Find your school's Canvas URL
To find your school or institution's Canvas URL, begin typing the name of your school/institution. Results will appear after you type at least 3 characters. For best results be as specific as possible. If you can't find your school, try using any part of your school's name or searching for your school district or state. You may also need to search for the school using the acronym or full name, for example "USU" and "Utah State University".
Once you have started a conference or joined a conference as a moderator, you can use the Conferences interface to moderate and participate in the conference. Any user who starts a conference or an instructor who joins the conference will be given moderator permissions. Moderators can demote other moderators to viewers.
The Conferences interface is displayed using BigBlueButton's HTML5 conferencing system. This guide provides a basic overview of the Conferences interface. To learn more about specific features, view BigBlueButton's HTML5 user documentation.
It is recommended to use Chrome or Firefox browsers to access the Conferences interface. Screen sharing is not supported on Safari browsers.
View Conferences Interface
The Conferences interface contains a variety of tools to help you moderate and participate in your presentation. The interface consists of the following areas:
- User Menu [1]
- Presentation Window [2]
- Conference Tools [3]
- Options Menu [4]
View User Menu
From the User Menu, you can view all the users in the conference [1]. Each user is represented by their display name in Canvas.
You can also chat with conference participants and contribute to shared notes. To open the conference chat, click the Public Chat link [2]. To open the Shared Notes, click the Shared Notes link [3].
The User Menu is open by default. To close the User Menu, click the Users icon [4].
Manage Users
To manage settings for all users, click the User Settings icon [1].
To clear users' status icons, click the Clear all status icons link [2].
To mute users, click the Mute all users or Mute all users except presenter links [3].
To save user names, click the Save user names link [4].
To lock specific conference features for users, click the Lock viewers link [5]. To create breakout rooms, click the Create breakout rooms link [6].
To write closed captions, click the Write closed captions link [7].
To chat with a user, remove a user from the conference, or promote a user to presenter or moderator, click the name of the user [8].
View Presentation Window
The Presentation Window displays the presentation that has been selected by a moderator or presenter [1]. To upload a new presentation file, start a poll, or share an external video, click the Add button [2].
To begin recording the session, click the Start recording button [3].
The Presentation Window also includes several tools that control how you can participate in the conference. To mute or unmute your microphone, click the Microphone button [4]. To leave or join the conference audio, click the Audio button [5].
To enable your webcam, click the Webcam button [6]. If webcams are enabled, you can close the presentation window and display only webcams by clicking the Hide Presentation icon [7].
To share your computer screen, click the Screen Share button [8].
View Annotation Tools
The Conferences interface includes several tools that you can use to annotate the presentation window. To pan a document that has been zoomed in, click the Pan icon [1].
To view all annotation tools, click and the hold the Pan icon. In addition to the pan tool, you can also create text annotations [2], line annotations [3], or shape annotations [4].
To use a pencil to draw in the presentation window, click the Pencil icon [5].
If an annotation is added to your presentation, you can select the annotation's thickness and color in Annotation Tools.
To undo the most recent annotation, click the Undo icon [6]. To delete all annotations that you have created, click the Delete icon [7].
To enable palm rejection, click the Palm Rejection icon [8].
To allow all users to use the annotation tools, click the Multiuser Whiteboard icon [9].
Open Options Menu
To open the Options menu, click the Options icon [1].
To view the conference in fullscreen mode, click the Make fullscreen link [2].
To view information about the interface, click the About option [3]. To view help tutorials, click the Help link [4]. To view hotkeys, click the Keyboard shortcuts link [5].
To end the conference, click the End meeting link [6]. To logout of the interface, click the Leave meeting link [7].
To view your connection status, click the Connection status icon [8].
View Settings Menu
To open the Settings menu, click the Settings link.
Manage Application Settings
To manage applications settings, click the Application link [1].
To manage animations that display when a user is speaking, click the Animations toggle [2].
To manage microphone audio filters, click the Audio Filters for Microphone toggle [3].
To select the language for the interface, click the Application Language drop-down menu [4].
To adjust the font size, click the Decrease or Increase buttons [5].
Manage Notification Settings
To manage notification settings, click the Notifications link [1].
To manage chat alerts, click the Chat Message Audio Alerts [2] and Popup Alerts toggles [3].
To manage user join alerts, click the User Join Audio Alerts [4] and Popup Alerts toggles [5].
Lastly, to manage raised hand alerts, click the Raise hand Audio Alerts [6] and Popup Alerts toggles [7].
Note: Chat alerts only function within the same browser in which the Conferences interface is open.
Manage Data Savings Settings
To manage data saving settings, click the Data savings link [1].
To enable or disable webcams, click the Enable webcams toggle [2].
To enable or disable desktop sharing, click the Enable desktop sharing toggle [3].