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How to create and manage Breakout rooms in Zoom,

Breakout rooms:  A tool available to the host of a Zoom meeting that allows for the assignment of students into different groups.  The groups can then "breakout" into separate "rooms" and have sessions of their own.  The host can join any of the sessions and switch between any of the sessions at any time.  The sessions can be vacated, and students can come back to the main meeting. The main meeting is akin to a plenary session and the breakout rooms are the different subsessions. 

This tool/feature is turned on and available by default on all Whitman Zoom accounts, if you do not see the Breakout Rooms tool in the meeting controls toolbar, nor the option to create pre-assigned breakout rooms when scheduling in the web portal, check your individual account settings. 

There are two methods of creating breakout rooms (both are documented in this article):

1. During a meeting:  This the easiest and recommended way of creating breakout rooms. Room assignments can be adjusted at any time.
2. Before a meeting:  Pre-assigning students into different groups can be done when scheduling a meeting (or editing an already scheduled meeting) NOTE: this pre-assignment method is not available via Zoom in Canvas - it has to be done via the Whitman web portal:  whitman.zoom.us

There are a some options to help you manage breakout rooms.  These are accessed via the Options sub menu on the bottom of the Breakout Rooms list window (This window will appear during the creation and assignment of your breakout rooms)   

• Move all participants into breakout rooms automatically.  If tickedselected, this will force (without asking) everyone that is assigned to a breakout room into that room once the Open All Rooms button is clicked.  If not tickedselected, the participants will be presented with a pop-up invitation to join their assigned breakout room when the Open All Rooms button is clicked.

• Allow participants to return to the main session at any time.  When tickedselected, participants can leave the breakout room and join the main meeting room at anytime.  This is a good option if your groups will be breaking in and out of their breakout rooms several times during a session.  If left unticked unselected then participants cannot leave the breakout rooms until the rooms are closed by you or by an expiration counter (see below). NOTE: Once the breakout rooms are closed, recreating the same rooms with the same assignments is not quick. If you plan on reusing the same group assignments during one meeting. it is recommended that you tick select this box. and then cue participants to come in and out of the breakout rooms as needed (via Broadcast a message to all or by voice) To maintain the same group assignments during the meeting, do not click on Close All Rooms until the end of your class session.  If you plan on using the same group/room assignments during several class sessions, see Use the import from CSV method of assigning breakout rooms below.

• Breakout rooms close automatically after XX minutes. If tickedselected, this will automatically close the breakout rooms after the number of minutes you enter in the box
  
  • Notify me when time is up.  If you need a reminder of when the breakout rooms are closing, tick select this box.

• Countdown after closing breakout room. When tickedselected, this will provide a countdown to the participants in a breakout room, allowing them to prepare to join the main meeting.  The choice of how long the countdown duration is either: 10, 15, 30, 60, or 120 seconds.

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1. 1. sign into whitman.zoom.us
   2. Click on the Schedule a Meeting button on the far right of the screen
   3. Fill out and select all the parameters of your meeting, before you save - make sure you do the following:
   4. Under Meeting Options, tick select Breakout Room pre-assign
   5. Click on  + Create Rooms
   6. Click on the + (next to Rooms) to create a room, click on + again to create another room, and so on and so forth.   Each room will be labeled as Breakout Room"X" (x being the number of the room)
   7. Click on the room you want to assign students to (it will be highlighted in blue), and add the student's email address under the Breakout Room"X"
   8. Repeat for every room, until there are no students left to assign
   9. Click on Save

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1. 1. sign into whitman.zoom.us
   2. Click on the Schedule a Meeting button on the far right of the screen.
   3. Fill out and select all the parameters of your meeting, before you save - make sure you do the following:
   4. Under Meeting Options, tick select Breakout Rooms pre-assign
   5. Click on Import from CSV
      1. At the top of the "Import Rooms and Participants from CSV file" window click on download and open this file.
         1. Open the downloaded file with Excel or other spreadsheet program
            1. This file will consist of two columns: Pre-assign Room Name and Email Address  - DO NOT REMOVE THE COLUMN NAMES (HEADERS) OF THIS FILE
         2. Fill in out this table with room numbers and email addresses.  The room number column will have several repeated entries, but the email address column should list each email address only once. A sample is below:
            
            

         Pre-assign Room Name	Email Address
         room1	unique_student@whitman.edu
         room1	not_the_same@whitman.edu
         room2	another_student@whitman.edu
         room2	individual_student@whitman.edu
         room3	not_repeated_student@whitman.edu
         room3	particular_student@whitman.edu

         
         

   6. Save this file as a CSV (Comma delimited) file.  Microsoft Excel may warn you about loosing some features of your workbook if you save it as a CSV file, that is ok - continue to save it as a CSV.   Also, note the location where you saved it (you may need to access it during a meeting)

   7. Back in the "Import Rooms and Participants from CSV file" pop up window:  Either "Drag and Drop your CSV file" into the large gray box  (or click on browse, and select the location of the file you just saved, then click open). 
   8. Zoom will save your pre-assignments and break out rooms.  You can verify this by looking under the option for Breakout Room pre-assign  option, the number of rooms created will be listed with the ability to click on Edit to change your pre-assignments
      
      

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• If you edit your meeting at all, even if it does not involve the breakout rooms feature, be sure to double check that the breakout rooms are still pre-assigned after you save your meeting edits.  Sometimes, adding an alternative host, or changing a meeting parameter causes Zoom to drop the pre-assigned breakout rooms.  This is a known fault that Zoom is working on.  This is part of the reason why creating breakout rooms after a meeting starts is recommended.   Having the CSV file of your pre-assigned breakout rooms is handy, in case you have to quickly reload it before the session starts. Alternatively, reloading your preassigned breakout rooms could be the last thing you do after any meeting edits.
• If you tick select the Only authenticated users can join box when scheduling your meeting, only those participants who have authenticated through a Whitman authentication service will be able to join.  Outside guests will be excluded.
• When If participants show up late, they will be directed to a waiting room, and will not be automatically placed in the breakout rooms, be sure to keep an eye on . Check your participant list to see if someone is in the waiting room.  Once a new participant is admitted, you can place them in a breakout room from the Breakout Room list windowYou .
• Once the breakout rooms are open, you cannot use the Chat feature to send a message to everyone in a meeting a message, once the breakout rooms are open.  Use Rather, use the Broadcast a message to all button instead (. The button is located on the bottom of the Breakout Rooms - in progress window) If you want to share any content (via Chat), share this content  In Progress window.
• You can join each session individually to share content via Chat. It is easier share information or content with all attendees before you open the breakout rooms.  This is a lot easier than joining each session individually and sharing content. Share before you open.   
• Each participant in a breakout room has the ability to press an Ask for Help button in their toolbar. When pressed this will send the host a message, giving the name of the person who asked for help, the breakout room they are in, and will present to the host the option to press a Join Breakout Room button.

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