Collaborate

bbb-vnc-collaborate

1. From a Big Blue Button session, "share remote desktop" and use the URL wss://BBB_SERVER/vnc. Replace BBB_SERVER with the DNS name of your BigBlueButton server. No password is required, as the BigBlueButton provides the authentication.

2. To obtain "teacher mode" access (a grid view of all student desktops), add the teacher account to the bigbluebutton group, using a command like this:

   sudo adduser BrentBaccala bigbluebutton

   Then hide and restore the teacher's desktop to obtain the grid view.

   1. Clicking on a student's desktop brings that desktop full screen and allows interaction with it.
   2. F8, TAB, ENTER escapes back to the grid view. You can also get back to the grid view by hiding and restoring the teacher's remote desktop.
   3. The right button menu includes a screenshare option that can be used to project any desktop (teacher or student) to all of the other desktops.
   4. Students (viewers) can be selectively deafed using the right button pull down menu in the grid view. Clicking on a student's desktop undeafs that student, while escaping back to the grid re-deafs them (if they were deafed in the first place). This feature can be used to facilitate break-out or lab sessions, where the students are working independently and the teacher wishes to speak with them individually.

3. You might want to change the default display geometry in /etc/vnc.conf.

   The screen geometries can also be changed dynamically. The student desktops and the teacher grid geometries can all be adjusted. Use the GNOME desktop to adjust student desktop geometries.

   You can change the screen geometry from "teacher mode" using the right button menu. A high resolution display will let you read everything on a grid of student desktops. If you click on a student desktop, the system will use a scaling VNC viewer with a different escape sequence - click SHIFT-ALT-Q to return to the grid.

4. Cut-and-paste is supported. Click on the "Enable clipboard" option in the pulldown menu at the upper right.

   Chrome works out of the box, but Firefox requires granting permission manually in the about:config window. Set these two options true (search for asyncClipboard to find them easily):

   dom.events.asyncClipboard.read
   dom.events.testing.asyncClipboard
   

   Cut-and-paste currently doesn't work in teacher mode with the scaling VNC viewer, so if the teacher screen geometry is different from the student desktop geometry, no cut-and-paste.