Overview
Piazza is a Q&A platform integrated with Bruin Learn, encouraging instructor and student engagement. All questions and answers are contained in one community space, thereby eliminating redundant emails from students. Students can post a question in Piazza to the entire class or the instructor only. Students also have the option to post anonymously. Instructors have access to the Piazza Class at a Glance Dashboard that displays a snapshot of any unresolved posts and unanswered questions from students.
Piazza enables instructors and students to collaboratively edit a solution to a problem using a wiki-style format, creating one high-quality answer and avoiding dozens of disconnected comments.
Piazza is an ideal Q&A platform for courses that include many math or programming questions, as it incorporates a LaTeX editor for writing equations and a Markdown editor that supports writing code blocks with syntax highlighting.
Primary Benefits
For Instructors and TAs
- Instructors can easily communicate with students and provide announcements and clarification on course material within a centralized space.
- Piazza features a Rich Text Editor with a robust LaTeX and Markdown editor.
- Instructors and students can use the Rich Text Editor to upload images, add links, and share videos to enhance discussion.
- Posts from students are highlighted and easy to find.
- Instructors can endorse questions and comments from students.
- Instructors can create and post polls to the class. The Piazza polling feature includes the option for anonymous responses.
- Instructors can review analytics on student usage. This data can help instructors review the level of participation in Piazza discussions.
For Students
- Students receive a notification once their question is answered.
- Students have the option to post anonymously to discussions.
- Students can edit their questions and answers using a user-friendly wiki-style editor, enabling easy revisions and improvements.
- The Class at a Glance dashboard displays a link to unread posts and answers to questions, providing students with a simple way to navigate to any posts needing attention.
Pricing
Piazza is paid for by the University. It is available to instructors and students at no cost.
Additional Resources for Instructors
Additional Resources for Students
LTI Scope Definitions
- Campuswide - LTI tools are available in any Bruin Learn course.
- Sub-account - LTI tools have limited availability. These are often requested and funded by specific divisions, departments, or courses. These LTIs can be found by filtering via Status = "Available at a Cost."
LTI Status Definitions
- Requested - Requested tools are in the earliest phases for inclusion in Bruin Learn. This phase includes learning more about the functionality, supplier, costs, support options, existing campus or UC licensing agreements, etc.
- In Review - The LTI tool is undergoing review by multiple stakeholders, including software advisory workgroups, security, accessibility, funding, data use and privacy, and UCLA Purchasing.
- On Hold - The LTI tool process is on hiatus for any number of reasons, including: remediation of accessibility, security, data use and privacy concerns; identifying available funding sources; negotiations with the supplier; re-consideration of the original need, etc.
- Approved - The LTI tool process has been approved and preparation for installation is underway. Prior to availability, post-approval work may include resolving technical integration issues, developing training, etc.
- Available - The LTI tool process is installed and available for general use in Bruin Learn.
- Available at a cost - The LTI tool has been reviewed and approved and is available for purchase by units requiring the functionality the tool provides.
- Contact ASUCLA Bookstore - Publisher-related LTI tools are obtained through the ASUCLA Bookstore.