Hints and recommendations of the ITMZ on video conferencing solutions
The current situation forces us all to break new ground in teaching, studying, research and administration in the shortest possible time. Tools and services that enable and support online activities are indispensable for this. The video conferencing service for use in meetings and e-learning is now in particular demand.
Many familiar IT systems do not always withstand the current extreme increase in users and one has to resort to other possibilities. We should look at what can be done in the short term and at the same time examine what benefits can be gained in the medium and long term.
The DFNconf service offers us everything we need for meetings and courses. It can be used to conduct e-learning events or webinars for up to 200 participants. For meetings, consultations, etc. with up to 23 participants, meeting rooms can be set up and used by different terminals. Currently this service is occasionally overloaded. DFN is working intensively on the expansion of resources and in the long run this service is still the preferred solution. In particular, DFNconf has thoroughly examined, clarified and regulated all IT security and data protection issues.
The platforms studip.uni-rostock.de and ilias.uni-rostock.de are available for providing digital teaching materials. Our flexible infrastructure enables us to quickly meet increasing load requirements. For the area of teaching we have integrated the video conferencing tool BigBlueButton (BBB) into Stud.IP and ILIAS. It is currently being tested by first users and user manuals are being created. This is also a solution that will last in the long run, as Stud.IP and ILIAS are used intensively at the university. The application runs on ITMZ servers and does not store data or information in an external cloud.
zoom is a solution that runs on American servers, is useful in the current situation and is used by some people as a short-term solution. The DFN-Verein has tried to get a license for all universities, which was unfortunately rejected by zoom. We have just examined licensing models for universities and are in the process of buying educational licenses which you can then purchase from the ITMZ. The single license is then user-related, allows up to 300 parallel users and has no time limit. Concrete information will be provided by our software service as soon as the delivery has been made by the company.
In addition, the company zoom has been asked for a temporary lifting of the 40 minute limit for the free Basic license with up to 100 parallel participants. The free licence can be obtained directly from zoom by registering with the @uni-rostock.de mail address. As soon as more detailed information is available, we will inform you immediately.
zoom fulfils the essential IT security regulations and is generally assessed positively. Since it is a solution in an external cloud, its use is not recommended if protected or confidential information and data are involved.
For the time being, zoom is a short-term solution and could also be a second mainstay for certain application scenarios in the long term alongside DFNconf. DFN-Verein would like to include zoom in its portfolio in the medium term, which would mean that it would be operated on servers of DFN-Verein in Germany in the future. We will keep you up to date if there are new developments in this regard.
Upon request, the free version of MS Office 365 for the university was also activated. MS Office 365 includes MS Teams, which can also be used as a video conferencing system. Since MS Office 365 runs entirely in the Microsoft cloud, the user must assess whether this option is justifiable for the respective use. If required, please contact sp-helpuni-rostockde. At present, it is only intended as a short-term solution.
Some people have already installed the open source product jitsi. As a stand-alone solution for specific applications and a limited scope, it can be a good short-term solution. It is not possible to establish a central video conferencing service for the university with jitsi because the scaling problem cannot be solved.
I hope that the hints and recommendations can help you with your orientation.<br>Concrete information can be found in the future at