Structuring student participation

Start discussions with students over Zoom, but be prepared that they may feel a little different than in-person. For example, you may find that, at least initially, your students need more of a prompt to know when to speak up, and it may take them more time to say something.  

Here are a few additional tips  for getting started with discussions over Zoom: 

• Facilitate an online discussion before class: Consider using the Discussions tool in Brightspace or the Ed Discussions integration to get students speaking to one another before a live Zoom class.  Check out more in our workshop on online discussions.

• Give students an opportunity to brainstorm: Try asking students to generate ideas around a topic in the Chat first, before unmuting themselves. You may be surprised by how much more willing students are to contribute. 

• Use the Zoom chat during class: Ask students to respond to a question in the chat and then select a few responses to be shared with the larger group. Students can read what they wrote and have the option to elaborate on their written response.

• Warm call students: Prior to the class discussion, explain to students you plan on calling on someone to speak about their response or select individual students prior to a discussion and let them know via email. This way students can prepare what they plan to share and how to say it; for some students, this can alleviate the anxiety of having to speak “on the spot”.

Breakout rooms are a great option for small group discussions and group work. Select Breakout Rooms in your meeting controls, or look under More if it isn’t visible, to automatically assign students to rooms, manually assign them yourself, or let students choose their own rooms. As the instructor, you have the ability to visit different breakout rooms. You can also broadcast a typed message to all rooms.

How to use Self-Selected Breakout Rooms

Zoom's self-select breakout room option enables you to create a number of empty breakout rooms and allows your students to select which one they’d like to join.

1. Indicate how many rooms you want to create, and select “Let participants choose room.”

2. You’ll now see a list of your empty rooms. Click “Open All Rooms” to enable students to choose their rooms.

3. A list of your students will appear and you can watch as they move into their breakout rooms.

If a student doesn’t join a breakout room, they’ll still be with you in the main session. You’ll still be able to manually assign a student to a room by clicking “Assign to” and choosing a room number.

Pre-assigning Breakout Rooms

It is possible to pre-assign breakout rooms, which is especially useful if you want to place students in specific groups during the Zoom meeting. Check out our instructions on how to pre-assign breakout rooms. 

Recommendations for using Breakout Rooms during class:

• Assign group numbers to students before the meeting and then choose the option to “Let participants choose room”.

  • Once the rooms are created and opened by the instructor, students will be notified and can go to the one that corresponds with their group number. In the example shown in the screenshot, if students are in either breakout room 1 or 2 prior to class, they would select the correct room to go to in Zoom once given the choice.

• Give students a concrete charge/assignment to work on or discuss and a time limit before sending them off.  Visit a room or two quickly if you want to engage them.  Then return to the class and ask someone from each room to summarize what they found. Be very clear about how much time each group will have to speak and stick to this time (almost everything seems to take longer in the virtual space).

• Use the broadcast function in breakout rooms to remind students of the question or task. In some circumstances it can be valuable to let them discuss one question, then broadcast a logical next question a few minutes later, while keeping them in rooms.

• Incorporate breakout rooms into class during opportune times when students need more interaction with peers. This can spur engagement and mix up any monotony. For example, if students are completing an exercise in the first half of class and analyzing a case in the second half, using break out rooms in the middle can add interest.

• When budgeting time for breakout rooms, include time for students to reconnect and chat with each other. Explicitly state “when you get to your breakouts, be sure to reconnect with each other and check in before you get to work”. This will save you time debriefing back in the general meeting room. 

Use the "Breakout Rooms" tool in Zoom to create small discussion groups for in-depth conversations about a particular question you pose.

Note: the first time you facilitate online discussions over Zoom, factor in the extra time adjusting to an online classroom may take. 

Start by: 

1. Splitting students into groups they will join in breakout rooms. Share instructions with students on how much time they’ll have with their group and what they’ll be covering during that time. Note: consider keeping the time short so students stay on task.

2. Then, send students to the rooms and start a timer to keep the activity on track. 

Once the time limit is up, bring groups back to the main Zoom session so students can share what they have discussed or concluded with the entire class.

Poll students directly in Zoom to see how they view a particular issue; afterwards, share the poll results with your students and start a discussion.

To set up a poll before class:

1. Sign into NYU Zoom and open Meetings. In the new web experience, use the Zoom Products menu in the top-right corner to open Meetings; in the legacy interface, select Meetings from the left menu.

2. Open your scheduled meeting and select the Polls/Quizzes tab.

3. Click + Create, name the poll, and add your questions.

4. To make responses anonymous, click the gear icon at the top right of the poll editor and enable Require answers to be anonymous.

5. Save the poll. If prompted, choose Save as meeting poll for this meeting or Save to Library to reuse it in additional meetings.

To create or launch a poll during class:

1. Start the meeting as the host and select Polls/quizzes in your meeting controls. If it isn’t visible, select More → Polls/quizzes.

2. Open an existing poll or follow the prompts to create and save a new one.

3. Select the poll you want to use and click Launch.

4. When students have responded, click End poll. Select Share Results if you want students to see the results.

Pre-plan as many polls as possible before class, but you can also create one during a discussion. Set anonymity in the poll editor before launching the poll. Polling must be enabled for your account.