Mobile Conferences

ptart
Community Participant
7
1634

I must say that I am looking forward to #INSTCON more this year that all previous years. This is in part to  @ffdixon  and the BigBlueButton team. What am I looking for? Mobile conferences! Playing around with the test version of HTML5 conferences brings a much needed sigh of relief. Test it out at BigBlueButton - Open Source Web Conferencing.

 

Why is this in Canvas Users Mobile Group? Because it seems that this should flow nicely into an updated Canvas Teacher/Student App that supports HTML5, specifically regarding Conferences. Fingers crossed as I make my way to CO.

7 Comments
rseilham
Community Champion

Hi  @ptart ‌, 

I agree, it's about time. It's been too long. It would be nice to see a full integration of conferences into the Canvas apps and not for an extra fee, just make it work like it does on the web. If schools want more features, they can pay the cost, but having this ability on-the-go would be a great tool. 

I'm curious if anyone else is getting stuck with teaching (or learning) when not having conferences on a mobile devices is holding them back? 

KristinL
Community Team
Community Team

 @ptart , thanks for starting this discussion! I agree with you and  @rseilham . Having Conferences available in Canvas Student and Canvas Teacher would be incredible. Standard features would be very valuable, and it would encourage teachers and students to be creative and flexible with their instruction/learning set up.

While I'm not getting stuck, I see a lot of opportunities for growth. ...and it would simplify my current process by adding more tools to the one-stop-shop Canvas mobile truly could be.

As a school with 1:1 iPads, I instantly think of the times when we cancel school for bad weather days. It would be awesome to still hold some sort of "class" on days when we can't meet face-to-face. For students who are unable to attend for whatever reason, those sessions would be archived and available for reference.

I could also see K-12 teachers utilizing Conferences for more informal conferences throughout the school year. It would make "face time" with the teacher more convenient, especially for families that try to juggle so much in the evenings.

Depending on the course, I wonder if teachers would hold digital office hours one or two evenings a week so students could receive drop-in homework help. That could be a neat application, but again, would easier if students and teachers have access to Conferences on their devices.

Oooh! Now I'm excited. Lots of possibilities here. Smiley Happy

ptart
Community Participant

One of our biggest user groups of Conferences is our SCORE Academy. They serve drop-outs and long term suspended students to assist with their educational needs. Conferences provides that face to face, real-time guided instruction is so desperately needed. Many of these students need this safe, alternative learning style, where they can learn from a place that is safe for them and others. Fingers crossed HTML5 Conferences makes its way into the mobile apps soon.

cgaudreau
Community Contributor

Not sure how this might be implemented on my campus, but would love to investigate the possibility of more collaboration with the Student app. Just wanted to add a +1 to this idea!

joseph_allen
Community Champion

The 'mobile' aspect of conferences has been a staple feature in products like WebEx and GoToMeeting and Zoom for sometime.  These products are often pitched to us in K12 with incredible pricing incentives, often riding other state contracts.  Long story short, it will be important for BBB to fully embrace HTML 5, get away from Flash, and offer mobile conferencing in order to stay relevant in the marketplace.   

rseilham
Community Champion

Also, not to mention that Flash will be dead in 2020, there is no choice but to move to HTML5 or become irrelevant. 

Adobe Flash Will Be Dead In 2020 | Time 

KristinL
Community Team
Community Team

Hi Everyone! I thought I'd highlight this comment from Questions about Conferences using Big Blue Button!! Smiley Happy