Zoom Breakout Room Etiquette
Throughout the forums you will be placed into Zoom Breakout Rooms to have conversations as a school team and with other school teams. The forum is about leadership skills as well as how to be a global citizen. As such, we want students to take ownership of the conversations and lead the conversations, not your teachers. Teachers should only be there to supervise. You may also have a University of Melbourne student mentor in your room. They are also only really there to supervise and potentially support with some translation help if it is needed.
To help the conversations flow, someone from each school should take on a role. Each time you go into a Zoom Breakout Room you should take one of these roles below. Take a different role each time you go into a Breakout Room, for example the first time you go into a breakout room you might be the ‘Facilitator’, the next time you go into the breakout room you might be the ‘Encourager’. You might take the first minute to decide who is taking each role.
The ‘Facilitator’ should make sure everyone understands the task and starts the conversation. The ‘Encourager’ will watch and make sure everyone takes a turn to speak. If they notice someone doesn’t speak they should offer them an opportunity e.g. ‘Hi,....I noticed you haven’t had a chance to speak yet, would you like to add anything to the conversation....’. The ‘timekeeper’ should ensure they are keeping an eye on how long you have left and tell the facilitator and encourager if we have to speed the conversation/task up. The ‘recorder’ will take notes of the conversations. The spokesperson will report back to everyone in the main Zoom room a summary of the conversation from the breakout room.
• Facilitator – ensures the group knows what the task is and that individuals have volunteered for roles in the activity.
• Encourager – ensures that everyone contributes and joins in the activity
• Time-Keeper – ensures that the task keeps moving along, monitors time and encourages others to share ideas succinctly
• Recorder - records notes on behalf of the group
• Spokesperson – at the end of the breakout reports back what the group discussed to the main room
During the forum we will connect with other students from across Victoria and internationally from China, Vietnam, Japan, India, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, amongst other countries. We will have a discussion during the forum about ways to communicate effectively with peers. Some key tips are:
• Mute when not speaking
• Have video on – seeing someone talk can help with understanding
· Use the virtual hand when you want to speak or the chat box
· Wear a name badge – a big sticker with your name written on it – this helps people use your name
· English is not everyone’s first language – it may be their third, fourth language
· Tone, gestures, culture can influence how we communicate & we can communicate differently
· People may struggle to know certain words/phrases, especially ‘slang’ words- try to avoid slang
· Remember if a word or grammatical structure is hard to understand, try to focus on the whole sentence or context of what they are saying not the word or phrase you didn’t understand
• Intentionally speak slower and clearer than you may normally
• Intentionally use body language and hand gestures when talking
• Speak in short sentences and bursts – try not to talk for a long time on one point
• Consider using the chat feature to write a short summary of your point
• Summarise back what you think you heard – ‘So what I think I heard was…is that correct?’
• If you are unsure, ask open-ended clarifying questions
Some useful phrases for when you are having conversations:
To agree with a statement:
I agree with .....
I agree with the idea that...
I can understand that.....
It does seem evident that.....
There is evidence of this here.....when.....
To make a point:
I think an important idea to discuss here is.....because.....
I think the key question we need to discuss is.....
I think it is important to make the point that.....
To clarify or understand more about what someone else said:
Can you explain a little bit more about....
Can you tell us more about.....
Can you clarify for me what you meant by .....
Can you help me understand a little more about.....
Can you help me to understand what was meant by.....by providing some examples or further information
I am not sure if I understood when you said......could you clarify for me what you meant by....
What I am understanding by that is......(summarise what you think you understood).....is that correct?
I wonder if....
To politely disagree:
I think I understood what is meant by....I have a different perspective of that, which is....
I am not sure if I agree with that statement, because.....(and then provide reasons and examples)
I think the example of.....may not be the best example of this...because...and we should also consider....
While it can be said that.....on the other hand it can also be said.....
Although it is true that.....it can also be argued that......
It should also be considered.....
While I agree that......I disagree that.....because......
I think it is also important that we consider......and look at the example of.....
This also makes me think about....
If you think you disagree, disagree with the idea, ensure you discuss the idea/pint/reason/example. Do not make things personal. Try to avoid using ‘you’ statements such as ‘you said this and I don’t agree’ and rather turn them into ‘I’ statements such as ‘I think I understood what was meant by the point about....but I am not sure if I agree with that point....because....’