The General Education Department has rolled out a free and open source software (FOSS)-based videoconferencing system. The conferencing system was launched prior to the Union government’s security warning on use of the Zoom videoconferencing application that has been widely used during the lockdown.
The Kerala Infrastructure and Technology for Education (KITE) has customised the free software application called BigBlueButton for online classes and meetings. In addition to videoconferencing, the BigBlueButton app features screen sharing, multiuser whiteboard, public chat, shared notes, and so on.
The application is a perfect web conferencing software for teachers since it is fully customised for online learning activities. It enables teachers to share their slides, videos, and audios along with their computer screen (screen sharing) with their students in a live interaction mode. The presentation area in the application can also be used as a white board.
KITE has integrated this application with its KOOL (KITE’s open online learning) management system for online training. The server customisation activities using the freely available source code are in the last stage. This facility will be extended to all teachers through the Samagra resource portal developed by KITE.
“Proprietary videoconferencing applications such as Zoom often threaten the privacy of users and in such a context, the BigBlueButton application is a unique web conferencing system for official purposes,” KITE CEO K. Anvar Sadath said.
