Videoconferencing

Newrow Updates Video Classroom Platform with Breakout Rooms

• By Joshua Bolkan
• 03/11/15

Newrow has updated its video classroom platform to allow students to create and control their own video study rooms.

 The new breakout rooms are designed to "enhance the collaborative study experience and foster peer-to-peer discussion by making learning more active and allowing students to work together beyond the traditional confines of an online-discussion-board-and-avatar-based learning environment," according to a news release.

Using the feature, students can create study groups outside of classroom that will leverage tools such as live video, chat tools and real-time resource sharing to mimic in-person collaboration.

Teachers can use the tool to create in-class discussion groups with up to 10 students in each. Groups launched by teachers can be recorded for later reference by students or faculty or used for long-term project management.

"Our goal is to remove learning barriers for students by giving them a seamless way to facilitate the discussions they want and need to have with peers," said Rony Zarom, founder and CEO of newrow, in a prepared statement. "This ensures that the most effective type of learning - peer learning - becomes a natural part of how students become educated online."

Schools using newrow include Wesleyan University and Yale.

More information is available at newrow.com.