Creating and managing breakout rooms in Teams

• To create your rooms, you must now use the Teams desktop application (not a mobile or web application) and be the meeting organizer. Only the meeting organizer can create rest rooms.
• Click the Breakout rooms button on the meeting toolbar.
• Choose how many rooms you want (up to 50) and decide whether you want participants to be randomly and evenly distributed between the distribution rooms or whether you want to arrange the rooms manually.
  When the room is created, it should have the text Closed next to everyone; they are not yet available for joining and will not be available until you open them.
• Files, recordings, and notes in the breakout room can be used in the conversation. You and your students will be able to access these materials after the room is closed, but students will not be able to chat or add additional materials.

If you select automatically, participants will already be assigned different Breakout rooms.

To manually add participants to a room, do the following:

1. 1. Expand the list in the Assign Participants section.
   2. Move the cursor over the student names until the check boxes appear. Select the check boxes to select students.
   3. Select> more options and select the desired room from the list.
   4. Repeat this process until all students have been assigned to the rooms.
   5. To view participants assigned to a breakout room, expand the arrow next to the room name.

Designate your breakout rooms how you see fit.

1. Select  > more options next to the room, and then rename the room.
2. Type a new name and select Rename room.

To start one room at a time, follow these steps:

• Select > more options next to the room, and then open the room. 

To start all rooms at once, do the following:

• Select open rooms.

It is known that rooms are successfully opened when their status becomes open.

To join a room and check its progress, do the following:

1. Next to the room, select > more options and then Join room.
2. Choose return when you are ready to leave the Breakout room and return to the main meeting.

• The meeting organizer can send a notification message to all rooms via the meeting chat, so that all rooms are notified of any updates, changes or news during all sessions.
  
• To create an announcement, click on the ellipses in the Breakout Rooms panel and select Make an announcement. Write your message in the pop-up window, then press Send.

Reassigning participants can be used to separate movement in different breakout rooms.

Note: Currently, participants are only available to reassign when breakout rooms are closed.

To place participants one by one, do the following:

1. Expand the list of participants in the Breakout room.
2. Hover over the student's name and select the check box that appears.
3. Select > more options and then the Breakout Room to which you want to take the student.

Each breakout room has its own conversation. You and your students can access it from your chat list and chat, like regular meetings.

• When you start a room, students are only added to the Breakout room. They are removed as soon as the room is closed.
• You have access to all Breakout Room chats.
• Students can still view chat history and any files shared after the Breakout room closes.

To add an additional breakout room, follow these steps:

• Select Add room. Give your new room a name and Confirm.
• Add participants to the room using the instructions above.

To delete a breakout space, follow these steps:

• Select > more options next to the room, and then delete the room.

To close individual rooms, do the following:

• Select  > more options next to the room, and then close the room.

To close all rooms at once, do the following:

• Select Close rooms.

You know that the rooms were successfully closed when you changed the closed state.

• Select Continue when everyone is back in their Breakout Rooms and you are ready to meet as a larger group.

By default, Breakout rooms are automatically assigned to automatically take students to open spaces. If you want to change this setting, follow these steps:

1. Select  > more options > room settings.
2. Check the box to automatically move people to open rooms.

When the automatic setting is turned off, students will receive a message asking them to join the Breakout room.

Each breakout room has its own conversation. You can access it from your chat list and chat in the Breakout room.

• You will be added to the Breakout Room when your instructor starts the room. Closing the room will remove you from the conversation.
• However, you can view the chat history and any files that have been shared since the Breakout closed, including Meeting Recordings.