Teaching · For Tutors

Online Breakout Activity Planner

Plan breakout rooms that start working the moment they open: written instructions, roles, a shared board and a clock that adds up.

Start a planWhat you get
$12one-time · every device you sign in on
Buy · $12

Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Or get it in the Tutoring business kit, $69 for 97 items.

Plans

Each plan keeps the rooms, the roles, the task and the timeline. Load the worked example to see a 50-minute algebra group.

Loading the breakout plan form. If nothing appears, turn on JavaScript.

What you get

Teaching · For Tutors$12 · included with Classroom and Whole-school licenses

What you finish with
A breakout plan with room size, roles, where each room writes and the task as students will read it; a timeline that adds up against the session, counts transition time and shows the student work time; seven checks marked ready, not yet or not needed; and a run sheet with clock times to print.
Who it is for
Tutors and teachers running online group sessions with breakout rooms, grades 4 to 12 and adult learners.
Format
Browser tool with a saved record per breakout plan. Prints a run sheet with clock times, the full breakout plan, every breakout plan in a table or a blank form; downloads a spreadsheet (.csv); exports and imports a file.
Access
$12 one-time, yours on every device you sign in on; the tool opens once you are signed in with it. Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Also in the Tutoring business kit ($69) and the Teaching Suite pass ($199), and 1 more bundle. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives
The For Tutors space in Caveat Teaching.
Support
Questions about access, an order or a correction: team@caveatacademic.com.

How to use it

  1. Write the task as students will read it.
  2. Set room size and roles.
  3. Lay out the segments, moves included.
  4. Mark the checks.
  5. Print the run sheet beside the screen.

Start a plan

Group work online that holds together

Before, during and after the rooms openBeforeTask, roles and timeposted in writingShared board or documentmade for each roomGroups set, with a planfor a dropped connectionDuringHost visits every roomonceBroadcast at threeminutes leftGroups fill the sharedboard, not a privatechatAfterEach group shares onethingHost names a commonerrorOne question answered byeach student aloneBefore, during and after the rooms openBeforeTask, roles and time posted in writingShared board or document made for each roomGroups set, with a plan for a droppedconnectionDuringHost visits every room onceBroadcast at three minutes leftGroups fill the shared board, not a privatechatAfterEach group shares one thingHost names a common errorOne question answered by each student alone
Most breakout trouble comes from instructions that vanish when the room opens. Written instructions in each room fix most of it.

Why roles and a shared board

Cooperative learning works when each member has a job and the group has a shared product; without them, one student does the work and the rest watch. Online, a shared board per room also lets the host see every group's progress at once.

Counting the moves

Every move between rooms costs a minute or two. The planner counts those minutes and warns when they pass a tenth of the session.

Sources

  1. Johnson, D. W., and Johnson, R. T. (2009). An educational psychology success story: social interdependence theory and cooperative learning. Educational Researcher, 38(5), 365-379.
  2. Slavin, R. E. (2014). Cooperative learning and academic achievement: why does groupwork work? Anales de Psicologia, 30(3), 785-791.
  3. Martin, F., and Bolliger, D. U. (2018). Engagement matters: student perceptions on the importance of engagement strategies in the online learning environment. Online Learning, 22(1), 205-222.
  4. Garrison, D. R., Anderson, T., and Archer, W. (2000). Critical inquiry in a text-based environment: computer conferencing in higher education. The Internet and Higher Education, 2(2-3), 87-105.

The worked examples are made up. The 60 percent, 20-minute and one-tenth flags are planning rules of thumb. Breakout features differ by video platform. Nothing you type is sent to Caveat. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.