Zoom: Breakout Rooms

Breakout Rooms in Zoom

Breakout rooms are sessions that are split off from the main Zoom meeting. They allow the participants to meet in smaller groups, and are completely isolated in terms of audio and video from the main session. Breakout rooms can be used for collaboration and discussion of the meeting. Interactions within breakout rooms are not automatically recorded if you are recording your session.

Automatically Assign Breakout Rooms

When automatically assigning breakout rooms, Zoom will split up participants evenly into each of the rooms depending on the number of rooms created. 
 
  1. Once the Zoom session has started, select Breakout rooms in the black Zoom panel at the bottom of the page. A pop-up window will appear.
  2. To set the number of breakout rooms, use the up and down arrows or manually type in the number of breakout rooms required.  *As you increase the number of rooms the number of participants per room will decrease.
  3. Select the circle next to Assign Automatically.
  4. Select the Create button.
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    You will now have the option to either: 
    1. Select Recreate to be able to modify the number of breakout rooms and participant assignment.
    2. Select Add a Room to add an additional breakout room.
  5. When satisfied with the breakout rooms, select Open All Rooms to start the breakout rooms.  
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To learn more about Zoom, contact ctl.helpdesk@ubc.ca.

UBC Okanagan Centre for Teaching and Learning Zoom Directory

Updated September 2020