Enriching and Energizing the Virtual Classroom using Breakout Sessions: A better experience of Active Learning during Covid- 19 Pandemic.

Abstract

over the World. As teachers and students adapt to the new normal, Zoom, Google meet, Microsoft teams, or Cisco WebEx have become the most sought-after platforms for distance learning. The challenge for teachers and students in online learning is active peer engagement. To encourage problem-based learning, online platforms allow the creation of breakout rooms. Breakout rooms are private chat rooms where small groups of 3-4 students discuss unique problem statements allocated to them and employ peer learning methods through interpersonal communication. Teachers or facilitators enrich the knowledge of the students in active learning sessions. This research paper dives deep into the benefits, drawbacks, and implications of breakout rooms in E-learning environments. It is a collective case study on the use of breakout rooms by students and facilitators at an elite engineering college in Maharashtra, India. The first-hand experience of undergraduate Computer Science students and their Database Management Systems teacher is being considered. Student recommendations on use of breakout rooms have been consolidated at the end of this paper. Through our analysis and encouraging statistics, we wish to advocate the use of breakout rooms to engage students, in online learning platforms. Keywords— Active Learning; Breakout Rooms; Computer Science (CS); Database Management System (DBMS); E-learning; Peer Learning.

Group work in Zoom breakout rooms to enhance English-speaking self-efficacy for active learning activities

“…Using BRs and giving learners ample time to discuss and share ideas in small groups disconnected from the main room, theoretically, will positively affect students' self-efficacy to participate in active learning activities. As Naik and Govindu (2022) suggest, giving students opportunities to have informal communication in BRs develops student psychology and social skills.…”

“…Besides being easy to use, a feature that attracts teachers and students to using Zoom is its breakout rooms (hereafter "BRs"). It allows its host to split participants into small groups in different rooms so that students would have more significant opportunities for student-student interactions, collaborations, and discussions (Naik & Govindu, 2022). Working in small groups increases students' participation and enhances their learning experiences, leading to better academic performance (Cavinato et al, 2021).…”

“It Enables Us to Reflect More on Nutrition”: A Mixed Methods Cross-Sectional Study on Preclinical Digital Training in Nurse Education

“…Barriers to digital tools and distance education are related to educators having limited experience, knowledge of using digital tools and even a fear that digital education may reduce or remove traditional activities on campus [12]. Although modern technology provides new opportunities to activate students, educators have mainly been delivering traditional teacher-based plenary lectures using screen sharing during COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns [34][35][36]. The challenge of such a pedagogy is the lack of active student interaction.…”

“…Although they had the opportunity to raise their digital hand for help, they might have been too shy to actively ask for it from educators. Group dynamics are fundamental for learning outcomes in group work [35], and these students might not have been adequately trained on group processes or those involving persons they did not previously know. A scoping review on learning outcomes from digital learning interventions [32] has suggested that the role of teachers and supervisors is even stronger in distant education.…”

Bildung für nachhaltige Entwicklung (BNE) kooperativ gestalten

“…Inwiefern im virtuelle Raum der digitalen Lehre Interaktion geschaffen werden kann, ist Gegenstand zahlreicher aktueller Beiträge, sei es zur Nutzung von Breakoutrooms (siehe z.B. Abdul Aziz, Ganasan & Mohd Yusoff, 2021;Naik & Govindu, 2022) oder dem Schaffen von digitaler Präsenz(Stanisavljevic & Tremp, 2020) oder dem computergestützten kollaborativen Lernen…”