BigBlueButton
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

BigBlueButton is an
open source Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open-source model is a decentralized sof ...
(except for some versions of its database software) virtual classroom application designed for online education. Accessed most commonly through a variety of
Learning Management Systems A learning management system (LMS) is a software application for the administration, documentation, tracking, reporting, automation, and delivery of educational courses, training programs, materials or learning and development programs. The learni ...
, the application provides engagement tools and
analytics Analytics is the systematic computational analysis of data or statistics. It is used for the discovery, interpretation, and communication of meaningful patterns in data. It also entails applying data patterns toward effective decision-making. It ...
for educators to interact with their students remotely, while giving educators access to metrics that display student progress.


History

In 2007 the project was started at
Carleton University Carleton University is an English-language public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1942 as Carleton College, the institution originally operated as a private, non-denominational evening college to serve returning World ...
by the Technology Innovation Management program. The first version was written by Richard Alam (it was initially called the Blindside project) under the supervision of Tony Bailetti. BigBlueButton is an affiliate member of the
Open Source Initiative The Open Source Initiative (OSI) is the steward of the Open Source Definition, the set of rules that define open source software. It is a California public-benefit nonprofit corporation,_with_501(c)(3).html" ;"title="110. - 6910./ref> is a type o ...
. The BigBlueButton name comes from the initial concept that starting a web conference should be as simple as pressing a metaphorical big blue button. In 2009 Richard Alam, Denis Zgonjanin, and Fred Dixon uploaded the BigBlueButton source code to Google Code and formed Blindside Networks, a company pursuing the traditional open source business model of providing paid support and services to the BigBlueButton community. In 2010 the core developers added a whiteboard for annotating the uploaded presentation. Jeremy Thomerson added an application programming interface (API) which the BigBlueButton community subsequently used to integrate with
Sakai is a city located in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. It has been one of the largest and most important seaports of Japan since the medieval era. Sakai is known for its keyhole-shaped burial mounds, or kofun, which date from the fifth century and incl ...
,
WordPress WordPress (WP or WordPress.org) is a free and open-source content management system (CMS) written in hypertext preprocessor language and paired with a MySQL or MariaDB database with supported HTTPS. Features include a plugin architecture ...
, Moodle 1.9, Moodle 2.0,
Joomla Joomla (), also spelled Joomla! (with an exclamation mark) and sometimes abbreviated as J!, is a free and open-source content management system (CMS) for publishing web content on websites. Web content applications include discussion forums, ph ...
,
Redmine Redmine is a free and open source, web-based project management and issue tracking tool. It allows users to manage multiple projects and associated subprojects. It features per project wikis and forums, time tracking, and flexible, role-based acc ...
,
Drupal Drupal () is a free and open-source web content management system (CMS) written in PHP and distributed under the GNU General Public License. Drupal provides an open-source back-end framework for at least 14% of the top 10,000 websites worldwide ...
,
Tiki Wiki CMS Groupware Tiki Wiki CMS Groupware or simply Tiki, originally known as TikiWiki, is a free and open source Wiki-based content management system and online office suite written primarily in PHP and distributed under the GNU Lesser General Public License (LG ...
, Foswiki, and
LAMS LAMS, the Learning Activity Management System, is a free and open-source learning design system for designing, managing and delivering online collaborative learning activities. It provides teachers with a visual authoring environment for creating ...
. Google accepted BigBlueButton into the 2010 Google Summer of Code program. To encourage contributions from others, the core developers moved the source code from Google Code to GitHub. The project indicated its intent to create an independent, not-for-profit BigBlueButton Foundation to oversee future development. In 2011, the core developers announced they were adding record and playback capabilities to BigBlueButton 0.80. In 2020, the project released BigBlueButton 2.2, a full rewrite of the client and server to support HTML5. In March 2020, BigBlueButton 2.2 was awarded by the President of the ENTD, Pasquale Aiello, as the best web conferencing system and used in the project UNIOPEN approved by the
European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...
for Digital Skills and Job Coalition action plan. In 2021, version 2.3 was released. BigBlueButton continued to depended on
MongoDB MongoDB is a source-available cross-platform document-oriented database program. Classified as a NoSQL database program, MongoDB uses JSON-like documents with optional schemas. MongoDB is developed by MongoDB Inc. and licensed under the Serve ...
, which became proprietary in version 3.6 and later, released in 2018. BigBlueButton 2.3 is the first which recommends using a proprietary MongoDB version, but remains compatible with the free software 3.4 MongoDB. In 2022, BigBlueButton was directly embedded into the
Moodle Moodle is a free and open-source learning management system written in PHP and distributed under the GNU General Public License. Moodle is used for blended learning, distance education, flipped classroom and other online learning projects in sch ...
4.0 core, the largest Learning Management System. It also released two new updates that included BigBlueButton 2.4 in January, and BigBlueButton 2.5 in late September. BigBlueButton continues to be used by organizations that include the
Ministry of National Education (France) Ministry may refer to: Government * Ministry (collective executive), the complete body of government ministers under the leadership of a prime minister * Ministry (government department), a department of a government Religion * Christian mi ...
, the
Air Education and Training Command Air Education and Training Command (AETC) is one of the nine Major Commands (MAJCOM) of the United States Air Force (USAF), reporting to Headquarters, United States Air Force. It was established 1 July 1993, with the realignment of Air Training ...
, not-for-profits such as School on Wheels, and schools throughout the world for remote learning and teaching.


Features

BigBlueButton provides educators with a variety of tools for management, relationships, engagement and assessment. Educators can share
audio Audio most commonly refers to sound, as it is transmitted in signal form. It may also refer to: Sound *Audio signal, an electrical representation of sound *Audio frequency, a frequency in the audio spectrum *Digital audio, representation of sound ...
,
webcams A webcam is a video camera which is designed to record or stream to a computer or computer network. They are primarily used in videotelephony, livestreaming and social media, and security. Webcams can be built-in computer hardware or peripheral de ...
, slide, and
screen sharing In computing, the term remote desktop refers to a software- or operating system feature that allows a personal computer's desktop environment to be run remotely off of one system (usually a PC, but the concept applies equally to a server or a ...
between themselves and their students. It allows the educators to use multi-user whiteboards (meaning students can use it simultaneously), breakout rooms,
chat Chat or chats may refer to: Communication * Conversation, particularly casual * Online chat, text message communication over the Internet in real-time * Synchronous conferencing, a formal term for online chat * SMS chat, a form of text messagin ...
(public and private), polling, shared notes, random user selector, and
emojis An emoji ( ; plural emoji or emojis) is a pictogram, logogram, ideogram or smiley embedded in text and used in electronic messages and web pages. The primary function of emoji is to fill in emotional cues otherwise missing from typed conversa ...
. Version 2.4 provides the instructor with a live dashboard of student attendance, engagement, and learning, which is based on responses to polls. The analytics tools track presence, participation and learning rates of the students. BigBlueButton 2.5. provides further enhancements to its feature-set such as its breakout room (message broadcasting, ease of set-up and modification), whiteboard (anti social-conformity measures that hide students' mouse cursors so they have more agency in their responses), polling (allowing for multiple responses) and more.


Architecture

As a web page application, BigBlueButton front-end uses
React REACT or React may refer to: Science and technology *REACT (telescope), a telescope at Fenton Hill Observatory, New Mexico, US Computing * React (JavaScript library) , a JavaScript library for building user interfaces, from Facebook ** React Nati ...
and the backend uses
MongoDB MongoDB is a source-available cross-platform document-oriented database program. Classified as a NoSQL database program, MongoDB uses JSON-like documents with optional schemas. MongoDB is developed by MongoDB Inc. and licensed under the Serve ...
and
Node.js Node.js is an open-source server environment. Node.js is cross-platform and runs on Windows, Linux, Unix, and macOS. Node.js is a back-end JavaScript runtime environment. Node.js runs on the V8 JavaScript Engine and executes JavaScript code ou ...
. It also uses
Redis Redis (; Remote Dictionary Server) is an in-memory data structure store, used as a distributed, in-memory key–value database, cache and message broker, with optional durability. Redis supports different kinds of abstract data structures, su ...
to maintain an internal list of its meetings, attendees, and any other relevant information. As of version 2.5, the server runs on Ubuntu 20.04 64-bit and can be installed either from packages or install script.


Adoption among non-profits

In 2020, BBB has been adopted by many
FLOSS Free and open-source software (FOSS) is a term used to refer to groups of software consisting of both free software and open-source software where anyone is freely licensed to use, copy, study, and change the software in any way, and the source ...
focused non-profits including
Wikimedia Australia The Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., or Wikimedia for short and abbreviated as WMF, is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization headquartered in San Francisco, California and registered as a charitable foundation under local laws. Best know ...
, Constant vzw and new FLOSS focused coops like Catalan's The Online Meeting Cooperative. In France it is recommended since May 2020 by the Digital Interministry Direction defining the state's information and communication systems..


Third party integrations

*
Canvas Canvas is an extremely durable plain-woven fabric used for making sails, tents, marquees, backpacks, shelters, as a support for oil painting and for other items for which sturdiness is required, as well as in such fashion objects as handbags ...
(Learning Management System) *
Chamilo Chamilo is a free software (under GNU/GPL licensing) e-learning and content management system, aimed at improving access to education and knowledge globally. It is backed up by the Chamilo Association, which has goals including the promotion of ...
(Learning Management System) *
DoceboLMS Docebo is a software as a service company that specializes in learning management system. Docebo was founded in 2005. Its product Docebo Learn LMS is compatible with Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) 1.2 and 2004 as well as Tin Can ...
(Saas/Cloud Learning Management System) *
Drupal Drupal () is a free and open-source web content management system (CMS) written in PHP and distributed under the GNU General Public License. Drupal provides an open-source back-end framework for at least 14% of the top 10,000 websites worldwide ...
(Content Management System) *
ILIAS Ilias may refer to: * the ''Iliad'', an ancient Greek epos * Ilias (name), a personal name (including a list of people with the name) * ILIAS, a web-based learning management system * 6604 Ilias, an asteroid See also * Profitis Ilias (disambiguat ...
(Learning Management System) *
Moodle Moodle is a free and open-source learning management system written in PHP and distributed under the GNU General Public License. Moodle is used for blended learning, distance education, flipped classroom and other online learning projects in sch ...
(Learning Management System) *
Mattermost Mattermost is an open-source, self-hostable online chat service with file sharing, search, and integrations. It is designed as an internal chat for organisations and companies, and mostly markets itself as an open-source alternative to Slack a ...
(Web-based chat service) *
Nextcloud Nextcloud is a suite of client-server software for creating and using file hosting services. Nextcloud provides functionally similar to Dropbox, Office 365 or Google Drive when used with integrated office suite solutions Collabora Online or Only ...
(Open Source cloud solution) * OpenOLAT (Learning Management System) *
Sakai Project Sakai is a free, community source, educational software platform designed to support teaching, research and collaboration. Systems of this type are also known as Course Management Systems (CMS), Learning Management Systems (LMS), or Virtual Le ...
(Learning Management System) *
Tiki Wiki CMS Groupware Tiki Wiki CMS Groupware or simply Tiki, originally known as TikiWiki, is a free and open source Wiki-based content management system and online office suite written primarily in PHP and distributed under the GNU Lesser General Public License (LG ...
(Content Management System) * Qwerteach (Saas / Tutoring platform) *
WordPress WordPress (WP or WordPress.org) is a free and open-source content management system (CMS) written in hypertext preprocessor language and paired with a MySQL or MariaDB database with supported HTTPS. Features include a plugin architecture ...
(Content Management System) * KampüsProject (Learning Management System) * CollaboratorLMS (Learning Management System) * Smartschool (Web-based school platform)


See also

*
Collaborative software Collaborative software or groupware is application software designed to help people working on a common task to attain their goals. One of the earliest definitions of groupware is "intentional group processes plus software to support them". As re ...
*
Web conferencing Web conferencing is used as an umbrella term for various types of online conferencing and collaborative services including webinars (web seminars), webcasts, and web meetings. Sometimes it may be used also in the more narrow sense of the peer-le ...
*
Comparison of web conferencing software This list is a comparison of web conferencing software available for Linux, macOS, and Windows platforms. Many of the applications support the use of videoconferencing. Comparison chart Terminology In the table above, the following term ...
* Wikiversity:Video conferencing


References


External links

* {{official website, https://bigbluebutton.org/ Classroom management software Cross-platform software Date-matching software Free content management systems Free groupware Teleconferencing Virtual learning environments Web conferencing WordPress