From 1.9.2022
BigBlueButton (BBB) once again offers several improvements and new features:
Number of participants
The number of participants in a BBB meeting was increased to 250 (instead of 150).
New features for breakout rooms
Change duration
You can now easily increase or decrease the duration of breakout rooms while they are active. To do this, first select Breakout Rooms in the left column. In the second column you will now see the time display. On the right above you will find the options menu for the breakout rooms (three dots), from which you can select Change duration.
Below the time display, you can now enter how many minutes the breakout rooms should still be open. Save your entry via the Apply button.
If you change the duration, the participants will be informed about the new duration in the public chats of the breakout rooms.
Messages to all rooms
You can now send a text message to all breakout rooms. To do this, first click on Breakout Rooms in the left column. Below the time display you will then find the input field for your message. You can send the message by pressing the Enter key on your keyboard or by clicking on the arrow symbol (Send message) on the right hand side of the input field.
The message will be displayed in the public chat of each breakout room.
New features for waiting rooms
Display of the position in the queue
Moderators will see the waiting users in the order they joined. If a moderator accepts or rejects a user, the position of all waiting users behind them is updated.
A participant who enters the virtual guest lobby sees their queue position on their waiting screen.
Private messages to waiting participants
While participants are waiting in the lobby, the moderators can send them private messages. To do this, first click Waiting Users in the left column and then click Message (speach bubble icon) in the second column for the person you want to send a message to. An input field for the message will appear. You can send the message by pressing the Enter key on your keyboard or by clicking on the arrow symbol on the right hand side of the input field (Send message).
The message is displayed to the participant on their waiting screen.
Attention: The waiting persons cannot answer your messages!
New features of the whiteboard
Hide cursor
In the multi-user mode of a whiteboard, you can set that only ones own cursor is displayed. To do this, click on the gear icon on the right above the list of participants (Manage users) and select the option Lock viewers from the drop-down menu.
In the following list you will find the option See other viewers cursors at the very bottom. Here, click on the slider icon in the Status column so that the bar turns red and the note Locked is displayed.
Moderators can see the cursors of all participants in any case. This can be used, for example, to have students point to a specific element on a graph. You can check who has found the correct solution, but the students are not influenced by the actions of the others.
New features for polls
Multiple answers
You can now create polls that allow users to select more than one answer. To do this, tick the Allow multiple answers per respondent option when creating a poll.
All answers are taken into account in the distribution diagram and in the case of non-anonymous surveys the moderators see multiple answers from one person separated by commas.
Other improvements in BBB
Pin webcam
You can pin a webcam to keep it always visible. To do this, click on the name that appears in the camera image and select Pin from the drop-down menu.
Snapshot of the current slide with annotations
To capture the current slide including the annotations, you can now create a PNG image. To do this, click on the options menu (three dots) at the top right of the slide or whiteboard and select the Snapshot of current slide option from the drop-down menu. This option is also available to the participants.
