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Daniel Schreiber from the specialist working group for system software at the university computer center at Chemnitz University of Technology talks about the development of the BigBlueButton video conferencing solution and its use at Chemnitz University of Technology
Daniel Schreiber is part of the specialist working group for system software at the university computer center. He is also involved in the further development of the BigBlueButton video conferencing solution. Photo: Mario Steinebach
The free video conferencing solution BigBlueButton (BBB) has been in use at Chemnitz University of Technology for three years. Especially in the phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, in which teaching at the Technical University of Chemnitz was also extensively digitized, BigBlueButton gained importance within a very short time. This week was updated to the latest version 2.6, which includes further improvements. Daniel Schreiber from the specialist working group on system software at the University Computing Center (URZ) at Chemnitz University of Technology has been familiarizing himself with the subject for years. Mario Steinebach, head of the press office and cross-media editorial team, spoke to him.
Anyone at Chemnitz University of Technology who has a question about BigBlueButton will be happy to refer you. “Just ask Daniel,” is often the answer. What connects you professionally with this video conferencing solution?
In fact, I’m a big fan of this open source solution. However, the work on our BigBlueButton was teamwork in the university computer center, alone I would never have managed the large-scale introduction of the video conference solution at the university. Even today we still have a division of labor in the URZ. I mainly keep in touch with the BigBlueButton community in Germany and with the developers in other countries.
BigBlueButton became really well known in our house in March 2020…
Yes, with the increasing spread of the corona virus and the associated lockdown, it quickly became clear that teaching at Chemnitz University of Technology and some meetings had to be relocated to virtual rooms – and as quickly as possible. At that time, the university computer center worked very quickly on installing a server cluster for the BigBlueButton video conference system in order to continue to enable direct contact between teachers and students – similar to face-to-face events. I still remember well that within a week we evaluated BigBlueButton and got it running on a server. Just in time for the start of the 2020 summer semester, the first expansion stage could be used on several servers. It was then successively expanded in order to maintain sufficient capacity. Courses, oral exams and team meetings were possible again as quickly as possible. The URZ offered the courses that were in high demand for use in parallel in cooperation with the university’s e-learning team. BigBlueButton was also the first productive system of our new Linux platform. And because all parts run in our data center, it is much easier to ensure GDPR-compliant operation.
With the increasing digitization of teaching, the need for high-performance video communication grew nationwide and internationally. Was there also an exchange with experts at other universities?
The networking of the BBB admins in the German community began in autumn 2020, and many universities and schools were already there. Through this community I got in contact with developers of BigBlueButton in Canada and Brazil. For example, I discussed problems with them that arose when more than 200 people per server took part in the conference at the same time. A patch I adapted to solve this problem was adopted in a similar form with BBB version 2.3, which made significantly better performance possible – for example a large lecture with over 500 people. I’m still very happy about that, since the developers of BigBlueButton received inquiries and tips from all over the world during these turbulent times.
In March 2021, the Chemnitz Linux Days also used BigBlueButton, did everything go smoothly back then?
For this virtual conference at Chemnitz University of Technology, we used a streaming solution we had developed so that more people could participate than BigBlueButton 2.2 could handle. However, this own solution did not work at first, but BigBlueButton did with the patch. To our surprise, about 500 people could stay in one room without any problems. That was a new record. Version 2.3, which followed in May 2021, was a major milestone that resolved most of the performance issues. By the way, I organized regular tests with the German community to find bugs before the release – bugs we found were reported to the developers and fixed by them. It makes me proud that the developers have now invited me to their weekly meetings.
What is special about the new version 2.6 that the URZ rolled out this week?
The version has a feature that many people are eagerly awaiting for – the new whiteboard, in which you can add annotations to the presentation slides afterwards – also by several people at the same time. Existing comments can be corrected again and the work result can be saved – a long-awaited wish of many teachers has thus been fulfilled. In general, the focus of BigBlueButton is on optimal support for teaching. It has many unique features in this area that allow teachers to have more interaction with students and make it easier for them to focus on their teaching. An example of this is the function that allows you to create surveys directly from slides with one click. The new version expands this again and makes it possible to use prepared surveys. In the data center we also use BigBlueButton for work meetings when colleagues are working from home. There are also improvements for this scenario, for example that the shared notes can be brought into the presentation area and that the audio connections are established faster when using VPN.
Can anyone who is stuck with a feature or has a question about BigBlueButton contact you?
Of course, very much. But first, a look at the university computer center’s special website often helps. On we have summarized many explanations and answers to frequently asked questions.
Thank you for the conversation, continued safe operation of BigBlueButton at Chemnitz University of Technology and many good ideas for improving this video conference solution.
Contact: Daniel Schreiber, specialist working group for system software at the University Computer Center of Chemnitz University of Technology, telephone 0371 531 35444, email [email protected].
Mario Steinebach
21.06.2023