Integrating BigBlueButton with Moodle

In order to improve online learning, educator and learners collaboration, moodle and BigBlueButtion  were designed independently and these two can be integrated with ease.

About Moodle;

Moodle is an open source learning management system designed to create a learning environment for educators, learners and administrators. Moodle can be installed on a person’s web server, it is also proven and trusted worldwide.

It is completely free with no licensing fees, highly flexible and fully customizable.

About BigBlueButton;

BigBlueButton is an open source global web conferencing system intended for online learning. It includes features like; real time sharing of audio, screen and video, private/public chat, interactive whiteboard and  upload of documents.

BligBlueButton is integrated in moodle as plugin and below are the step by step procedures on how this is done;

• Sign into moodle as an administrator > Dashboard > site administration.

• Select plugins > install plugin.

• There are two ways to install the plugin; either from plugin directory or from a file. In this blog we shall install using a file.
• Visit the moodle website here > Downloads > Moodle plugins.

• Search for BigBlueButton, then click on it to down the file.

• After downloading the file,  head back to the moodle site and select “choose file”.

• Confirm by clicking “continue”.

• Under Plugin checks click “Upgrade Moodle database now”. In case everything was configured well, you will receive a “success status” , click continue, otherwise you will be informed what is missing.

• Under BigBlueButton settings, fill in the server URL and shared secret. Other settings can be left as default, save changes.

• Check if the plugin is installed; Site administration > Plugins > Plugin Overview

You have now successfully integrated BigBlueButton(BBB) with Moodle. You can now add a BBB link to a real-time classroom by clicking the course > Add an activity/ resource > BigBlueButton.