From 2002 to 2022, the open-source BigBlueButton project has held sixteen BigBlueButton Developer Summits, usually in Canada and Brazil. At each Summit, the core developers converge, discuss, design, code, and plan the priorities for the next 6 to 12 months.
The 17th BigBlueButton Developer Summit was held April 24-28, 2023 in Porto Alegre, Brazil. As with previous summits, this was an in-person meeting of developers, administrators, usability experts, and end-users from the community working together to accelerate improvements to BigBlueButton.
The primary activity of the conference is to explore topics that would improve the effectiveness of BigBlueButton for teachers and students. At the summit, the members formed groups and sprinted for a week to explore specific topics around scalability, testing, applied learning, and different use cases for BigBlueButton.
On Friday the groups gave a live demonstration of their progress – using BigBlueButton of course! Below is a summary of each presentation along with the recording of the demonstration.
We invite you to watch the presentations below to see where the BigBlueButton project is focused and headed in 2024.
To see the full playlist, click here.
Playlist Overview:
GraphQL – We’re currently in the preliminary stages of transitioning from the Meteor/MongoDB stack to the more scalable and versatile technology: GraphQL. This move not only enables broader interoperability, but also enhances performance and scalability. As part of this transition, we are rigorously refactoring the code to ensure that only the data necessary for the visible components are requested to the server, thereby addressing the issue of over-fetching data
BigBlueButton Tests – Running tests in serial to improve performance and coverage of BigBlueButton builds.
Timer, Questions, and Present Webcams – Three new features coming to BigBlueButton for built-in timer, Q&A module, ability to show a webcam in the main presentation area.
Hybrid Classes Concept – UI and prototypes for providing an interactive experience for students in a hybrid class.
Listen-only Refactor – Phase out the choice between Listen Only and Microphone in BigBlueButton’s UI. This will be achieved by dynamically switching between MediaSoup (listen only) and FreeSWITCH (two-way audio bridge) when the user mutes/unmutes their microphone.
xAPI Events Visualization – A prototype to have BigBlueButton server emit xAPI events based on events in the session, such as start screen sharing, start breakout rooms, users join/leaves.
Mobile SDK Prototype – Embedding the mobile BigBlueButton client within another mobile app
Whiteboard Vision – Working prototype showcases individual canvases for each student, presenting instructors with a comprehensive bird’s-eye view of all student work. With Whiteboard Vision, instructors gain real-time insights, enabling them to identify students who are struggling promptly. This immediate feedback accelerates learning, eliminating the need for separate breakout rooms.
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