Piazza is an online discussion tool that allows you to facilitate written discussions or question-and-answer threads involving students, teaching assistants (TAs), and instructors. Piazza also supports interactive features like anonymous posting, polling, and collaborative editing.
| Access | You can access Piazza through Canvas. | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free. | |
| Bandwidth | Low demand on internet connections. | |
| Canvas Integration | Works in coordination with Canvas, but no grades are passed from Piazza to Canvas. | |
| Privacy | Complies with UBC’s privacy requirements, provided you give students a way to anonymize themselves. Suggested text to use is available in the note section below. | |
| Similar UBC-Supported Tools | Y | The discussion board in Canvas has some overlap with Piazza. |
What can I use it for?
You can use Piazza to facilitate student engagement and participation:
- Supporting peer learning by providing a platform for students to collaborate, discuss topics, and answer each other’s questions
- Creating an open learning environment where students can post anonymously
- Checking student understanding of course concepts by running polls
A note about Piazza
Piazza is privacy-compliant, provided you take proper steps to protect students’ personal information. Please be sure to provide the following information to your students before they begin using Piazza:
- In this course, you will be using Piazza, which is a tool to help facilitate discussions. When creating a Piazza account, you will be asked to provide personally identifying information. Please know that you are not required to consent to sharing this 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 your instructor about other alternatives.
This tool guide was last reviewed in October 2024.
How are others at UBC using Piazza?
Jared Taylor uses Piazza for students to share knowledge in Biology
Piazza is primarily used as a question-and-answer forum where students can ask content-related questions and help each other out. The discussion board is monitored by me and our peer tutor, and we help answer questions as needed. This enhances the course and student learning by having a 24/7 place for students to ask questions and a place to learn by teaching each other. Read more »
What do I need to use Piazza?
A supported web browser
Piazza runs in your web browser and supports using Chrome, Edge, Firefox, or Safari.
Tips
- You can download the Piazza mobile application for iOS or Android devices. It is available from Piazza’s product page.
How do I use Piazza?
You will first need to create a Piazza account or associate an existing Piazza account with Canvas, then set up a class for students to enrol in.
Click any accordion bar below for instructions and tips for using Piazza.
Enable Piazza in your Canvas course
You can enable Piazza in your Canvas course in two ways: by adding it to the Course Navigation and/or by linking it to a module.
- Log in to your Canvas course and click Modules in the Course Navigation.
- Create a new Canvas module, if you do not have an existing one yet.
- Click the plus sign in the upper-right corner of the module.
- Select External Tool from the drop-down.
- Select Piazza from the list. This action should auto-fill the "URL" field. Please keep it as-is.
- Check the Load in a new tab box. This setting will give students a better view of the Piazza interface in a new browser tab.
- Click Add Item to add the link to Piazza in your module.
Tips
- We strongly recommend always adding Piazza to your Course Navigation. Using Piazza through Canvas this way gives easier access to students and protects their personally identifying information better than if you use Piazza independently of Canvas.
- Additionally linking Piazza from a related module can be a good way to organize the course for students. For example, you can link Piazza to a module that is also linked to a Canvas discussion.
Create and set up your Piazza class
Once you have enabled Piazza in Canvas, follow the instructions below to create your Piazza class.
- Log in to your Canvas course and click the Piazza link wherever you have added it. Piazza will open in a new tab. You will be prompted to set up a Piazza account, if you have not previously linked your Piazza account to Canvas:
- Enter your UBC email 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.
- Check the “Class Name”, “Class Number”, and “Term” fields so that they correspond to your actual course name and term. Fill in the "Estimated Enrollment" field and click Create New Piazza Class. Please note that this field does not have any effect on your Piazza class.
- 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:
- Set the "Instructor Self-Signup" option as Disabled. This setting will ensure only you can manually enrol course instructors and TAs in 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. To add TAs and other instructors to your Piazza class, follow the instructions in the accordion section below.
- Click Finish Setup and Continue to Class Q&A to access your Piazza class.
Tips
- When first creating your class, we recommend keeping the “Class Name” and “Class Number” fields as-is. These fields are automatically populated with the name of your Canvas course. Leaving them as-is will make your course easier for students to identify.
- To prevent technical issues for students, please do not use the class signup link provided by Piazza during the class creation process. This link is not designed to work with Canvas. Students should instead join your class by clicking the Piazza link that you have set up in Canvas.
Add TAs and other instructors to your Piazza class
To add TAs and other instructors in your Piazza class, we recommend inviting them through Piazza directly.
- Log in to your Canvas course and click the Piazza link wherever you have added it.
- In the top navigation bar of your Piazza class, click Manage Class.
- Click Manage Enrollment in the grey toolbar below the top navigation bar.
- Enter the UBC email addresses of the TAs and other instructors you would like to add in the text box.
- Click Add Instructors.
- In the pop-up, select each person's role, and click Add instructor(s). Please note that the “Professor” role corresponds to instructor-level access.
- Your TAs and other instructors will receive a welcome email with a link to activate their Piazza account and join the Piazza class.
Tips
- Please only use UBC email addresses when adding TAs and other instructors to your Piazza class. This approach protects the confidentiality of their personal email addresses and limits Piazza to communicating through business emails.
- TAs and instructors have a similar level of access in Piazza. Both are able to create folders, edit posts in the Piazza class, manage class enrolment, and track student participation. However, a TA cannot ban students in the Piazza class.
Add students to your Piazza class
Students can self-enrol in your Piazza class. When they initially access Piazza from Canvas, students will be prompted to set up their Piazza account.
To ensure your use of Piazza complies with UBC privacy requirements, students must be offered an option to use a student.ubc.ca email address. We recommend providing a disclosure to your students using the wording below.
If students inquire about other alternatives, make sure you have set up an access code for your Piazza class on the "Configure Your Class" or "Manage Class" page. Adding an access code allows registered students to use non-UBC email addresses when creating Piazza accounts.
- 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 a Piazza account, you will be asked to provide personally identifying information. Please know that you are not required to consent to sharing this 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 your instructor about other alternatives.
- Students will need to log in to Canvas and click the Piazza link in Canvas wherever you have added it. You will also need to provide them with the access code if you are using one.
- You can share the following steps to help guide students through the rest of the enrolment process:
- After you click the link in Canvas, 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. 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.
- Please ignore any prompts to publish your profile, as you do not need to publish your profile to submit posts to your class on Piazza. Publishing will make more of your personal information visible to Piazza and to other students. If you accidentally publish your profile, you can no longer unpublish it, 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 this 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.
- After you click the link in Canvas, Piazza will open in a new tab, and you will be prompted to set up an account, if you do not have one already:
Set anonymity for discussions in your Piazza class
By default, students can choose to post anonymously. This option is extended to everyone in the class, including instructors and TAs. As an instructor, you can decide whether or not students are anonymous to the instructional team.
Regardless of whether students post anonymously or not, you and your TAs can always edit, delete, or reply to any post.
- Log in to your Canvas course and click the Piazza link wherever you have added it.
- In the top navigation bar in your Piazza course, click Manage Class.
- Click Customize Q&A in the grey toolbar below the top navigation bar.
- Beside "Posting Anonymously", decide which setting to use:
- Choose Enable - Students have the option to show up as "Anonymous" to everyone in the class, including instructors and TAs.
- Choose Disable - Students have the option to show up as "Anonymous" to peers, but instructors and TAs will be able to identify them.
- Click Save Changes.
Tips
- Students can set their anonymity on a post-by-post basis, by using the options in the "Show my name as" drop-down menu. Depending on the settings you have enabled, they may be able to post with one of the following options: their name, as anonymous to classmates, or as anonymous to everyone.
- You can also provide students with an option to create a private post to just the instructional team. Beside "Private Post" in the "Customize Q&A" settings, choose “Enable”, then click “Save Changes” at the bottom of the section.
- You can ban students who may be abusing their ability to post anonymously. When viewing any problematic post, hover over the top right corner, click "Actions", and select "Open Ban User Console" to see your options.
Where can I get more support with Piazza?
Technical support
If you have trouble with Piazza:
- Contact your faculty’s Instructional Support Unit as your first point of contact.
- Contact us for further assistance:
604 827 4775 or LT.hub@ubc.ca or visit the LT Hub online.
Pedagogical support
- The UBC Online Teaching Program has a section on designing student-to-student interactions (Module 4.3), like discussion boards.
Learn more
- For more information, explore the Piazza Quick Start Guide.
- Visit the Piazza support site to learn more about Piazza and its features.