How it works
Students are assigned to a virtual room for a set duration of time with at least one partner. Together, students respond to a prompt provided by the instructor. The entire exchange is recorded and submitted to the instructor for individualized feedback.
1. Create an assessment with partner rounds
From your class page, click the plus button to create an assessment, which will take you to the page below. From here, you'll create the framework of your assessment. Follow the steps below:
Add a name and set the assessment timeline.
Select Group followed by Live Room.
Click Yes for Partnered Rounds.
Choose the Number of rounds using the slider. You can select 2–5 rounds.
Choose the Round Recording Time. This is the time for each round, not the entire activity.
Attach a rubric for the task if you want to provide a numeric grade for the assignment.
Click Next.
2. Add the task
Provide a prompt for students to see upon entering the room. Students will see the same prompt in each round.
Click Launch when done.
Before the Assessment
3. Take attendance
When it’s time to begin, follow the usual Extempore Live! workflow. Click View Rooms to begin.
Ensure that every student has at least one partner by taking attendance before students begin the assessment.
Students appear with a green dot when they are signed in to Extempore.
Students who are offline appear with a gray dot. Toggle off absent students, then click Continue to Room Assignment.
4. Assign rooms
Extempore assigns students to rooms when you create a group assessment; however, you can adjust those assignments if needed.
To move a student, drag and drop their name into the desired room or click Shuffle to randomize all assignments.
If you need to add more rooms, click Add Room.
Review room assignments for each round, then click Continue to Monitor.
During the Assessment
5. Monitor students
In the Monitor tab, you’ll see each student with real-time status updates, whether they are online, in the waiting room, recording, etc.
When you are ready for students to begin, click the blue Open Round 1 button.
When a round ends, students see a screen while they wait for the next round to begin. Once all participating online students are ready, the next round starts automatically after a 30-second countdown.
You can control when the rounds begin from the Monitor page.
Select Open now to start the next round immediately.
Select Hold to delay the automatic start. Students see a waiting screen indicating that you haven’t started the next round yet. When you’re ready, open the next round from Monitor.
The assessment concludes after the final round, and all recordings are submitted to the instructor for review.
6. Join a Room
Teachers may drop in on students as they participate in the task by clicking Join, then decide whether to remain invisible or visible to students.
Some teachers prefer to drop in on multiple rooms during the assessment, while others prefer to remain on this screen in case a student raises their hand to request help.
After the Assessment
7. Review recordings and provide feedback
In the gradebook, partner rounds appear as one assessment. Open a student’s assessment to review the separate recordings for each round and provide feedback. If the assessment uses a rubric, give one overall rubric score based on the student’s work across the rounds.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I ensure students aren't grouped with the same partner for multiple rounds? Teachers can see an identifier for students who've already been paired when assigning rooms.
What happens if I open the next round while students are recording?
Students have 5 seconds to wrap up the active round before the next round begins.What if a student raises their hand while I am in another room?
You will see a notification while you’re in a room indicating which student and room requested help so you can quickly join another room.