Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google


MoodleCloud Expands BigBlueButton Web Conferencing Options

MoodleCloud, a hosted service for the open source Moodle LMS, is giving schools the ability to purchase more user licenses of BigBlueButton as an add-on to the service. MoodleCloud itself ranges in price from free (for up to $50 users) to about $760 per year for Moodle for School sites serving up to $500 users. (Larger plans are also available.)

BigBlueButton is an open source web conferencing system for sharing real-time "audio, video, slides, chat, desktop and polls" in online classes. The service, which was started by Blindside Networks in 2008, has been available free for up to six users through MoodleCloud. Now up to 30 users per site will be able to use those features.

"Moodle's mission has always been to help educators improve learning with open, accessible tools to use as they wish," said Moodle Founder and CEO Martin Dougiamas in a prepared statement. "Together with our good open source friends at BigBlueButton, we have, to date, been able to offer up to six free users to access high quality web conferencing system in the MoodleCloud sites. Requests for more BigBlueButton users indicate that educators and learners are effectively using the full video, audio, whiteboarding and presentation support in their MoodleCloud sites. So we are pleased to offer the BigBlueButton add on option for all Moodle for School sites."

With the new option, Moodle for Schools users can purchase, in increments of six users, up to 30 seats. Licenses start at about $230 ($300 AUS). To access the add-on option, users log into their portal and click "Upgrade your plan and purchase add-ons."

Additional details can be found at moodlecloud.com.

About the Author

David Nagel is the former editorial director of 1105 Media's Education Group and editor-in-chief of THE Journal, STEAM Universe, and Spaces4Learning. A 30-year publishing veteran, Nagel has led or contributed to dozens of technology, art, marketing, media, and business publications.

He can be reached at [email protected]. You can also connect with him on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidrnagel/ .


Featured

  • glowing data flow into abstract large language model

    White House Intros Classified Cybersecurity Review for Frontier AI Models

    The White House is moving forward with a voluntary framework for testing the cybersecurity capabilities and risks of advanced artificial intelligence models, though the standards guiding those evaluations remain classified.

  • circuit patterns

    Anthropic Launches Lower-Cost Claude Sonnet 5

    Anthropic has released Claude Sonnet 5, positioning the model as its most autonomous mid-tier offering to date and a lower-cost alternative to its flagship Opus 4.8 system. The company said the model can plan multi-step tasks, operate tools such as browsers and terminals, and complete agentic work at a level that previously required larger and more expensive models.

  • Digital cloud security with protected data flow on a futuristic network background

    Researchers Warn: Passkey Phishing Attacks Are Leading to Cloud Account Takeovers

    In an active social engineering campaign, attackers are impersonating IT help desks and using fake passkey setup requests to compromise employee identities and gain access to enterprise cloud data.

  • Image of digital screen with data and math formulas on black background

    AI Giants Report Advances in Mathematical Research

    OpenAI has published what it says is an AI-generated solution to the Navier-Stokes existence and smoothness problem, one of mathematics' seven Millennium Prize Problems, while Anthropic has reported separate advances in research mathematics and formal proof generation.