your webcam on and off.
- Click the right button to start or stop sharing your screen.
Info You can share the entire screen, single windows or tabs of the current browser or a specific window of an opened application (according to the used browser).
It is only possible to share only windows of applications which are currently in the front of the window/ tab of the browser, where you want to start the screen sharing (> the window/ tab where the videoconference tool has been opened).
Application windows which are minimised or in the back of the window/ tab of the browser, where the session of videoconference tool is running, won't be shown in the list of available windows.
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You can communicate with all students through public chat or with individual users through private chat.
Click on the person you want to chat with in the bar on the left. For every new message you receive you will see the number of unread messages as white number displayed on a red background.
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Click the plus button on the bottom left and select Share an external video to share videos from external video providers.
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External videos will not be part of a recording! |
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You can find tools to interact with your slides with on the right-hand side in the middle.
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You can get feedback from your students by using the polling tool.
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We recommend that you create a dedicated slide on which the poll question as well as all answer choices with their respective letters (max. A-E) are displayed. |
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During a your session you can split the participant group into sub-groups for discussions in so called breakout rooms. Basically, several Several session rooms are opened next to the main room, where two or more participants can discuss an assignment via audio, video or chat. After a predefined time span all participants are automatically redirected back to the main room.
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A window appears, where you can choose out of select from the following optionssettings:
- the number of the breakout rooms (2–8)
- the duration of the working phase in the breakout rooms
- whether participants will be allowed to choose by themselves, which room to join
- an option for an automatic random distribution of participants to rooms
- the possibility to assign rooms to participant by hand
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When your setup is ready, click Create. Participants who were assigned to a breakout rooms room are asked, whether they want to enter the breakout session. To end the breakout session, you they can choose Logout in the menu in the upper right corner to get back into the main room.
If moderators allowed participants to change rooms by themselves, they can also change the rooms by choosing Breakout rooms in the panel on the left. Moderators can also end the breakout sessions by clicking End all breakout rooms.
Anchor Berechtigungen Berechtigungen
Editing participant permissions
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You can edit the participant permissions control, what participants will be able to do during a session on the left side of the screen. Next to the heading Users you can click the gear icon and select Lock viewers:
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| Share webcam | Here you can define whether students can share their webcam with others. The default setting is that students cannot share their webcam.
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| See other viewer webcams | Here you can define who , whether students will be seeing other student's webcams or if just moderators can see shared webcamsthem. The default setting is that only moderators can see shared webcams. | ||
| Share microphone | Here you can define whether allow students can decide to share their microphone. The default setting is that only moderators can decide to share microphones. | ||
| Send Public chat messages | Here you can define whether students can write messages in the public chat that can be read by all participants. The default setting is that all students can write messages in the public chat. | ||
| Send Private chat messages | Here you can define whether students can send private messages to participants who are visible to them. Click “See other users in the list of users” to define which participants can be seen by studentsbelow to make students see the names of all other participants. The default setting is that students can send private messages to all participants who are visible to them (in this casewith default settings: only moderators). | ||
| Edit Shared Notes | Here you can define whether students can also create and edit notes in the shared notepad. The default setting is that students cannot edit shared notes. | ||
| See other users in the Users list | Here you can define whether students can see other students in the list of users. The default setting is that only moderators can see all students. Students can only see themselves and all moderators. |
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Please note, that users have to connect their reconnect audio again, if you have granted them the right to activate their microphone. Users must click on the button Leave audio |
Session configurationAnchor Einstellungen Einstellungen
Click the button on the top right of your screen and select Settings.
Here you can edit several basic settings:
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Closing a session
There are a few different several ways to end a session, after which so students can will no longer open the session in BigBlueButtonbe able to enter it.
- After the scheduled duration has passed
- All When all moderators leave have left the virtual classroom
- Moderators manually end A moderators ended the session manually
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Recorded presentation / webmeeting
If you have selected the instance type Room/Activity with recordings, you can make recordings in the BigBlueButton virtual classroom.
The recording will only be made accessible to students a short time after the session has ended.
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The button presentation will not be visible - – also for teachers - – as long as the activity is hidden. |
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semesters
If you hold more than one lecture with Moodle at the same time or in a further semester and you want want to reuse existing recordings of BigBlueButton in another Moodle course, you can link them to a further another BBB-activity in that new course.
In the first step you have to add a new BigBlueButton activity in the course where you want to use the recordings or import the whole activity using the function import (description German only).
Please now switch Switch to the new BigBlueButton activity and press the button Import recording links.
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In the next step please choose the Moodle course (via the dropdown menu), where you want to link some recordings from.
All available recordings of the choosen chosen course will be listed afterwards and you can choose the recordings you want to import by clicking the icon 
(Import) in the column Toolbar.
Please press the button Go back after importing, to check whether all the needed recordings were linked.
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- What information do I have to give to students for them to be able to join the session?
You can find instructions for students under BigBlueButton for students. - Can I record my session?
Yes, you can record a session at any time. - Who has the moderator permissions in BigBlueButton?
All roles in users of the Moodle course with editing permissions (i.e. teachers, tutors, clerical assistants) will be assigned the moderator role. - Why can some of my students not hear me?
This can have multiple causes. Please consult the troubleshooting tips on the information page for students. I get the message "ICE negotiation failed (Error 1007)". How can I solve this?
This error occurs because of the settings of your local firewall (of your device). BigBlueButton needs for some functions the permission of permissions to pass your firewall, e.g. to be able to share audio and webcam or to share any content.
It could happen especially Especially with networks of companies. If so, these permissions are not granted. If you get this error, please contact your system administrator.
For IP adresses addresses in the range of 131.130.* (131.130.1.*, 131.130.4.* und and 131.130.106.*) the UDP ports no. 16384 - – 32768 have to be availableopen.- Is it possible to join the session on a smartphone?
In general, it is possible to both lead and participate in sessions on a smartphone. However, your experience may be limited due to a reduced screen size and if the weaker Internet connection of a your phone is limited. - Can I lead sessions on a tablet?
You should not experience any problems when leading sessions on a tablet. - Can students download annotations on the slides or whiteboard directly?
Unfortunately, this is not possible. For more information and links, please see Writing/Drawing on slides (whiteboard). - Students cannot access recordings, although they should be visible to them...
In some cases the view of the table for recordings is incomplete. E. g. as a teacher you are able to watch the recordings, but students can't. We are already working on fixing this.
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I use hyperlinks and/ or animations in my presentation or a PDF document, but I'm not able to use them? Why it doesn't work or how I can use them?Anchor praesentation_inhalt praesentation_inhalt
In BigBlueButton all uploaded files get converted into graphsSVG-graph-files (one graph per page or slide) and so further , dynamic content is not included in the presented screens.
To be able to use such content, please open the file locally on your computer and use the function Sharing screen instead.- I am not able to view a recording - I see a blank white screen when I click on "presentation"!
If you go to a BBB activity you will see the button "presentation" next to each available recording .
In will be visible right away, although in the backend the video file will be is still being loaded at the same time, which might not be finished immediately. This could happen especially with large recordingswhen there are many recordings attached to one session. In general it is sufficient to wait a few seconds before clicking until the icon in your browser-tab stops spinning and then to click the button "presentation" or refreshing . You can also try to refresh the site (F5). - I did made some recordings in another a course, can I use them in further other courses too?
Yes, you can use the function "Import recording links" within a new created BigBlueButton activity. Here you can link to existing recordings of another BigBlueButton activity, so that students can access them. - The quality of my recording(s) is poor. What can I do to improve this?
In a first step you could turn off the option to share microphone and webcam for participants (e.g. during a presentation). Furthermore you shouldn't run a session in BigBlueButton, while you are connected to the university network via VPN. - I would like to play audio/ video during my lecture.
In BigBlueButton you only could play audio or video from external resources.
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