if the zoom-host joins any breakout room to check the progress, then others (instructors, helpers, learners) from the main room might not be able to go to breakout rooms or go back to the breakout room after getting disconnected.
learners waiting to be admitted might also get stuck if there are no co-hosts.
when the host leaves zoom in the middle of the workshop or more commonly during follow up discussions at the end of the day, it closes the meeting unexpectedly. Rejoining may not be intuitive to the participants.
Recommendation:
always staying (host) in the main room or transferring host-role before moving around
Learners' experience before moving to breakout-room:
sometimes learners cannot self-join any breakout room
learners wait to be assigned
people are unsure which breakout room to join
Recommendations:
creating Operating System (OS) specific breakout rooms e.g., breakout rooms for Windows, Linux, MacOS so all setup issues are handled at a specific level Vs general breakout room for help. Similarly for exercises, having the same OS for the participants in the same room might be more convenient
creating self-join breakout rooms
reminding learners to ask for help and move to one-on-one breakout or a room with multiple participants
Learners' Experience while moving to breakout-room:
as soon as breakout rooms are opened, some learners may start joining without waiting for announcements or before the announcements finish
learners in a breakout room may be unsure about when to return to the main room
learners may be confused about the task
some learners missing their breakout room prompts
Recommendation:
announcing the tasks, expected duration, and how to come back to the main room BEFORE opening breakout rooms
Learners' experience in breakout rooms:
learners may be confused about the task and need help
learners may use the zoom-chat to send message to the main room from the breakout room without realizing the chat stays within the breakout room even though previous chats from the main room are still visible causing a confusion
too short notice (~60s) before closing breakout-room
rejoining meetings afterwards may not be intuitive
Recommendations:
assigning one observer per breakout room e.g., helper, instructor or mixing learners with varying level of backgrounds
reminding not to mix up between leave meeting vs leave breakout-room
announcing 3 to 5 mins before closing breakout-rooms
Observed breakout room related practices:
creating/moving to/coming out of breakout rooms take time
learner in breakout room missing main workshop materials
Recommendations/practices:
some workshops tend to avoid breakout rooms and discuss briefly in the main room
some workshops tend to utilize longer consolidated breakout: instructor demonstrates for sufficient duration and then learners go to the breakout room for a somewhat long time where learners practice extensively to gain confidence. Less materials may be covered but it may be very effective for online learning.
some workshops tried: 1.5-hour lesson and 1.5-hour lesson without any major issues. Seemed ideal for break as well as practice and potentially avoids zoom fatigue
some workshops are avoiding breakout rooms altogether because of overhead of moving in and out and breakout room management
Screen sharing in breakout rooms
screen sharing may not be possible in one or more breakout rooms
Recommendations:
closing and reopening all breakout rooms might solve this issue
enabling screen sharing before creating breakout rooms might help
Learners’ experience in the main room:
Recommendation:
Learners' experience before moving to breakout-room:
Recommendations:
Learners' Experience while moving to breakout-room:
Recommendation:
Learners' experience in breakout rooms:
Recommendations:
Observed breakout room related practices:
Recommendations/practices:
Screen sharing in breakout rooms
Recommendations: