Everyone runs their virtual classroom differently. You may choose to do 1:1 sessions, group sessions, or even have multiple sessions running simultaneously. No matter how you run your lessons, Pencil Spaces is equipped to support all session styles.
If you choose to run a group tutoring session in which you want to keep students separated, there are a few ways that you can accomplish this. You can have a separate Space open for each individual student/group, or you can use breakout rooms to keep students in their own individual learning environment.
How to use multiple Spaces to keep classes separated
If you would like to teach multiple classes at once, or just want to keep individuals in your class separated, you can have multiple Spaces running at once and move between Spaces. To do this, youâre going to want to create a new Space for each individual session you want to host. To learn more about how to create a new Space, please read the following article: How to Navigate Your Spaces Home Page.
Open each Space within its own individual Chrome Tab. From there, you can move back and forth between Sessions.
Itâs important to note that when you move from one Space to another, to ensure there are no audio disruptions within your other session, mute yourself in the Space you're not active in.
If youâre worried about your students' audio disrupting your other sessions with other groups/students while youâre not active in that Space, you can mute the entire Space by changing your Space permissions.
To learn more about altering participant permissions, please read the following article: How to use participant controls in Pencil Spaces.
How to use Breakout Rooms
Breakout Rooms are a great way to separate students for more focused learning. To create a breakout room, select âView Boardsâ on the left-hand side of your Space.
Above your Board search bar, youâll see that youâre currently in the âMain Roomâ. Beside the room title, select âManage breakout roomsâ.
Youâll then be taken to your breakout room management page. Here youâll be able to create new rooms and assign students to them. This can be done before you begin your tutoring session, or while in the tutoring session. Itâs important to note that in order to assign students to breakout rooms, they have to already be invited to the Space/have access to the Space. To learn more about how to invite students to your Space, please read the following article: How to Invite People to your Session.
Navigate to the top right corner of your breakout room management page and click âManageâ to start making changes to your breakout rooms.
To create a new breakout room, click â+ New Roomâ at the top right-hand side of your screen, or select the box beside the Main Room that says âCreate New Roomâ.
Create the number of breakout rooms necessary for your class size and teaching style. From there, you can drag and drop participants into their breakout rooms.
Breakout rooms will automatically be named after the number of rooms created. For example, the first breakout room you create will be named Room 2 because this is the second room in your Space. You can rename or delete your breakout rooms by clicking the three dots beside the current name of your breakout room and selecting âRenameâ or âDeleteâ.
Once youâre satisfied with the changes youâve made, click Apply to enable the changes youâve made.
If youâve assigned students to breakout rooms and theyâre already in the Space, theyâll automatically be sent to their breakout room. If students have yet to join the Space, when they do, they will automatically be sent to their breakout rooms without joining the main room.
These changes are not permanent. You can always bring your students back to the main room by following the same process.
As the host, you have the ability to hop back and forth between breakout rooms by returning to the breakout room management page at any time and selecting âJoinâ beside the breakout room youâd like to enter.
You can always move to another breakout room or rejoin the Main Room by returning back to the breakout room management page.
If you have any further questions, our support team is always happy to help.