BigBlueButton

BigBlueButton is a virtual classroom platform built specifically for online lectures and teaching. It provides recording, an interactive whiteboard, breakout rooms, polling, and screen sharing in a single session. BigBlueButton is an education-specific Beta component in openDesk Edu and serves as an alternative to Jitsi for lecture-style teaching.

Key Features

Session recording: Record entire lectures including audio, video, whiteboard, and chat for later playback.
Interactive whiteboard: Multi-user whiteboard with drawing tools, shapes, and annotation capabilities.
Breakout rooms: Split participants into smaller groups for collaborative exercises.
Polling and quizzes: Run in-session polls and quizzes to gauge student understanding.
Presentation upload: Upload PDF and Office presentations for display within the virtual classroom.

Integration with openDesk Edu

BigBlueButton integrates with openDesk Edu as a SAML 2.0 service provider using Shibboleth, authenticating users through Keycloak. Users access lectures from the unified Nubus portal. It deploys as a modular Helm chart as an education-specific Beta component. BigBlueButton is an alternative to Jitsi for institutions that need recording, breakout rooms, and structured lecture features. Persistent recording data is backed up through k8up.