Activity Modules

BigBlueButton supports the following capabilities:

Web Cam. Multiple users can share their Web cam at the same time. There is no built-in limit on the number of simultaneously active Web cams.

Presentation. The presenter can upload PDF documents, PowerPoint presentations, Microsoft Office documents and keep everyone in sync with their current page, zoom, pan, and see the presenters mouse pointer.

Integrated VoIP. Web conferencing supports voice over IP (VoIP) audio calls. All your students need are speakers and a microphone to participate.

Desktop Sharing. Go beyond slides. The presenter can broadcast their desktop for all students to see. Works on Mac, Unix, and PC.

Integrated Whiteboard. The whiteboard enables the presenter to draw freehand as well as simple shapes on top of the presentation slides. Everything drawn on the whiteboard is synchronized in real time across all the conference participants.

A package is a bundle of web content packaged in a way that follows the SCORM or the AICC standard for learning objects. These packages can include web pages, graphics, Javascript programs, Flash presentations and anything else that works in web browsers. The Package module allows you to easily upload any standard SCORM or AICC package and make it part of your course.

The module provides very simple yet useful functionality. When added into a course, it behaves as a graded activity. The grade for each student is taken from a final grade in another course. Combined with metacourses, this allows course designers to organize courses into separate units.

A Wiki enables documents to be authored collectively in a simple markup language using a web browser.

"Wiki wiki" means "super fast" in the Hawaiian language, and it is the speed of creating and updating pages that is one of the defining aspects of wiki technology. Generally, there is no prior review before modifications are accepted, and most wikis are open to the general public or at least to all persons who also have access to the wiki server.

The Moodle Wiki module enables participants to work together on web pages to add, expand and change the content. Old versions are never deleted and can be restored.

This module is based on Erfurt Wiki.

The Survey module provides a number of verified survey instruments that have been found useful in assessing and stimulating learning in online environments. Teachers can use these to gather data from their students that will help them learn about their class and reflect on their own teaching.

The Database module allows the teacher and/or students to build, display and search a bank of record entries about any conceivable topic. The format and structure of these entries can be almost unlimited, including images, files, URLs, numbers and text amongst other things. You may be familiar with similar technology from building Microsoft Access or Filemaker databases.

This activity allows participants to create and maintain a list of definitions, like a dictionary.

The entries can be searched or browsed in many different formats.

The glossary also allows teachers to export entries from one glossary to another (the main one) within the same course.

Finally, it is possible to automatically create links to these entries from throughout the course.

Assignments allow the teacher to specify a task that requires students to prepare digital content (any format) and submit it by uploading it to the server. Typical assignments include essays, projects, reports and so on. This module includes grading facilities.

This is a not a true activity - it is a "dummy" activity that allows you to insert text and graphics among the other activities on the course page.

A choice activity is very simple - the teacher asks a question and specifies a choice of multiple responses. It can be useful as a quick poll to stimulate thinking about a topic; to allow the class to vote on a direction for the course; or to gather research consent.

Resources are content: information the teacher wants to bring into the course. These can be prepared files uploaded to the course server; pages edited directly in Moodle; or external web pages made to appear part of this course.

This module is a very important reflective activity. The teacher asks the student to reflect on a particular topic, and the student can edit and refine their answer over time. This answer is private and can only be seen by the teacher, who can offer feedback and a grade on each journal entry. It's usually a good idea to have about one Journal activity per week.

This module allows the teacher to design and set quiz tests, consisting of multiple choice, true-false, and short answer questions. These questions are kept in a categorised database, and can be re-used within courses and even between courses. Quizzes can allow multiple attempts. Each attempt is automatically marked, and the teacher can choose whether to give feedback or to show correct answers. This module includes grading facilities.

This module, the "HotPot" module, allows teachers to administer Hot Potatoes quizzes via Moodle. The quizzes are created on the teacher's computer and then uploaded to the Moodle course.
After students have attempted the quizzes, a number of reports are available which show how individual questions were answered and some statistical trends in the scores.

A lesson delivers content in an interesting and flexible way. It consists of a number of pages. Each page normally ends with a question and a number of possible answers. Depending on the student's choice of answer they either progress to the next page or are taken back to a previous page. Navigation through the lesson can be straight forward or complex, depending largely on the structure of the material being presented.

This activity can be the most important - it is here that most discussion takes place. Forums can be structured in different ways, and can include peer rating of each posting. The postings can be viewed in a variety for formats, and can include attachments. By subscribing to a forum, participants will receive copies of each new posting in their email. A teacher can impose subscription on everyone if they want to.

The Chat module allows participants to have a real-time synchronous discussion via the web. This is a useful way to get a different understanding of each other and the topic being discussed - the mode of using a chat room is quite different from the asynchronous forums. The Chat module contains a number of features for managing and reviewing chat discussions.