How to Use the NEW Breakout Rooms Feature in Microsoft Teams [ Step-by-step ]

[@uwadiegwuemmanuel8809]

well done, you speak clearly and fluently;keep it up!!!

[@ClassPoint]

Thanks for the kind words!

[@elenij.6682]

Thanks for this Sara, your team too. I have also watched your earlier video on creating and using breakout channels, and learned a lot from the comments and your replies as well. It seems to me that breakout rooms are the ones that work better, to create them instantly during each lesson, but that breakout channels would work very well for mini projects for instance or when students are added in groups based on a common topic either as a group assignment or an individual one (examples from personal experience of course, I'm sure there's many other examples). For the latter, I'd probably create breakout channels and make these private to the specific students, so that they can work on their topic every time. Hope this makes sense, thanks again!

[@ClassPoint]

Thanks Eleni, glad we could help! I think you're right, they both do similar things, but can be used in different ways to make life a bit easier.

[@ivanradoykov2307]

great overview, thank you Sarah!!

[@ClassPoint]

Thank you for watching!

[@luigisabatino610]

Great video! Super clear! Thank you!!!!!!!

[@ClassPoint]

Glad you found it helpful! Thanks for watching

[@growqueen]

Excellent video.

[@fredjaravata]

Thank you! Very helpful for our faculty

[@ClassPoint]

Glad to hear that!

[@sistasoler77]

Thank you for the tutorial. As the organizer of meeting breakout rooms, can I record?

[@ClassPoint]

I believe so!

[@aliceswann366]

May I ask if we can use breakout room on Samsung tablet old version. Many thanks 😙

[@ClassPoint]

Hello! You should be able to join a breakout room on your tablet. Creating Breakout rooms is compatible with desktop versions of Teams. For more info, check out this site: support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/breakout-rooms-troubleshooting-guide-02eefaa2-f5ad-4075-9de1-79747c1cb463

[@reelfocusproductions989]

Nice Video 1. If the breakout rooms are open and already started, can I assign late comers while from the main room? 2. Can I reassign individual students from one room to another while the room is open? 3. Is there anyway for students to get the attention of a teacher from their breakout room? 4. Is there anyway to identify or single out room leaders. Really appreciate the video, thanks again

[@ClassPoint]

Thank you! 1. Yes, students can be assigned as they enter, even if the rooms have already begun. 2. The rooms must be closed to reassign students to different rooms. 3. Students can type in the chat, and that should call attention to the teacher. The teacher will get notifications from the chats. 4. The only way I know is through the meeting options while in a breakout room, you can set who can present/unmute

[@andrewcook5660]

Great video, thanks. If the teacher creates, say, two breakout rooms and then shares their screen with one room, is the screen only shared with that room? I hope this is true for what I have planned!

[@ClassPoint]

Hi Andrew! Yes, you are correct, if the teacher is in one breakout room, only those in that room will see the teacher's shared screen! Enjoy your activity!

[@MichaelSchmidtkunz]

As the organizer, is there a way to view multiple breakout rooms at one time?

[@manuespiritu]

Hi, is there a way for a non-organizer to access their room's whiteboard after leaving the room? In our case, only the organizer can access the whiteboard but the participants can't. Thank you!

[@ClassPoint]

Hi Manu! I see that this is a common issue. Whiteboards should be able to be seen at whiteboard.microsoft.com. During the meeting, a student can copy the address of the whiteboard in their chat so that they can review it after. Not the best way to solve, but hopefully it is updated soon!

[@michaelmccollister7482]

Thank you, Sara the lifesaver! One question: I want to use Breakout Rooms for students to do pair work activities in my ESL classes. Any suggestions on how best to do this? I'd like one student in the Breakout Room to still have access to the class ppt., but not the other student so they can interact and complete info gap exercises. Thanks in advance!

[@ClassPoint]

Hi Michael! Glad we could help. I think if you want only one student in the breakout room to have access to the class ppt, you could make a private channel with that file located there. That way, only the invited students to that channel can access the files.

[@nightmoon6672]

Thank you ..

[@kamillabervild4116]

Is there a way that I can let an other person (not the organizer/assistent) create and open/close the beakoutrooms? I preselect me collage as an presenter, as she continues the class in the same meeting when I have finish.

[@ClassPoint]

Hi Kamilla, I haven't tried this out myself yet, but from my research, it looks like it isn't possible. To begin the Breakout Rooms you have to be the meeting organizer, and right now Teams still only supports one person to be the meeting organizer. Hopefully, this is changed soon!

[@normlecouvie1921]

I am preparing a course/class and channels (Groups) for next semester. How do I keep everyone from seeing ANYTHING until I make the Team "available"? thanks in advance for the support

[@ClassPoint]

Hi Norm! Great job on the prep. I haven't heard of an easy way to do this yet. I would suggest creating a new Team without adding any students to it. Then you can add all the information and when it is time add the students to it.

[@normlecouvie1921]

@@ClassPoint thank you

[@selvayuva91]

Good morning mam what is the table name your using for lap top please reply mam

[@ClassPoint]

Hi there! We don't have the details of the table, sorry to disappoint!

[@entabacademy6835]

How many maximum Teams (classes) can be selected by using "Assign to" feature under assignment section??

[@ClassPoint]

I believe you can select up to 10 teams!

[@benburleigh6379]

I don't get the 3 dots beside the X in the Breakout room menu - Do I need an update?

[@ClassPoint]

Hi Ben! You may have a view with a settings icon instead of the three dots. In the Rename Break Rooms section of this article, there is an image of the new icons in the Breakout Rooms menu: support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/use-breakout-rooms-in-teams-meetings-7de1f48a-da07-466c-a5ab-4ebace28e461 . These icons will take you to the same pages the three dots would have.

[@benburleigh6379]

@@ClassPoint You are right! Found that yesterday. I think it will make moving in and out of classes quite smooth now! Thank you!

[@mtspp5801]

Can you share a screen in breakout rooms like you can in extra channels?

[@ClassPoint]

yes! The breakout room are like their own mini meetings

[@shannonkeyes8994]

We are having some issues with breakout rooms where the individuals can get into the breakout room, but the return button to the main meeting is not appearing in the breakout room. We have to leave the breakout room and reenter the main meeting to get back. Do you know why this could be?

[@ClassPoint]

Hi Shannon, do you know if you have allowed students to do this? In the three dots at the the top of the Breakout Rooms panel, click "Room Settings." Then, switch the toggle next to "Participants can return to the main meeting" to "on." I hope that helps!

[@shannonkeyes8994]

@@ClassPoint Thank you so much, this fixed our issues!

[@IntegraRSEmx]

Do you know if students can self-assign to each breakout room? or move within them?

[@ClassPoint]

No, only the teacher is allowed to assign students to breakout rooms. They are only able to move from the main meeting to their assigned breakout room.

[@deborahfrench6717]

I'm having a college tour and I would like my students to visit all the Breakout rooms to pick what college they are interested in or would!d like to present there resume. How do I make this happen with 10 breakout rooms. And 20 students

[@ClassPoint]

But if it is supposed to be more flexible, I would suggest trying to use Channels instead. Each college can have their own channel, and students can be a member of each channel. This would make it easy for them to jump between each college - they just need to join in the video call.

[@kjstarr2893]

How can you assign a particular person in a breakout room to record?

[@ClassPoint]

Hi there! If you want to give recording capabilities to a certain student, in the meeting options of the Breakout Room, you can change the setting for "Who can present." Set it to a "specific person", and they will be able to start and end the recording. If that option is set to "everyone," then any student will be able to record.

[@lankanainen]

Super annoying that once the breakout rooms have started, you can't move anyone into a different room. In order to move someone from an existing room to another one, you have to close the rooms (which takes a surprisingly long time) and then restart them. AC has better functionality in this regard, as you can just click and drag participants from room to room very easily. It's also annoying that you can't select the number of participants you want in the rooms, but rather you have to specify the number of rooms. I'd still be using AC if it weren't for my students complaining about microphone problems!

[@ClassPoint]

Thanks for sharing.

[@MathDubai]

🌺🌼👍

[@markcuello5]

HELP

[@ClassPoint]

Hi Mark, how can we help?

[@tekiiraosborne8343]

Please enunciate clearly.