How to seat partnerships for larger groups. (Updated)

Having partners type their nickname turned to be a challenge. Teacher's can now upload JSON text file with partnership information. To do so use  the sample file to create your one partnership files and use them on the Start Session screen. You can edit those file with any text editor. 

sample partner's file

Further we have added reservation system, the first partner that connects reserves both seats. 

You can also use a Zoom breakout room cvs file to map Student's tables to your Zoom breakouts.

How it works: You upload a CSV file ( easily edited i MS Excel) where you specify table name , player nickname and the seat you want the player in. You can upload such file at any time, right click on the Add Table button and upload the file. You can then Close all empty tables. To use the file you need to add at-least one normal table at the beginning so the system knows what kind of table settings to use, that table can be safely closed after words. Below is a link to download a sample Zoom CSV file. 

sample Zoom breakout file

Adjusting partnerships for large groups is a major hassle for the teacher. We made it so that students can help and speed up the process. 

We have added the Partner's Nickname at the student's login screen. Our assumption is that students requesting specific partners do know each other and, most importantly, talk to each other. So they need to agree on the nicknames they will use for the classroom and share them with our system. 

The nicknames have to be unique, so using the first name and 1-2 initials from the last name will do the trick.

Examples of good nicknames are the following: LindaS, JohnBr, MikeJ, etc. 

 Partners need to type both nicknames at the login screen. Note the nicknames are case sensitive, so they need to be properly entered. The system will fail to match LindaS with Linda S.

Another good way to set nicknames for partnerships is like Linda-John and John-Linda. Now when Linda connects she will use Linda-John for her nickname and John-Linda for her partner’s nickname. John will go the other way around and enter John-Linda for his nickname and Linda-John for partner's nickname; this way the opponents will also know they are sitting against a regular partnership. 

When it is time to start the lesson, use the Auto Seat Students drop-down and the system will seat the partners together. 

Before you invite your students, you can further improve the seating by adding just one table and select 1 per table from the “Auto Seat Students” dropdown. Now when a student logs in, if his partner is already seated, the system will break your rule and seat that student across from his partner. This is the only time autoseating rules are broken. The advantage is that you can quickly see who is seated alone and assign each single person to a pair. You will end up with some empty tables that are easy to close.