For this particular workshop, we just had everyone work on exercises individually while hanging out in the main session room. The conference-hosting tool we were using (Hopin) didn't have an easy way to do breakout rooms. Plus we had hundreds of participants at a time, so smaller breakout rooms might have been a bit more challenging to manage.
In an ideal world though, I think it would be great to provide options for students to choose what works best for them. So if they want to work with others in a small group, have an option for breakout rooms. Or if they want to work alone, leave them in the main room, where they can work quietly by themselves. (Unless you're specifically trying to teach them how to work in groups, in which case it's more about setting expectations for why group work is important.) It's a bit more challenging logistically, especially with large audiences, but that way every student can get what they need.
I'm still a bit of a Discord newbie, but I like the idea of voice channels! It sounds like a good way to let students opt into the experience they're looking for. From an accessibility perspective, I'm wondering if voice channels have options for text as well? Or maybe there could also be separate text channels for some groups? If you try it out, I'd be interested to hear how it goes! :)
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That's a great question, thanks for asking!
For this particular workshop, we just had everyone work on exercises individually while hanging out in the main session room. The conference-hosting tool we were using (Hopin) didn't have an easy way to do breakout rooms. Plus we had hundreds of participants at a time, so smaller breakout rooms might have been a bit more challenging to manage.
In an ideal world though, I think it would be great to provide options for students to choose what works best for them. So if they want to work with others in a small group, have an option for breakout rooms. Or if they want to work alone, leave them in the main room, where they can work quietly by themselves. (Unless you're specifically trying to teach them how to work in groups, in which case it's more about setting expectations for why group work is important.) It's a bit more challenging logistically, especially with large audiences, but that way every student can get what they need.
I'm still a bit of a Discord newbie, but I like the idea of voice channels! It sounds like a good way to let students opt into the experience they're looking for. From an accessibility perspective, I'm wondering if voice channels have options for text as well? Or maybe there could also be separate text channels for some groups? If you try it out, I'd be interested to hear how it goes! :)