Breakout room enhancements

This update introduces the new timer functionality for breakout rooms, which allows the breakout room manager to set a predefined time in minutes after which the breakout room ends automatically.

Presenters can set the timer in the new Breakout Timer field in the Breakout Rooms panel. When the breakout room is started the timer starts, and the when the set time ends, the breakout room stops automatically.

The values supported by the timer field are between 0 and 60 minutes, both included.

If no timer is defined in the field or if the field is set to 0 (zero) minutes, then it means that the timer is disabled and the breakout rooms do not end automatically.

The breakout room timers are displayed in the leader and participant clients while the room is running and are removed when the breakout room ends. The timer is displayed only in the breakout rooms, and not in the main room.

Now, the breakout room manager who has the breakout tool lock can save the breakout room setup like breakout groups, members list, agenda contents, and so on, using the new Save button on the Breakout Rooms panel. This allows leader and co-presenters to prepare the breakout rooms setup and learners assignments in Pre-session or In-session and save for later use in the session.

For example, while a leader is conducting a session, a co-presenter can open the Breakout tool and configure the breakout rooms with content and assign learners and save the setup. Later, when the leader wants to start a breakout room, they open the tool and access the breakout room setup that was saved by the co-presenter. They can make any changes if needed or start breakouts immediately.

Users assigned to rooms are not displayed again in the rooms if they left the session or were disconnected from the session between the time the breakout room manager saved the configuration and opened it up again.

The saved breakout room setup is lost when the event ends either due to all users leaving the session or the leader terminating the session.

The Breakout Rooms panel now allows breakout room manager and co-presenters to expand and collapse all rooms simultaneously using the new Expand All Rooms and Collapse All Rooms links. When the rooms are collapsed, the panel displays the Expand All Rooms link. When the rooms are expanded, the same link changes to Collapse All Rooms.

In both the rooms, the roles names of people are displayed besides their display names for easy identification.

The Breakout Rooms panel now displays a drop-down arrow icon for the main room, breakout rooms, and users in the room if any actions are available for them. For example, to move a participant from one room to another, the breakout room leader can click the drop-down arrow besides the user's name, then click Move Participant to, and select the room name.

If a user wants to move to another room, they can click the drop-down arrow besides the destination room and click Go to room and select the room name.

Prior to this update, the Breakout Rooms panel was locked for co-presenters when the event leader had it open or a breakout room was already started.

In this update, co-presenters can now open the Breakout Room panel even when panel is already opened by the event leader and the room is started. However, co-presenters can only view the rooms and its members; they cannot perform other actions.

Co-presenters can only access the read-only console when breakout rooms are active. If a co-presenter clicks the Breakouts button while another presenter is working on setting up the breakout room but has not started the breakout, the other presenters receive an alert that the Breakout Tool is locked.

Breakout room leaders can now simultaneously move multiple participants between two breakout rooms or between a breakout room and the main room.

The Breakout Rooms panel now displays raised hand icons besides a participant and room name when the participant in the room has clicked the raise hand option in the People panel of their Cornerstone Classroom App client. This indicates other users in the room that the user needs some help or has a query.

When an event participant moves between the main room and the breakout room, the last microphone status in the main room is maintained. That is, if a participant's microphone is enabled in the main room and that participant is moved to a breakout room, then when the participant moves back to the main room, the microphone remains enabled for them, irrespective of the microphone status in the breakout room they were in.