What is Piazza?

Piazza is a free online platform for class Q&A that replaces mailing lists

and bulletin boards

Why Do Instructors Use Piazza?

• Saves time– Fewer redundant questions– Faster workflow than email, newsgroups

• Improves collaboration environment– More students’ posts, more students’ answers– Answers better, easier to find

• Focuses effort– Instant understanding of what’s confusing– Ability to focus 1:1 on students who need help

Other Important Facts

• Piazza is free• Piazza complies with FERPA• Anyone with a .edu can sign up at any time• You can enroll students directly by entering

their emails or by sending them a special link• iOS and Android apps are now available

Key Tips for Success

• Stop answering group questions via email• Post useful content on Piazza• Give positive feedback to participants

Piazza 101: The Dashboard

Tags

Question Feed

Question Panel

Piazza 101: Question Feed

Filters let you focus immediately on unresolved or updated content

Numbers in grey indicate how many updates since you last read this

Tells you a student’s response has been endorsed by an instructor, so you can rest easy

tells you whether an instructor has already responded, so you save time

tells you when a student has responded, so you can quickly verify the answer

Chronological organization makes it easy to keep on top of new content

Piazza 101: Question Panel

Question• Asked by student• Instructors can edit, clarify

Students’ Response• Students and instructors edit

together• Creates collective understanding• Can be endorsed by instructors

Instructors’ Response• Instructors edit collaboratively• Becomes source of truth when there’s

doubt

Piazza 101: Follow-Ups

Mark as resolved to avoid redundant effort

Discussion capabilities for deeper dives into questions

Responses come in real-time, like a chat room

Why It Works for Students

• One answer means less searching• Lower barrier to asking questions• Lower barrier to a “partial” answer• Quick turn-around means high engagement

“Piazza is the third tab, beside Facebook and mail, that students have open when they study”

Piazza 201: Tags

• Let you, students categorize posts• Make finding, filtering topics easier• Anyone can create a tag by prepending a word

with #

Piazza 201: Tags

• Set up numbered tags for recurring themes– Problem sets, labs, exams– Prevent “tag sprawl,” e.g. #hw1 v. #homework1

Piazza 201: PrivacyStudents can post anonymously to their peers, so they feel free to post “dumb” questions

Optionally, they can be anonymous to instructors

Students may use partial names to maintain privacy

Piazza 201: StatisticsWatch activity trends to see when students have more questions or when attention flags

See which individual students (or instructors) are most active

How I Use Piazza

• Check in 3-4 times per day for updates, encourage TA’s to do same

• Look for questions with no response or only students’ response

• Endorse students’ responses when possible• Encourage students to ask questions on Piazza after

lecture, answer right away

Seminar/Readings Courses

• Use students’ response to created shared understanding of class readings– Assign teams for each reading– Edit responses for clarity

• Encourage pre- and post-seminar discussions– Use follow-up discussions to focus on readings– Use notes/questions for lecture questions