Zoom: Self-Select Breakout Rooms for Instructors

A guide to setting up self-selected breakout rooms on Zoom for instructors.

NOTE: Make sure that you are using the most recent version of Zoom to ensure that the information in these pages matches what you see. This documentation from Zoom explains how to check for updates. After updating, restart your computer. 

You can allow students to be able to self-select which breakout room to join. 

Important reminders: 

  • All participants need to update Zoom and then restart their machine for self-selecting breakout rooms to work. This feature requires Zoom to be on version 5.3.0 or higher.
  • Self-select breakout rooms require the desktop or mobile application, not the browser version of Zoom. 

Instructions:

For creating a breakout room during a meeting:

  1. Select breakout rooms option in Zoom.

  2. On the "Breakout Rooms" panel, select the option "Let participants choose room."


  3. Create breakout rooms.

  4. You can continue to rename breakout rooms.

  5. Open all breakout rooms.

To double check or change after you have already created the room:

  • The meeting host should click the Options button on the breakout room panel and select "Allow participants to choose room."


Keywords:
"How To" guide Zoom "Pick your own" choose, breakout rooms 
Doc ID:
129712
Owned by:
iSchool U. in School of Information Sciences
Created:
2023-07-13
Updated:
2024-07-10
Sites:
University of Illinois School of Information Sciences