Who is has a Premium Subscription to BigBlueButton?

[twkendri]

Our campus is currently using multiple web conferencing platforms to hold synchronous classes during the COVID-19 pandemic (Canvas Conferences, WebEx, MsTeams). We would love to hear from anyone who has a premium subscription to Conferences (i.e. - BigBlueButton). What has your experience been like? Are you experiencing any connection issues during the past several weeks?

Truly any information would be appreciated.  Thanks!

[awilliams]

Hi,  @twkendri . While I don't have the first-hand experience you're looking for, you may find information and people to network with around this discussion, Institutional Approaches for Student Video Projects.

[jsamsonas]

We purchased the premium version two weeks ago and are three days into our online school experience.

Before you consider it, keep in mind that in order to preserve bandwidth, BBB has limited the ability to create rooms and students can no longer share their webcams with others. These features may be restored in the near future.

Despite these limitations, we are pleased with BBB so far. The interface is well designed for classroom use - better than Zoom or Google Hangouts/Meets in my opinion. It is more secure than Zoom and isn’t quite the bandwidth hog that Zoom is. It also functions well within Canvas and has run smoothly for us.

Hope that helps.

[twkendri]

Thanks, Jordan. This is helpful.

We were hoping the webcam issues would be resolved with the premium version. We were told it would be. Also, I had not heard about BBB limiting breakout rooms. When did this happen?

Finally, did your previously recorded conferences get preserved and moved to Studio (we use Studio)?

Thanks again,

Taylor

[jsamsonas]

Taylor,

I'm glad to help.  The breakout rooms are still functional.  What is currently being limited is the ability to create a room with a unique web address that functions outside of Canvas that you can then run all day.  We were envisioning using these rooms for academic support and tech support.  We were going to create the rooms and then do a global announcement with the web links.  We asked if we could have this ability restored, but it might be a week or two.

As far as the webcams are concerned, we don't miss it that much.  We find it very distracting for students if they can see each other, so we don't mind them not having that ability.  We also found when we had that functionality, it caused the students' connections to lag significantly.  

We didn't use BBB before we went online, so we didn't have any previously recorded conferences.  Sorry I can't help you on this one.

If you have any other questions, please let me know.

Jordan

[twkendri]

Hi Jordan,

Thank you for the clarification about the personal rooms. That is something we were hoping to use as well. The webcams aren't a big deal, but we do have some law classes that need that functionality. They'll have to continue using WebEx I guess.

Thank you for your input!

Taylor

[awilliams]

Hey Jordan,
Thanks for being so helpful to your fellow community members, especially in these difficult times. Please check your direct messages for a small token of our appreciation. 

Thanks again for all that you do and keep up the good work!

Sincerely,
Canvas Community Team

[tmoore9]

I have sent multiple emails to the contact listed for information regarding a premium subscription to BBB and have not received a reply. So there's that.

[Stef_retired]

 @tmoore9 , this is typically done through interaction with the local Canvas admin and the school's Customer Success Manager (CSM). If you're the Canvas admin for your school, please ask your CSM for assistance.

[ffdixon]

Todd, my apologies. 

I see you have reached out to us at Blindside Networks. We've seen an incredible increase in usage of Canvas Conferences and it's been all hands on deck for the past few weeks to ensure we meet the demand (which we are!).

As Stefanie has said, you can reach out directly to your CSM for information on upgrading to the Premium Tier.  

Regards,.. Fred

CEO Blindside Networks

[afairweather]

We upgraded to the premium BBB subscription three weeks ago. Faculty have been very happy with the platform so far, and are heavily utilizing the breakout rooms to encourage student collaboration/participation. From my perspective, BBB support has been very responsive to my questions and quickly follow-up. With the recent privacy issues with Zoom, I am glad we have an alternative platform.