Since its first line of code for the BigBlueButton plugin was written February 10, 2010, BigBlueButton has been an integral tool inside of Moodle for over 13 years. Throughout this time, we have continuously improved and refined our collaboration with Moodle Head Quarters (Moodle HQ), resulting in an incredible partnership with one of the world’s leading Learning Management Systems (LMS).
During the pandemic, the demand for the BigBlueButton plugin skyrocketed, making it the second most downloaded plugin on moodle.org. Recognizing its value and popularity, Moodle HQ integrated the BigBlueButton plugin into the core of Moodle 4.0 (released 2021).
Read for some of the exciting conference highlights at #MootGlobal23!
#MootGlobal23 Conference Highlights
1 – Get ready for an exciting new feature in the release of Moodle 4.3 on October 9: sub-plugins! This update allows you to expand the capabilities of your BigBlueButton by extending custom parameters to the BigBlueButton server. An example would be passing the URL to the site’s logo that would appear in the upper within BigBlueButton.
2 – BigBlueButton is a Certified Integration Partner (CIP), and we won CIP Growth Of the Year! This was based on revenues Moodle HQ earned from Blindside Networks providing hosting for BigBlueButton to the Moodle community. Read more about the award.
3 – Blindside’s CEO and BigBlueButton co-founder, Fred Dixon, captured the attention of MoodleMoot attendees as he presented “How AI and Analytics are Shaping the Future of Virtual Classrooms and BigBlueButton” to a packed room.
4 – Martin Dougiamas, the founder of Moodle, is stepping back to work full-time on his new enterprise Open Educational Technology. There are two founding members: Moodle and BigBlueButton.
5 – Most of all, we enjoyed the feedback from BigBlueButton’s users:
To meet the people behind @bigbluebutton and share @tamarindtree2 story with them.. Is the power of open source. Thank you for your wonderful work.. Breaking the boundaries of learning, making quality education accessible to our children. pic.twitter.com/KdBMUAVeUt
— Michelle (@michelle_dahanu) September 18, 2023
Due to the fantastic work of @bigbluebutton core developers, BigBlueButton #Moodle plugin developers, the worldwide BigBlueButton community & @blindsidenetwks, BigBlueButton won the Outstanding Growth Award based on total revenues generated for @moodle!#MootGlobal23 @mootglobal pic.twitter.com/UyXiSXMQO2
— Blindside Networks (@blindsidenetwks) September 19, 2023
According to a UNESCO study, 244 million children under 15 do not have access to education, said Fred Dixon from BigBlueButton, Moodle Certified Integration, during his presentation at #MootGlobal23 @ffdixon@bigbluebutton @blindsidenetwks pic.twitter.com/YsWgX3zF1x
— Moot Global | #MootGlobal23 (@mootglobal) September 19, 2023
What’s Ahead for BigBlueButton in 2023-2024
BigBlueButton has become the standard virtual classroom for many Moodle sites. We’re doubling down on the sub-plugins. There are now 25 Moodle integration partners reselling hosting for Blindside Networks, and that number continues to grow.
Of course, we’ll be at MoodleMoot 2024 in Mexico. We hope to see you there!
“BigBlueButton is much more suitable for training and teaching than other platforms – and with the integration with Moodle, it makes a seamless course and experience for us.”
Eileen Wallace
Moodle Trainer & E-Learning Facilitator
NELC
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If you need expert help with hosting of BigBlueButton, reach out to us directly at Blindside Networks.