Breakout Control Room and Tabs
Samad Twemlow-carter avatar
Written by Samad Twemlow-carter
Updated over a week ago

In the control room, you can monitor the activity of students in breakouts. You will see three or four tabs: Group Preview (optional), Group List, Questions, and All Answers.

General Controls

At the top of the screen, you will see the Stop Breakout button. If the breakout is timed, you will also see a countdown timer and an Add 1 min button.

The sidebar contains a list of breakout groups. Each group can be expanded to reveal the students in that group.

Group Preview

This tab will only appear if the total number of students fits on the participant bar in the main classroom. In Group Preview you see a window into each group’s work and can visit, listen, or pin a specific breakout group. Next to each breakout group name, there are three icons for these three actions.

Visit takes you out of the control room to the group’s room and makes you visible to the group. Listen plays the group’s audio for you in the control room without informing the group. Pin stores the breakout group in the sidebar for future access.

Group List

The Group List displays the names of the participants in each group and multiple metrics: the size of each group, talk time averages, talk time distribution, workbook progress, and the three action icons (Visit, Listen, and Pin).

  • Size: the number of students present in each breakout group out of the assigned number of students to the specific group.

  • Participants: individuals present in each group.

  • Talk Time Average: indicates the total average talk time in each group. Talk Time Avg. (TTA) has four possible states: Good, Quiet, Average, and Silent. The group's TTA is calculated by adding up the breakout talk time for present group members and dividing by the number of present group members. If the group's TTA is no more than 20% above or 20% below all group averages, the label is "Average". Above that range, "Good", and below that range, "Quiet". If no one has spoken at all, the TTA will show “Silent”.

  • Talk Time Distribution: indicates the distribution of talk time amongst participants in a group. Talk Time Dist. (TTD) has three possible states: Balanced, Uneven, and Imbalanced. The group's TTD is calculated by first taking the standard deviation (SD) of breakout talk time for present group members. If the SD is <15% of the TTA, we label the group "Balanced". If it is >15%, we label the group "Uneven". In either case, if there is a group member whose individual breakout talk time is more than 2SD above the group's TTA, we label the group "Imbalanced".

  • Workbook Progress: indicates the progress each group has made on the workbook if a Forum Workbook is associated with the breakout.

  • Workbook Flavor: indicates the assigned workbook flavor of each breakout group

  • Action: Visit, Listen, and Pin.

Questions

This tab shows information about how many groups have answered each question and summary charts for multiple-choice questions. Next to each question, there is a progress bar that shows the percentage of groups who have completed that question, as seen below.

All Answers

This tab shows each group’s specific answers.

Moving Students Between Breakout Groups

Depending on the size of your class, there are two ways to move a student to a new group.

If your control room has the Group Preview tab, click on a student's image, and drag them to the desired breakout group. If you only have the Group List tab, click on the student’s image, and then write the group number you want to move them to.

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