There has been so much noise about Jitsi (probably because it has no-account registration needed) but Big Blue Button has been around a lot longer as I recall, and has some really useful features for educational purposes. With many schools and universities (in South Africa anyway) getting zero-rated mobile data (which means learners can connect for free without paying for data costs) this solution is well-worth considering having installed at a school or university (no purchase cost, no tender, no limitations, no annual licensing, no switch-off after lockdowns end).
BigBlueButton provides a bunch of useful features tailored for teachers and schools for online classes, here’s what you get:
* Live whiteboard
* Public and private messaging options
* Webcam support
* Session recording support
* Emojis support
* Ability to group users for team collaboration
* Polling options available
* Screen sharing
* Multi-user support for whiteboard
* Ability to self-host it (no-one discontinues your service)
* Provides an API for easy integration on web applications
See BigBlueButton: Open Source Software for Online Teaching
#technology #opensource #education #collaboration #videoconferencing
In the crowd of video conferencing tools, BigBlueButton stands out for its focus on providing helpful features tailored for online teaching.