How to Make a Digital Breakout- Simple!

1. Open up Google Forms (forms.google.com) and Click the + sign to create a new form!

You can name your breakout challenge whatever you want, and then start with your first question.

Use the Drop down menu to insert whatever type question you want. Typically for the breakout challenges, you will use the "SHORT ANSWER" Option.

I usually have the first question be something like- "Enter your names here" So I can see who participated in groups, and give credit.

Then you need to add a new Section! One the right hand side toolbar- click the "Equal Sign" button to add a section.

It will then give you a new section! This is where you will start putting in the questions for your breakout box!

After you name your new section (I usually title it something like- CHALLENGE # 1) then you need to add your next question for your challenge!

To do this- use the right hand toolbox- and click the plus sign to add your next question!

Make sure your new question is a "Short Answer" Question

Move the toggle in the bottom right corner of the question to be "Required"

After making your question "Required" click the three little dots to the right of the toggle.

This will bring up a drop down menu where you can choose to have a "Description" (this is your choice- a good option if you want to put instructions, hints, etc.)- I use a "Description" to tell my students to "Type in CAPS LOCK" or "DON'T INCLUDE SPACES" or any other information you want to give them.

In order to make a Breakout Challenge- you will need to click "Response Validation". This will allow your students to only move on if they input something specific!

Once you click "Response Validation" your Question will look like this:

Now we need to change some things, in order to make this a Breakout Challenge, where students will need the EXACT code to move forward.

Go ahead and open the drop down menu on the left- You will need to click "Regular Expression"- this will allow you to make any code you want (numbers, letters and/or symbols- whatever you want!)

Then change the second drop down menu to read "Matches" - This will make it so your student has to type in the exact code in order to move forward.

In the "Pattern" blank space- that is where you will type your CODE. Make sure to type it exactly how you want your students to type it. Any misspellings or differences won't allow students to move on.

After you have put in the CODE, you can choose to have a "Custom Error Text" pop up if a student doesn't get the code correct. This is optional. I usually use "Try Again" or "Don't forget to use Caps Lock" etc.

Now you have completed your first Breakout Question! Go ahead and Click "Next Section" and you will be given a new section (Each new section will take students to a different page. This prevents students from working ahead, and allows them to only focus on one challenge at a time.)

Now you will be doing the same thing until you finish your Breakout Challenge. Title your new section, add a new question, make it required, add a Description, and Response Validation, Change it to "Regular Expression" and "Matches", enter your code! And TADA! Before you know it, you are done!

Add pictures/gifs, videos, change themes, play around with your Breakout Challenge!

Once you are finished with your Breakout Challenge- You need to provide students with the LINK!

Click "SEND" in the upper right hand corner

Click the link button on the "Send via" line (underlined purple in the next picture)

This will provide you with the Link for your students to do the Breakout. You can choose to shorten the URL if you would like; or use another URL shortener of your choosing (my prefered URL shortener is on the resources page)

Now the students will have access to the breakout challenge (with each section being a new page they have to get to!)

*Make worksheets part of your breakout challenge, too! Just require some kind of code at the end, or have to show you the finished paper to get the code to move on; this is where you get to make it how you want!

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