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Breakout Rooms
What is it? 
A breakout room is a feature of a discussion board or live chat room that allows a select group of users to enter and use a private room for discussion and collaboration.
Breakout rooms are created by the chat room moderators and are assigned to specific users. When the users enter the breakout room they are given the same features as the host room. When the users leave the breakout room the room closes. All communication in the breakout room is only visible to the moderator and the users.
Breakout Rooms
What are the educational uses and benefits?
- Can be used for a variety of purposes including brainstorming, discussion, collaboration, interviews, focus groups, WebQuests, and consultations.
- Allows students at a distance to communicate.
- Allows instructors to give students group activities during a live distance class.
- Allows instructors to go between various breakout rooms to check on the progress of students, check on work, and communicate with students.
Breakout Rooms
Can I see an example?
See an Example of Breakout Rooms in the Elluminate Live! Virtual classroom.
Breakout Rooms
How do I get started?
Breakout Rooms are a feature of discussion board or live chat rooms such as in E-Learning at UF, Elluminate Live!, Yahoo! Instant Messenger, Trillian Instant Messenger, and so on.
Most Breakout Rooms function in the following manner:
- Login to the Chat Program or Discussion Board Program.
- Begin a chat room session.
- Invite online participants to join your chat room session. Once participants are congregated into the chat room the moderator can begin assigning the participants to breakout rooms.
- Choose which participants you wish to go to a breakout room.
- Create a new breakout room for the selected participants.
- Move the participants into their breakout room.
- The moderator can decide when to end the breakout session.
Breakout Rooms
Where can I learn more?
- Elluminate Live – Breakout Rooms: A quick reference guide for moderators of breakout rooms in the Elluminate Live! Virtual classroom.
- Blackboard – Collaboration Tools: A video on the collaboration tools available in the Blackboard Learner and Content Management System including information on Breakout Rooms.
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