• Improved performance and enhanced pen, text and note tools.
• Download of complete presentations including annotations possible, which can be made available for download to all participants via the "send to chat" function
• Whiteboards from the group rooms can be exported to the main room
• Notes from the group rooms can be exported to the main room

Further information and notes on the updated whiteboard can be found here.

BigBlueButton is a GDPR-compliant web conferencing system. There are two different ways to create a room with the BigBlueButton conferencing system. You can create BigBlueButton rooms directly in your Moodle course or use the web interface Webconf.

For detailed instructions on how to create each room, see "How do I create a room for BigBlueButton in Moodle?" and "How do I create a room for BigBlueButton in Webconf?".

To create a conference room, first click on the "Turn on editing" button at the top right of your Moodle course. Then click on "Add an activity or resource" and select "BigBlueButton" within the menu selection. Now you are in the settings for the conference room.

In the tab "General settings" you can enter a name for the conference room and, if youn want, add a description. This can then be seen in the Moodle overview under the room you have created.

We skip the tab "Lock settings", as these settings are unfortunately not transferred to BigBlueButton. Within the tab "Role assigned during live session" you can appoint another person with teacher rights as moderator in advance. To do this, select "User" in the left drop-down field and the desired name in the right drop-down field. Click on "Add" and change the role to "Moderator".

In the tab "Schedule for sessions" you can define from when and until when participants are allowed access to the conference. First activate the checkbox and then set the day and time as desired. On the tab "Common module settings" you have the option of initially hiding the created room from the course participants, so that it will not be displayed on the course page for the time being.Finally, click on "Save and return to course" to display the overview page of the created conference room. Click on the button "Participate" to open a new browser tab with the created Big Blue Button room.

To create a BigBlueButton room via the web interface, first click on the URL https://webconf.hs-fulda.de/b/signin within your browser. Click on the "Login" button in the upper right corner. Log in with your fd number and the corresponding password. After you have accepted the cookies, you will be taken to your start room. This is your personal room. You can pass on the link to your room to anyone you like at any time by clicking on the "Copy" button. You can create as many additional rooms as you like via the "Create room" button. Assign a room name and make the first settings. Click on the "Create room" button to display a new tile with the room you have just created. The corresponding link is again displayed in the bar directly above. Using the 3 dots on the right-hand side of the button, you can adjust the room settings again, add a presentation, manage access or delete the room again if you no longer need it. Once the corresponding room tile has been selected, you can start the meeting by clicking the "Start" button.

The advantage of using Webconf is that people who are not enrolled at Fulda University of Applied Sciences can also take part in your meeting.

First download the desired PDF file:

HFD presentation slide for videoconferencing (without instructions).

HFD presentation slide for videoconferencing (with instructions)

Then go to the website https://webconf.hs-fulda.de/ and log in with your fd-number and the corresponding password. You are now on the room administration page.

Important: In order for the presentation slide to be exchanged and displayed directly, the conference must have ended - if you have only "left" the conference before, it will not change directly. To ensure this, select the tile of the room for which you want to change the presentation slide and click on "Start". Then click on the 3 dots in the top right corner and click "End conference". This ensures that the room has really been closed.

You are now back on the room administration page. In the next step, click on the 3 dots of the room tile from whose room you want to adjust the presentation slide. Select "Add presentation". Then navigate to the corresponding download folder to be able to select the file downloaded at the beginning. Select the corresponding file and click on "Use presentation". If you now start the room, you will see the new, modified presentation slide, which will also remain in the room when you end the conference again.

Note: You can only permanently change the presentation slide if you have created the room yourself - for rooms that have been shared with you, the permanent adjustment can only be made by the person who created the room (irrespective of any other rights you have assigned to the person).

The recording function is not yet functional. Alternatively, you can use Panopto to record your conference.
You can find information on Panopto HERE.

Within a Big Blue Button conference there are three different roles:
The  roles are presenter, moderator and spectator.

In the participant window, both presenter and moderator can be recognised by the square tiles. The presenter can be recognised by an additional screen icon in the corresponding tile. The role of the spectator can be recognised by a round tile.

In general, there can be several moderators, but only one presenter at a time. The moderators can appoint a participant as moderator or presenter at any time. Furthermore, the moderator can restrict the rights of the participants - for example, participants can be muted or removed from a session if necessary.

Before the conference has started

You have the option of specifying additional persons as moderators even before the conference has started. You have the following options:

1. You would like to enter further persons as moderators who are also university members: On the room administration page(www.webconf.hs-fulda.de), click on the 3 points of the room tile for which you would like to enter additional moderators. Select "Manage access". Now search for the names of the desired person(s) and add them (the prerequisite is that the person has already logged in 1x on the Webconf interface). Once you have entered all the persons, finally click on "Save changes". By entering the persons, they receive moderator rights for the room and find a room tile shared by you on their room administration page, via which they can then join the conference as moderators. 2.

2. You would like to assign moderator rights to other persons who are not university members: On the room administration page(www.webconf.hs-fulda.de), click on the 3 dots of the room tile and select "Room settings". Click on the dice at "Generate optional room code". Then give this code to the people who are to join the conference as moderators. They will then access the participation link like any other participant, enter the moderator code and then their name and join the conference.

During the conference

Click directly on the name of a participant in the list of participants (left), then you can change various settings here. You can start a private chat, make the participant a presenter, upgrade him or her to a moderator or, if necessary, exclude the respective participant from the session.

By clicking on the cogwheel on the left in the participant list, you can make various settings. For example, you can mute all participants with one click or you can deactivate webcam sharing or block the chat function under the item "Restrict participant rights".

This video "Roles in the room: presenter and moderator" shows an example of how you can hand over and take over the role of presenter.

Note: Please access the video via the browser "Mozilla Firefox".

As a presenter, you have the option of uploading a presentation to BigBlueButton. To do this, click on the "+ sign" in the bottom left corner and select "Manage presentations". A pop-up window opens in which you can upload the corresponding file.

It is advised to upload the presentation as a PDF. Alternatively, you can also upload other file formats, which Big Blue Button automatically converts. Please note that the automatic conversion cause the file to not be displayed properly.

The file can be uploaded either via "browse" or via drag-and-drop. Once this has been done, click "Upload". You will now return to the conference room. After a short wait, the desired file is now visible in the conference room. You can now navigate between the slides via the lower menu bar and adjust the view accordingly by zooming in and out. Please note that the uploaded presentation within the Moodle plugin is automatically deleted after the conference ends.

Uploading the presentation has several advantages over the "share screen" function. The advantage of an uploaded presentation is that you can also use the whiteboard functions. The whiteboard toolbar on the right-hand side of the screen provides you with several tools that allow you to make annotations on your presentation. For example, select the pen to underline content of the presentation or the multi-user mode to allow participants to access the whiteboard toolbar as well. Furthermore, uploading a presentation does not require  a lot of bandwidth compared to screen sharing.

You can share your screen by clicking on the presentation icon at the bottom of the screen.

Clicking on the icon opens a small pop-up window in the upper left corner. Here you can choose whether you want to share the entire screen, a programme or a specific file. If the preview shows the desired content, confirm the release by clicking on the "Allow" button. You can now adjust the size of the shared preview in your view using the arrow button in the top right corner.

Screen sharing is only possible within the presenter role and only the presenter will see the screen sharing icon.

1. Public chat

The public chat is visible to all participants and is well suited for questions and comments. You can see who has written what and who is actively typing. The moderator's messages can be distinguished from the messages of other conference participants because they are displayed in bold. The chat can be saved, copied or deleted via the 3 dots in the upper right corner.

2. Private chat

In addition to the public chat, you also have the possibility to communicate with participants via private chats. To do this, click on the desired person on the left in the list of participants and select "Start private chat".

3. Shared notes

Directly below the public chat are the shared notes. These are suitable, for example, for an agenda or as documentation of important meeting results. Within the notes field, all participants can write by clicking in the text field. If you want to use the notes again at a later time, you can save and download them in different formats, because notes are automatically deleted by closing the conference room.

Click on the cogwheel symbol to the right of the participant list. Select "Create group rooms". A new window opens. Set the number of rooms and the duration. Set the duration of the rooms generously, because the rooms can be closed at any time by the moderator. You have three options for distributing the participants to the individual group rooms:

1. assign each participant to a room manually

2. randomly allocate the participants to the rooms

3. the participants themselves may select a room to join.

Finally, click on the "Create" button. Inform the participants that the breakout room does not automatically return to the original room and that they have to switch tabs to do so.

You can also find out how to create breakout rooms (subgroup rooms) in BigBlueButton for upcoming group work in this short tutorial "Using breakout rooms for group work".

Note: Please access the video via the browser "Mozilla Firefox".

Start polls
Use the "Start poll" function in BigBlueButton to offer your participants the opportunity to actively participate or to get an opinion. To do this, click on the plus symbol in the bottom left-hand corner and then on "Start survey". This function is only available to the presenter. A window opens in which you can enter your question in the upper section and select the type of answer below. When you have finished designing the survey, click on "Start survey". After all participants have submitted their answers, click on "Publish survey" to close the survey and display the survey result.

This video "Activation through small surveys" shows how you can design a survey.
Note: Please access the video via the browser "Mozilla Firefox".

Whiteboard function
Another way to activate participants is to work together using the whiteboard function. To do this, click on the whiteboard symbol on the right and activate the function "Start multi-user mode". All participants now have access to the whiteboard toolbar and can draw and add annotations on the presentation. If you want to use an empty field as a shared whiteboard, you can simply include a white slide in your presentation.

If the whiteboard is also to be used in breakout rooms, you must ensure that there is a white slide on the screen before the group room is created, as BigBlueButton transfers the current slide from the main room to the group rooms.

In the video "Drawing together on the shared whiteboard" you can see where you can find the functions for the whiteboard.
Note: Please call up the video via the browser "Mozilla Firefox".

1. Saving the public chat and/or the shared notes

To save the contents of the public chat, click on the 3 dots in the upper right corner of the chat window and click "save". The chat will be downloaded automatically and will be displayed in the editor.

To save the shared notes, select the last icon in the toolbar. A window appears in the lower field where you can select the format. Select one that suits you from the options Etherpad, HTML, text file, Microsoft Word, PDF or ODF and the download will start.

2. Saving the participant list

To save the participant list, click on the cogwheel icon above the participant list. Now select "Save participant names". It will download automatically and the complete list will be displayed in the editor.

3. Saving the whiteboard or individual annotated slides

BigBlueButton offers the possibility to save individual annotated slides from the presentation. To do this, click on the three dots in the upper right corner and select "Download current slide". The download will start automatically.

4. Saving annotated presentations

BigBlueButton now also offers the option of downloading the entire presentation with all annotations as a whole. To do this, click on the plus button at the bottom left and then on "Upload/manage presentations" in the menu. An overview of the uploaded presentations appears. In the "Download" column you will see the item "Send to chat". Select this option for the presentations you want to download. In the public chat you will now find the download option. Click on Download and the presentation will be downloaded as a PDF.
The download is then available to all participants.

5. Saving the contents of subgroup sessions

The contents that have been developed in subgroup sessions can also be saved. To do this, it is necessary to make certain settings when creating the subgroup rooms. Below the fields where you can set the number of rooms and the duration, there are three options. In order to save the contents after ending the subgroups, select the second item "Record whiteboard when group rooms end" to save the whiteboard. Select the third item at "Transfer shared notes when workgroup rooms end" to save the notes.

After finishing the group rooms, a pop-up window appears in the top right-hand corner that shows you the download of the files.

You can now either select the individual downloaded whiteboards and notes under the plus button at the bottom left to share them with everyone or select "Upload/Manage Presentation" to send the files to the chat for download. In the Download column you will now see the option "Send to Chat" for each of the files. Select this for the files you want to share for download. Unfortunately, it is not possible to download several files at the same time. Repeat the process as described if you want to share several files for download.

The public chat now contains the download options for the files.

Google Chrome is recommended for using BigBlueButton. Mozilla Firefox can also be used as an alternative. Smooth operation in Safari or other web browsers cannot be guaranteed.

If you use the browser "Mozilla Firefox", there is a useful tip to get an overview of all breakout rooms and to jump quickly through several breakout rooms. To do this, open all breakout rooms in the tabs of your web browser at the same time and mute the individual tabs in which you are not actively involved. To mute individual tabs, move the mouse to the BigBlueButton symbol in the respective tab. A loudspeaker symbol appears, which you can mute with the left mouse button. If you want to unmute a tab, click on the speaker symbol again.

Your question could not be answered by the BigBlueButton help page? Then please come to our e-learning office hours on Monday, from 15:00-16:00 (03:00 PM - 04:00 PM). E-Learning office hour

1. Are you using the correct browser?

Only Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox are officially supported. Smooth operation in Safari or other web browsers cannot be guaranteed.

2. Is the correct meeting entry link being used?

It can happen that an incorrect link to the web conference has been shared or provided by mistake. The link that is displayed in your web address bar in the browser is not the correct link to share BigBlueButton rooms. Only use or share the permanent link to your web conference that is displayed either on the overview page of the rooms or within a BigBlueButton room below the public chat.

3. Further

It often helps to reload the page, restart your browser, clear your cache and delete your cookies. Also, make sure you are using the latest version of your browser.  Deactivate your VPN connection if it is currently in use and try to connect to the web conference again. If necessary, check the settings of your firewall, browser or anti-virus program.

1. The person is muted: This can be recognised by the fact that the microphone is displayed in red in the participant overview on the left-hand side. Here, a simple click on the microphone symbol in the middle of the conference room from the muted person is sufficient.

2. A person has joined without a microphone: This can be recognised by the fact that a headphone symbol is displayed next to the name in the participant overview instead of a microphone symbol. The person in question must first log out of the meeting and then rejoin the web conference.

3. A person is using the web browsers Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox on an Apple device: In this case, please check the settings of the browser under Settings/Privacy to see if the browser has been given permission to share the microphone. You can also check the system settings of the device to see if the web browsers have been given permission to access the microphone, for example.

4. Is the correct microphone selected? Your browser will indicate if access to the microphone should be granted. There you can determine which microphone should be used. If, for example, a headset has been connected to a port, the changeover to the desired microphone does not always happen automatically.

5. Is the microphone in the system muted or very quiet? This error often occurs under Windows 10. In this case, users can switch to the settings menu and adjust the microphone settings there under "System" by clicking on "Sound". Here, the correct microphone can be selected and the input volume adjusted.

1. Check if the person is in the presenter role.

2. If Chrome or Firefox browsers are used on an Apple device, screen sharing permission may need to be granted in advance in the browser settings under Settings/Privacy. In addition, you can check whether screen sharing permission has been granted to the web browsers under the system settings.