Piazza Instructor Guide

Enable Piazza in your Canvas course

It's important to set up Piazza through Canvas, even though you can access it directly through piazza.com. Going through Canvas will prevent technical difficulties.You can enable Piazza in your Canvas course in two ways: by adding it to the Course Navigation or by linking it to a module.

Create and set up your Piazza class

Once you have enabled Piazza in Canvas, follow these instructions to create your Piazza class, follow these instructions to create your Piazza class.

1. Log in to your Canvas course and click the Piazza link where you've added it. Piazza will open in a new tab, and you will be prompted for a Piazza account, if you have not previously linked your Piazza account to Canvas:
   • Enter your UBC email and to create an account and click Check Email.
   • If you have never used Piazza before, you may be prompted to enter your name and create a password. To keep your account secure, please use a different password than your UBC CWL (Campus-Wide Login).
   • Click Continue.
   • You will be sent an email with a verification code. Enter the verification code from the email and click Confirm. Your Piazza account will be associated with Canvas.
2. Fill in the "Estimated Enrollment" field and click Create New Piazza Class.
3. On the "Configure Your Class" page, review and adjust the default settings. These settings can also be changed after the class has been created. We recommend the following:
   • Keep the “Disabled” option default for the "Instructor Self-Signup". This setting will ensure only you can manually enroll course instructors and TAs as instructors of your Piazza class.
   • Set up an access code for your Piazza class. This code helps prevent non-registered students from accessing your course and allows registered students to use non-UBC email addresses when creating Piazza accounts.
   • Please do not enrol students, other instructors, or TAs on this page. Information on how to more efficiently enrol others is provided in the next part of this guide.
4. Click Finish Setup and Continue to Class Q&A to access your Piazza class.

Add TAs and other instructors to your Piazza class

The easiest way to add TAs and other instructors is to invite them through Piazza.

1. Log in to your Canvas course and click the Piazza link where you've added it.
2. In the top navigation bar of your Piazza course, click Manage Class.
3. Click Manage Enrollment in the grey toolbar.
4. Enter the UBC email addresses of the TAs and other instructors in the text box.
5. Click Add Instructors.
6. In the pop-up, select each person's role, and click Add instructor(s).
7. Your TAs and other instructors will receive a welcome email with a link to activate their Piazza account.

Add students to your Piazza class

Students can self-enrol in your Piazza class. Wherever they initially click the Piazza link in Canvas, students will be prompted to set up their Piazza account.

1. Before you invite students to self-enrol, please be sure to provide the following information to them:
   • In this course, you will be using Piazza, which is a tool to help facilitate discussions. When creating an account in the tool, you will be asked to provide personally identifying information. Please know that you are not required to consent to sharing this personal information with the tool, if you are uncomfortable doing so. If you choose not to provide consent, you may use a student.ubc.ca email address to create an account, or ask about other alternatives.
2. Students will need to log in to Canvas and click the Piazza link in Canvas, wherever you've added it. You will also need to provide them with the access code, if you are using one.
3. You can share the following steps to help guide students through the rest of the enrolment process:
   • After you click the link, Piazza will open in a new tab, and you will be prompted to set up an account, if you do not have one already:
     • If you are using Piazza with Canvas for the first time, you may be prompted to enter your preferred email, preferred name, password, and an email verification code. This step is where you can use a student.ubc.ca email address to create an account.
     • You may also be prompted to enter your level of study, major, and anticipated completion date. This information does not need to be accurate, if you wish to keep these details private.
     • Ignore any prompts to publish your profile. You do not need to publish your profile to submit posts to your class on Piazza, and publishing will make more of your personal information visible to Piazza and to other students. If you accidentally publish your profile, you cannot unpublish but you can control who can see your profile.
     • You may be offered the option to "Join the Piazza Network of students and employers". You are not required to join the network to participate in course discussions.
   • If your instructor has used an access code, enter the access code you have been given.
   • Click Join Class to finish enrolling in the Piazza class.

Set anonymity for discussions in your Piazza class

By default, students can choose to post anonymously and that anonymity will extend to everyone in the class: peers, instructors, and TAs. As an instructor, you can decide whether you want to keep students anonymous to the instructional team or not.

Regardless of whether students post anonymously or not, you and your TAs can always edit, delete, or reply to any post.

1. Log in to your Canvas course and click the Piazza link where you've added it.
2. In the top navigation bar in your Piazza course, click Manage Class.
3. Click Customize Q&A in the grey toolbar.
4. Beside "Posting Anonymously", decide which setting to use:
   • Choose Enable, and students have the option to show up as "Anonymous" to everyone: peers, instructors, and TAs.
   • Choose Disable, and students have the option to show up as "Anonymous" to peers, but instructors and TAs will be able to identify them.
5. Click Save Changes.