Using Pre-assigned Breakout Rooms in Zoom

Q 1. Is there any way to start a Zoom classroom with pre-assigned break out rooms?
A 1. Yes, but ONLY if students have Zoom accounts (through https://zoom.us), and they are logged into their account in order to be assigned to the breakout rooms correctly.

Follow these instructions on pre-assigning participants to breakout rooms.

Note: Students must use their Algonquin email address when they create the Zoom Basic accounts.

Here are some recommendations to get your students in the habit of signing into Zoom:

• Inform students that they will need to create a Zoom account and log into Zoom to access future meetings.
• Edit upcoming meetings so that Only authenticated users can access them (it’s a checkbox when editing the meeting).
• Give students an extra 5-10 minutes to get into your next meeting – they will inevitably run into difficulties and some may not have created an account.
• The main thing is the communication piece. We’d recommend something like this: “To join this session, please see the Getting Started section of this Library guide, to create a free Zoom Basic account using your college email address. Accounts will be used to make group work easier in each session. You will not be able to access future class meetings without a Zoom account.

Q 2: I am using breakout room in ZOOM when delivering my class lecture, but I would like to allow my students to choose the room they want to be in. Is there a ZOOM option to allow me to do this?
A 2: The “Let participants choose room” option is available to select during a ZOOM meeting, ONLY for the versions 5.3 or newer. Update your software from your Zoom app or from your profile under the Algonquin College Zoom portal.