Teams icon and BigBlueButton icons side by side

Microsoft Teams and BigBlueButton are Video Conferencing Platforms used for virtual classroom activities. Microsoft Teams is one element of the software suite Microsoft Office, and Microsoft Office 365 is available to all Mary Immaculate College staff and students. BigBlueButton is an Open Source programme integrated with Moodle and featured at the discretion of the course presenters.


Microsoft Teams is a highly customisable platform intended to be a hub of organisation, communication and collaboration whether it be a classroom or office.


BigBlueButton is a simple and intuitive virtual learning platform with a friendly interface which integrates directly into Moodle as a resource.


While BigBlueButton would be seen as the easier tool to use for virtual classrooms, Team's offers an array of additional features which can elevate your online synchronous teaching. With a larger limit for max attendees, access from mobile devices and most importantly the capability to enable live audio captioning, students will be guaranteed a greater and more accessible learning experience in larger group settings.  

Below you will see some of the major features of Teams, and where MS Teams and BigBlueButton overlap:

MS Teams

Both

BigBlueButton

Up to 300 attendees

 

Up to 100 attendees

File sharing up to 100Mb

 

File sharing up to 30Mb

 

Screen sharing/ Screen control

 

 

Global chat function within a meeting

 

 

 

Private chat function within a meeting

 

Video Sharing/Presentation

 

 

Screen Sharing

 

 

Breakout Rooms

 

 

Whiteboard

 

 

Electronic Hand Raise

 

 

Polling

 

 

Shared Notes

 

 

Global chat function

 

 

Annotation

 

Calendar and Event Management

 

 

Late attendees can still be assigned to a Breakout Room

 

 

Noise suppression available

 

 

Live captions available

 

 

In call recording with notifications

 

 

Shared collaborative tools: OneNote, Shared Notebook, Assignments and status.

 

 

Mobile Access and Screen sharing

 

 

Various additional applications may be applied as desired (ie. Planner, Forms, Teamwork, Evernote etc.)