31-011 Configuration of online meetings

Important Steps

1. Select the Virtual Classroom element in the course navigation (or select BigBlueButton in the toolbar) and click on the Meeting management tab.
2. Now select the Add online-meeting button. You now have the following options:
   • Add single meeting: A single meeting will be created.
   • Add daily recurring meeting: An appointment will be created every day at the same time.
   • Add weekly recurring meeting: An appointment will be created every week on the same day and at the same time.
3. A new window opens with the configuration settings.
   • Name: Assign a name for the meeting.
   • Description (optional): This text appears as an infobox before entering the meeting.
   • Welcome message (optional): This text appears as an infobox in the public chat of the meeting room.
   • Main presenter (optional): By default, this displays the person who created the meeting appointment. If there are multiple presenters, it may make sense to enter the main presenter here (this entry is stored in the metadata, but has no further direct effect on the meeting).
   • Upload slides: Here you can upload presentations in advance that you want to use later in the meeting. The following formats are supported: Office documents, PDF, JPEG, JPG and PNG. In addition, it is also possible to upload presentation slides within the meeting.
   • Room-template: With the room template you make the most important basic settings for your meeting. There are three room templates available.
     • Großgruppe (max. 250 Teilnehmer, eingeschränkte Teilnehmerrechte): Up to 250 people can participate in the meeting. By default, participants can only write in the public chat. All other functions are locked, but can be unlocked by the moderator during the meeting (see Handbook BigBlueButton).
     • Seminargruppe (max. 50 Teilnehmer): Up to 50 people can take part in the meeting. There is no restriction on participant rights here, but all microphones are deactivated at the start of the meeting. The participants can then activate them independently.
     • Mündliche Prüfung: Up to 250 people can participate in the meeting. All functions for participants are disabled (participants can only write a private chat message to moderators). A waiting room function is actively set to all users, which means that all participants must first be confirmed by the moderator before they can enter the meeting.
     • Please note: With all three room templates, you have the option of inviting external people to your meeting. A separate link is generated here, which can then be sent to the external person(s). For more information, please refer to HelpCard 31-012.
   • Allow meeting recording: Select whether you want your online appointments to be recorded. By default, this function is disabled (for more information, see HelpCard 31-013).
   • Publish recording automatically for: Select here whether the recording should be published automatically and for whom (for more information, see HelpCard 31-013).
   • Layout:
     • Standard: The meeting opens with the standard slide template; if the webcam is activated, the webcam is displayed above it.
     • Webcam meeting: The default slide template is hidden and when the webcam is activated, the webcam image is shown large.
   • Accept joining users: With this feature, participants will not enter the meeting until the moderator confirms them. The following options are available:
     • Disabled: All users are allowed to automatically access the meeting.
     • Only guests and external users: All users that have an external link or would like to access the meeting as guests have to be confirmed by the moderator(s).
     • All users: All users must be confirmed by the moderator(s).
     • Please note: There are different options for the moderator(s) to give access to the meeting to the Users (see the BigBlueButton Manual - available only in German for now). Moreover, it is possible for the moderator(s) to change the configuration of the meeting room directly in the meeting itself.
   • Password for external users and guests (optional): As an additional level of protection you can define a password for external users.
   • Start and End date: Fill in a Start and an End date here.
   • Start and End recurring date: When you configure a daily or weekly meeting, you need to fill in a start and end date here.
   • Prep time and Follow-up: The meeting is accessible for users at the defined start date. The prep time allows moderator(s) to enter the meeting in order to prepare for it. The follow-up time is a “time buffer” for all users in the meeting so it will not end prematurely.
4. Save your changes. The meeting has now been successfully created and will be listed in the tab Online-meetings.

Created meetings can be edited a well as deleted again at any point. In the tab Online-meetings you can view a listing of all current and future meetings. Once you click onto Select you can start the online-meeting.

Please note: As soon as the start date has been reached, some of these configurations cannot be edited anymore.