Zoom Classes: Deaf Tips: Before & During Break-out Rooms

https://infoguides.rit.edu/prf.php?id=590096d9-7cdb-11ed-9922-0ad758b798c3
Last Updated: Nov 3, 2023 1:35 PM

Before: Getting Reading-Breakout Rooms

Enabling Break-out Rooms

  • To enable the breakout room feature for your own use:

  • Sign in to the Zoom web portal.
  • In the navigation menu, click Settings.
  • Click the Meeting tab.
  • Under In Meeting (Advanced), click the Breakout room toggle to enable it.
  • If a verification dialog appears, click Enable to verify the change.
    Note: If the option is grayed out, it has been locked at either the group or account level. You need to contact your Zoom admin.
  • (Optional) Select the check boxes for the following breakout room options, then click Save:
    • Allow meeting hosts to pre-assign participants to breakout rooms
    • Allow hosts to broadcast message to participants. This allows the host to broadcast a message to all participants in breakout rooms. 
    • Allow hosts to create, rename, and delete breakout rooms when rooms are open.
      Note: This option must be enabled by Zoom before it is available and requires 5.9.3 or higher. 

Creating Break-out Rooms

  1. Start an instant or scheduled meeting.
  2. Click Breakout Rooms .
  3. Select the number of rooms you would like to create, and how you would like to assign your participants to those rooms:
    • Automatically: Let Zoom split your participants up evenly into each of the rooms.
    • Manually: Choose which participants you would like in each room.
    • Let participants choose roomParticipants can select and enter rooms on their own. 
  4. Click Create Breakout Rooms.
  5. Your rooms will be created, but will not start automatically. You can manage the rooms prior to starting them by following the instructions below.

Tip: Move interpreter/captionist in with DHH students—note interpreter cannot tell you who the DHH students are due to confidentiality rules

Options for breakout rooms

  1. After creating the breakout rooms, click Options(on Windows) or the gear icon (on macOS) to view additional breakout rooms options.
  2. Check any options that you would like to use for your breakout rooms.
    • Allow participants to choose roomParticipants can select and enter rooms on their own once rooms are launched. 
    • Allow participants to return to the main session at any time: If this option is checked, the participants can move back to the main session from their meeting controls. If this is disabled, they need to wait for the host or co-host to end the breakout rooms.
    • Automatically move all assigned participants into breakout rooms: Checking this option will move all participants into the breakout rooms automatically. If this option is unchecked, the participants will need to click Join to be added to the breakout room.
    • Auto close breakout rooms after () minutes: If this option is checked, the breakout rooms will automatically end after the configured time.
      • Notify me when the time is up: If this option is checked, the host and co-hosts will be notified when the breakout room time is up.
    • Set Countdown timer: If this option is checked, the participants will be given a countdown of how much time they have left before being returned to the main room.
  3. Follow the steps below to assign participants to rooms or click Open All Rooms to start the breakout rooms.

How to assign participants to rooms

To assign participants to your rooms, select Assign next to the room you wish to assign participants to and select the participants you want to assign to that room. Repeat this for each room.

Once a participant has been assigned (manually or automatically), the number of participants will show in place of the Assign button.

How to prepare breakout rooms

After manually or automatically assigning participants to rooms, you can rearrange the participants. Participants who are not assigned to breakout sessions will remain in the main meeting when the rooms are started. Hover over the participant or room for these options:

  • Move to (participant): Select a room to move the participant to.
  • Exchange (participant): Select a participant in another room to swap the selected participant with.
  • Delete Room: Delete the selected room.
  • Recreate: 
    • Recreate all Rooms: Deletes existing breakout rooms and allows the host/co-host to create new ones. 
    • Recover to pre-assigned rooms: Recreate the breakout rooms with the pre-assigned arrangement. This is only available if using the pre-assign breakout rooms feature.  
  • Add a Room: Add another breakout room.
  • Open All Rooms: Start the rooms. All assigned participants will be moved to their respective rooms after confirming the prompt to join the breakout room. If allowing participants to choose their own room, they can open the list of rooms and choose which to join. The host, or co-host that launched the breakouts and the original host, will be left in the main meeting until manually joining one of the rooms. 

More information via this Zoom link. 

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