Breakout

Explore a variety of instructional strategies that lend themselves to effective breakout sessions

Instructional Strategies

Discover new ways to analyze and improve learner engagment during breakout sessions.

Engagement

View the foundational principals of UDL.

UDL Considerations

Set up a time that we can collaborate on ways to integrate breakout rooms into an upcoming lesson. Together we can plan, implement, and reflect on the strategy...

Collaborative Planning

Identify methods to manage breakout rooms and limit distractions for learners.

Breakout Rooms & Group Work

Management

Optimizing teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learnPlanning focuses on

• WHY learners should learn the content.
• WHAT content needs to be learned and assessed.
• HOW content and learning is presented.

Universal Design for Learning

Content

Peers

Teacher

Three Key Elements to

Engage Learners

• Most of the teachers work is done BEFORE the lesson starts
• Use technology tools to structure lesson and guide learners
• Provide ways for learners to give feedback
• **NEW** Use polls to push to BO rooms!

Put Learners in Control

• Create and reference breakout room guidelines
• Clarify purpose & tasks
• Use deliverables wisely
• Set a timeframe and stick to it.
• Consider learner Groupings

Establish Expectations

• Identify and address barriers to learning in planning
• Move between groups
• Ensure enough time to visit all groups
• Provide feedback on progress and redirect as needed
• Let learners know they can ask you for help
• Address learners as a group & individually
• Create a "Help Room" that learners can go to for one on one support.
• Create a "Break Room" for learners who are away from computer

Provide Support

Management

Instructional Strategies

Peer Tutors

Jig Saw

Discussions

Web Quest & Gallery Walk

Topic Selection

Tiered Instruction

Consider

Teaching Presence

The design, facilitation and direction of cogitive and social processes for realizing personally meaningful and educationally worthwhile learning outcomes.

• Pre-record your own instructional material
• Start your own traditions
• Make camera's an expectation
• Create ways to increase and individualize feedback
• Utilize tools for multiple ways to respond

Questions to Ask When Planning1. How will I interact with learners? 2. How will learners interact with me?

Setup

Benefits

Peer Tutor

Facilitate leadership development in advanced learners & support those who need additional practice

Learners see each other's perspectives to help them progress. Teaching others helps learning reach a greater depth Social interaction may help motivate learners to engage in the learning process.

• Create collaborative space for learning (what tools will support this format?)
• Identify tutors for the topic
• Meet with tutors before class to review content and highlight important tutor skills
• Determine how learners will be grouped; (random, poll, assigned)

Facilitate Collaboration

The ability of participants to project themselves socially and emotionally as 'real' people through a medium of communication.

Social Presence

• Create collaborative workspaces to enable individuals to participate within their comfort level.
• Creating a list of roles creates structure and sets expectations.
• Consider method for group organization

• Relate to prior experiences learners likely have (phenomena based learning is a powerful tool)
• Support learners to draw connections to prior content through interactive technology
• Design challenge activity allowing learners to apply new concepts

Suggestions

Cognitive Presence

The extent to which learners are able to construct and confirm meaning through sustained reflection and discourse.

• Incorporate learners interests

• Provide opportunities for learners to explore their understanding of content BEFORE being taught
• Ask tighter DOK questions.

• Allow group leaders and individuals time to share key conversation pieces
• Offer Mic Alternatives
• Create space for all to share
• Model respectful disagreement

After Breakouts

Examples

Discussions

Before Breakouts

• Discuss how virtual discussions feel different than in-person discussions
• Clearly establish expectations and mechanics.
• Discuss respecting opposing ideas

• Create guiding prompts, but allow space for fluid conversation

• Learners explore their own views on a subject
• Learners are asked to identify evidence to support an assigned view
• Learners collaborate to establish a view

Examples

Tiered Instruction

- Same information- Varied levels of support

learners grouped by on supports provided

• Challenge, light support, full support

Learners grouped by ability to answer independent practice question

• Ready harder questions, Needs additional practice, Requires reteaching

Learners grouped by method of desired instruction

• Independent guided Instruction, learner led small groups, Teacher Lead group

• Language Arts sensory words Gallery Walk

• Energy Exploration Webqust

Example

Web Quest & Gallery Walks

Groups of learners explore a variety of information

• Provide learners with a set of tasks that need to be completed at each stage.
• Create Check in points
• Set a timeframe
• Assign learners leaders and/or roles
• organize content in one easy to navigate resource.

Work in a small group with your teacher

Watch a video,

Complete a simulation,

Read a Walkthrough,

Examples

Drums in traditional Nigerian Music

Benga Music,

Music of the Cherokee,

Music in South Africa,

Thailand's Country Music,

Topic Selection

Allows learners to learn the same concepts through different topics or media

Learners choose between different topics

• Life cycles;

Learners choose between different articles on the same topic

• Cultural Music:

Learners choose the media they prefer

Walk-through

**Think about collaborative technology and group roles!

Example

Jig Saw

Subgroups become "experts" in one component of a whole

Key Events of the Cold War

• Containment of Russia
• Arms Race between US and Russia
• Development of Hydrogen Bomb
• Space Exploration
• Fall of the Berlin Wall

Each group analyzes sub topic and brings infor back to the whole group.