- Managing Viewers Audio (Mute/Unmute)
- Locking or Unlocking Features (Enabling Private Chat or Shared Notes)
- Assigning Presenters
- Creating Breakout Rooms
- Closed Captioning
- Ending Meetings
As the moderator of a BigBlueButton session, you have the following capabilities:
- Manage viewers audio (Mute/unmute)
- Lockdown viewers (i.e. restrict them from doing private chat)
- Assign anyone (including themselves) the role of presenter
- Create breakout rooms for student discussions
- Write closed captions
- Start/Stop Recordings
- End Meetings
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Managing Viewers Audio (Mute/Unmute)
Moderators can manage viewers audio by muting all users or muting individual users in the Users list on the left side of the session window. You may wish to do this if you want to turn off viewer’s microphones.
If you do not see the User list, you need to expand it by clicking the toggle icon at the top left side of the page
Unmute all users |
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Mute an individual user |
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Muting When Not Speaking
It is considered a good practice to have users mute themselves if they are not currently the one speaking.This ensures that unwanted noises and sounds do not distract other users during the session. When it is time for a user to speak, they can unmute themselves, and then re-mute themselves when they are finished speaking.
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TIP: It is advised that students join the session with a wired microphone headset as this will allow them to participate with clean audio. In an emergency, users can dial in to access the audio portion of the BBB session. (See Phone Bridge below.) If the student is only experiencing an audio problem on their computer, they can watch the computer screen while listening/speaking using their phone. Should they connect by phone alone, they will not be able to view any visual presentations, use the chat features, or join Breakout Rooms. |
Phone BridgeThe Phone Bridge is an alternative means of connecting to the audio in a BBB session and might be necessary if the user is experiencing audio or internet issues. It allows users to dial into the session by phone while staying connected visually over a computer. The connection information can be found at the top of the Public Chat window for all viewers. There is a local Ottawa number and a toll-free North America number, and a conference pin that is unique to each BBB activity. When users dial in, they are prompted by the system to enter the conference pin followed by the pound (#) key. Once connected, the user can mute themselves by pressing “0”. Users can also access the Ottawa BBB phone number and conference pin by clicking the “Join using your phone” link in the Audio Configuration/Echo Test window. |
NOTE: It is possible to connect via the Phone Bridge to a Breakout Room, but the conference pin will be distinct from the main lobby. Users will need to call the BBB phone number again and enter the new conference pin. |
Locking or Unlocking Features (Enabling Private Chat or Shared Notes)
Moderators can lock viewers to prevent them from accessing various features within BBB, including the user’s list, microphone sharing and webcam sharing. Certain features, such as Shared Notes and Private Chat, are locked by default and can be unlocked by a moderator once the BBB session has started. Below you’ll find examples of situations where you may want to lock your viewers:
- Lock the public chat to encourage verbal/microphone participation
- Lock the ability to share webcams to encourage the viewers to focus on the presentation content
NOTE: The lock settings must be configured after the BBB session has started, not before. Each BBB session is created dynamically upon clicking the “Join” link. Once the BBB session ends, lock settings are forgotten by the system and will need to be reconfigured in the next session (if applicable). |
Lock or unlock a feature for all viewers |
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Lock/unlock an individual viewer |
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Assigning Presenters
As a moderator, you can assign a viewer the role of a Presenter to allow them to control the presentation area. A presenter can upload slides, annotate the current slide with the whiteboard controls, enable/disable multi-user whiteboard, start a poll, and share their screen. Once the presenter has finished their presentation, you can easily take back presenter status to regain control of the presentation area. There can only be one presenter at a time.
Assign a Presenter Role |
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Take Back Presenter Status |
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Creating Breakout Rooms
You can launch breakout rooms during your BBB session to facilitate small group discussions and student collaboration. Breakout rooms can be created and managed from your main session window.
Create a Breakout Room |
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A new breakout room window will automatically open with the “breakout room time remaining” displayed at the top of the window (see image below).
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Managing Breakout RoomsAs a Moderator, you can manage your Breakout Rooms from your main session window. Once you’ve created Rooms, a Breakout Rooms tab will automatically appear above the User’s List on the left side of the BBB screen. This control panel provides an overview of all Breakout Rooms, including the number of participants in each Room and their usernames. You also have the following capabilities as a Moderator:
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Re-assigning Participants to a Breakout RoomIf a participant exits a Breakout Room, they can re-enter the Room they were assigned to on their own. When Breakout Rooms are active, all participants have access to the Breakout Rooms tab in the main lobby but with different options. Participants can rejoin their Room by opening the Breakout Rooms tab and clicking on the “Join Room” link. However, if a participant leaves and rejoins the session, or if they were not present in the session when the Breakout Rooms were created, they will need to be invited to a Breakout Room by a Moderator in the session. To send a breakout room invitation:
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Closed Captioning
Moderators can use the live closed captioning feature to allow students with audio accessibility barriers to engage in the BBB session. You can also export your captions and save them to your computer. If you have recorded your BBB session, you can download your BBB recording in D2L Brightspace and upload your recording to MediaSpace to access automatic machine transcriptions.
NOTE: This is not an auto captioning feature so manual text input is required. You may need a volunteer to type the captions during your session. You then assign this person as the “captioner”. |
Access Closed Captioning |
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- Open your Captions editor on the left side of your session window.
- Click the import/export icon (reverse arrows) at the top of the text editor.
- Select one of the following document format options for your exported file:
- HTML
- Plain text
Your .html or .txt file will automatically begin downloading to your computer
To upload a BBB recording to MediaSpace:
See the Add New Media page for uploading instructions. Once your recording has been uploaded to MediaSpace you can display the captions in the video player and download the transcripts. The machine transcription will automatically appear in the video player after the caption server has processed them.
Ending Meetings
Only moderators can end a BBB session for all viewers.
To end your meeting:
- Click the settings menu (see image below) on the top-right side of your session window.
- In the drop-down menu, select End Meeting.
- You will be prompted with the message “are you sure you want to end this meeting” , then click Yes.
You will automatically be taken back to your BBB page in cuLearn where you first joined the session. If you recorded your session you will now be able to access your recording in Brightspace.
The video tutorial below provides an overview of your capabilities as a moderator, including how you can mute/unmute users, assign presenters, create breakout rooms for student discussions, and share your screen:
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