Learning Tools
Piazza Launches Custom Training Program
Social learning company Piazza has introduced a new custom training program to help universities scale the use of the technology across the institution. Piazza's wiki-style Q&A platform allows students and instructors to ask and answer questions in a community forum; instructors can also make announcements, endorse high-quality answers, solicit feedback and more.
The training program is designed to help faculty incorporate Piazza into their courses. Facets of the program include:
- Establishing independent "Piazza Specialists" within the university, who receive extensive training on the platform and can help support instructors;
- Training for university administrators, to help them respond to faculty requests and questions about Piazza;
- Tailored training sessions for specific disciplines, faculties and teaching environments;
- Regular communication with Piazza's support team via e-mail, phone and videoconferencing; and
- Additional training sessions for new features and product updates available by request.
All training sessions are recorded and available for Piazza Specialists to use as their own instructor training materials. Among the topics covered:
- Basics of the platform layout and features;
- Using the rich text editor;
- Instructor endorsements and student anonymity settings;
- Using the admin dashboard;
- Tracking student participation analytics; and
- Integrating Piazza into the university learning management system.
The training program is available to institutions with Piazza license agreements. For more information, visit the Piazza site.
About the Author
Rhea Kelly is editor in chief for Campus Technology, THE Journal, and Spaces4Learning. She can be reached at [email protected].
