Preassigning Zoom Breakout Rooms
Breakout Rooms can be used for collaborative or group work during Zoom meetings. Pre-assigning these breakout rooms can save time during the Zoom meeting such that participants are automatically sorted into the appropriate rooms without further action from the host.
NOTE: If you do not see the Breakout Room pre-assign option when creating the Zoom meeting, please check your settings. Go to https://ucalgary.zoom.us/profile/setting Under the Breakout room – Meetings section, enable Assign participants to breakout rooms when scheduling. Click Save.
Using the Zoom Web Portal to Pre-assign Participants to Breakout Rooms
1. Sign in to your UCalgary Zoom account via the web portal https://ucalgary.zoom.us/ and click on Meetings on the left-hand pane.
2. Create a new meeting or Edit one you have previously set up.
3. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Show by the Options section.
4. Check the Breakout Room pre-assign box and click + Create Rooms
5. A new window for Breakout Room Assignment will open up.
- Add as many rooms as you need (maximum of 100 rooms).
- Scroll through all rooms created and Add Participants. Manually enter the University of Calgary email addresses of students to add them to the respective breakout rooms. Alternatively, use the import from CSV option to add pre-created groups through a CSV file. Download a sample CSV file.
- Click on Save when done.
6. (Optional) Use these options to edit your breakout rooms and participants:
- Hover over a participant’s email to see options where you can Move them to another room or Remove them from the current room. Click Save.
- To Delete a breakout room, hover over the room name on the left and click the Trash Bin icon.
Using the Classlist in D2L to Pre-assign Students to Breakout Rooms
1. When scheduling the Zoom meeting in D2L, scroll down to the Meeting Options section. Select Breakout Room pre-assign, then + Create Rooms.
2. Note the limitations/ conditions outlined on the page. Click + to create your breakout rooms.
3. If needed, the names of the Breakout Rooms can be changed by clicking on the title. Assign participants by clicking into each Breakout Room and selecting names from the drop-down menu. If a student has already been assigned to a room, their name will disappear from the selection. Click Save when you have finished assigning students to their respective Breakout Rooms.
Note: With the current integration, it is not possible to automatically assign students to Breakout Rooms based on Sections or Groups within your D2L course.
* IMPORTANT NOTE TO HOSTS & PARTICIPANTS – Pre-requisites & Limitations:
In order for a student or participant to be pre-assigned to a breakout room and be able to join it successfully, they will need a UCalgary licensed Zoom account and must first log in to Zoom via SSO, preferrably using the Desktop Client. For further information, please see https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/360032752671-Pre-assigning-participants-to-breakout-rooms
As the host, you may want to consider enabling the “Require authentication to join” option for the meeting as that will prompt the user to enter their UCalgary IT credentials and increase the likelihood that they are logged in to the session as the pre-assigned individual rather than a guest. (Note: Most Continuing Education students do not have UCalgary IT credentials.)
