The Effectiveness of Breakout Rooms in Blended Learning: A Case Study in the Faculty of Engineering, Design, and Information Technology (EDICT) Degree at Bahrain Polytechnic

Literature Review

Researchers such as Tonsmann (2014) and Chandler (2016) have explored the use of breakout rooms prior to the pandemic. They described breakout rooms as online spaces that are sub-rooms from main virtual rooms that allow interactive and collaborative learning. Teachers can have control over the selection of the participants, their numbers as well as the number of groups. The duration of each breakout room activity is also set by the teacher depending on the designed task aimed to be completed. Breakout rooms have video and audio-conferencing facilities as well as a chat room through which students can share textual information. In each breakout room, a student can be assigned as the administrator of the room to have control over the presentation option and screen sharing options. Ahshan (2021) illustrates a number of synchronous tools that could be employed to conduct real-time breakout room activities namely, Google Meet, ZOOM, BigBlueButton,Webex Meetings, GoToMeeting. Each one of these tools has its own technical set-up for rooms. To exemplify, BigBlueButton which is the tool used in this study, is an open-source virtual classroom software used in an e-learning management system, Moodle (Ukoha, 2022). Galindo-González (2020) and Čižmešija and Bubaš (2020) identify BigBlueButton as a realtime tool that can share audio, video, screen, presentation slides, white board and chat facilities. They add that it is an HTML5 client which provides high-quality, low-latency WebRTC audio and includes a voice conference server, a desk-sharing application program and a web-conferencing program. Han (2018) reports that BigBlueButton allows real-time interaction through audio and video conferencing, live chat, screen sharing, polling of audience and file sharing and meeting recording. Based on Turulja, Kapo and Činjarević. (2021), BigBlueButton grants loading presentation in different formats with the possibility of showing the teacher’s mouse pointer. Another feature BigBlueButton offers is the use of webcams and Voice over as well as sharing desktops of all participants. Čižmešija and Bubaš (2020) explain that there are two kinds of users in BigBluButtorn, users and moderators, who control the room, assign roles and have the control over muting, unmuting and adding or expelling users from rooms. BigBlueButton also includes a whiteboard, which is employed to explain specific parts of each lesson. Teachers can highlight, zoom, draw, write and allow students to deliver or ask questions.