Overview: Video and online conference platforms

Here you find an overview of all digital communication options available to university staff. This information applies to all staff members in teaching and administration.

The University of Freiburg’s Computing Center has been providing solutions for online communication in research, teaching, and administration for many years. Since the summer semester of 2020, these resources have been significantly expanded. In addition to the existing services, a new scalable cluster based on the open-source software BigBlueButton was set up and integrated with the ILIAS learning platform. In addition, licenses for the external solution Zoom X were purchased for university staff to cover the need for communication solutions for large groups.

In the winter semester it is recommended to exclusively use BigBlueButton or Zoom, depending on the application scenario in teaching. In addition, "Panopto" is available for video recordings without participant interaction and webcasting, see Toolbox Digital Teaching.

The following table gives an overview of the recommended live conferencing systems, depending on your requirements; the systems are either ready to use or currently being tested:

	Platform	Interaction possible?	Recipients/Max. participants	Hosting / Provider	Access / Documentation / Remarks
Video conferences and work groups	BigBlueButton	Yes	30 (and more*)	University of Freiburg / computer center	Teachers can plan BBB Meetings on ILIAS, participants can access the Meeting via ILIAS course room. Videoconferencing with BBB in research and administration is available without ILIAS: https://bbb.uni-freiburg.de Invitations of external persons without a university account is possible. Instructions: https://ilias.uni-freiburg.de/goto.php?target=wiki_1229029_BigBlueButton
Video conference solution for larger groups	Zoom	Yes	up to 300 or up to 1000¹	Zoom V. C. Inc. / computer center	Account registration by the faculties. Registration of additional accounts is possible if the institution agrees to pay the account costs. If you have questions, please send a mail to vk@rz.uni-freiburg.de. Please read the Zoom policy of the university: https://rz.uni-freiburg.de/services/beschaffung/software/zoom/zoom *only available in German
Work groups and web conferences for larger groups Video Chat with screen sharing and streaming option	PexIP	Yes	23 or live streaming unlimited	DFN-Verein	Activation of a personal account by vk@rz.uni-freiburg.de and registration at https://www.conf.dfn.de/

The "jitsi"-Service was cancelled on 31st March 2021.

¹ Upon request to the computer center.

* Under conditions.