Posting to Piazza

To post to Piazza, you’ll first need to click the NEW POST button, which appears in the upper left of the Piazza screen.

New-post-buttonBefore you get to typing your question, you’ll need to set the post’s type, audience, and location.

postType-To-FolderPost type indicates whether you’re posting a question (which begs a response), a note (a block of text that needs no response), or whether you’re posting a block of text that will include a poll (note, details of the Poll/In-Class Response are covered in another walkthrough).

Next, indicate whether the post should go to the entire class or just to the Instructor(s). Instructors have the option to post to the entire class or one or more students.

Last, select which folder you want the post to appear in. This option won’t be required if folders are disabled for the site.

Now you can get down to the actual posting ….

postMuch like an email (or a discussion thread in Blackboard), a Piazza post starts with a short subject or summary. This is followed by message (or question) body. If you need to include an equation, click the fx button to launch the LaTeX equation editor. Similarly, if you need to include code, click  the CODE button.

Once you have entered your post, you may (depending on the settings established by your professor) choose to post under your own name, post anonymously to classmates (meaning any instructor users will still see your name), or anonymously to everyone (both classmates and instructors).

Click the orange POST MY QUESTION TO [COURSE ID] to post your question, and you’re all set!

 

Communicate, Piazza, Piazza Updated: January 21, 2016

Add Piazza to your Blackboard Course

Piazza is a free, third-party question and answer tool available to use through Blackboard. Piazza discussion differs from standard Blackboard discussion in a number of ways, primarily in that it is geared toward students collaborating to produce a single response to a question or discussion prompt in a wiki-like fashion, rather than each student responding individually.

Piazza set up is a two-step process. First, we add the Piazza tool link to the course, then we create or choose the Piazza space we’ll be using in the course.

To add the Piazza tool link to the course, enter the content space where we’d like to add the Piazza link. Point to TOOLS and choose PIAZZA.

tools-piazzaEnter a name, description, etc. for your Piazza link as we would when adding any item on Blackboard. You may want to enter a discussion prompt, or other instructions about how you expect students to use Piazza in the description field.

add-itemOnce created, this adds a Piazza item to the course. To complete the setup, click this link.

piazza-linkIf you’re creating a Piazza space for this course for the first time, Use the CREATE YOUR CLASS ON PIAZZA section to create a new course space. Enter the course name and estimated enrollment — if you’re planning on using a single Piazza space for multiple sections, the estimated enrollment should reflect your total expected enrollment for the Piazza space. If the default term is not correct, select a term for your course, and click CREATE CLASS.

create-classIf you’ve already created the Piazza space you wish to use in the course, scroll down to the ALREADY CREATED A CLASS ON PIAZZA section and enter the Class Number. By default, Piazza pulls in your Knowledge Course ID as its class number.

use-existingOnce the course is set up, you’ll need to confirm your account and enrollment. Verify that your name displays correctly and provide a password so you can access Piazza content directly on the Piazza web site or via their Android or iOS app. Read and accept the Terms of Use (if you wish to use the service), then click CONTINUE.

myAccountLast, we recommend changing your Piazza course setting to prevent users from adding themselves as instructors. To make this change, click MANAGE CLASS at the top of the page.

manage-class

Class Information

The Class Information settings appear first. You just added most of this information during the initial Piazza class space setup. If you need to make any changes, you can do so here. You’ll also notice a Sign-Up link and Class link in this space. Because Piazza is linked with UDM’s Knowledge server, we do not recommend providing access to your Piazza course space using these links. Instead, route your students to Piazza through your Knowledge course site.

To disable Instructor Self-Signup, just select DISABLE on the Instructor Self-Signup line and click SAVE CHANGES.

disable-self-signup

 

Your Piazza site is ready for use. If the default setup is not to your liking, consider changing the Class Folders to better suit how you expect to use the Piazza site in the context of your course.

Discussion, Piazza Updated: January 21, 2016

Tool Availability

The University of Detroit Mercy’s Blackboard course management system include a number of tools that may not be initially available inside a course site. If you are interested in using a Blackboard tool that is not available in your course, check to see if the tool is installed and just needs to be made available to use.

To make a tool available to use, go to CUSTOMIZATION under the Course Management heading.

customization

Then click TOOL AVAILABILITY.

tool-availabilityScroll down the list of installed tools. To make a tool available, check the box in the AVAILABLE column. If a tool may be added through a menu in a content area (similar to how discussion boards or journals may be added to a content area), you will be able to check a box in the AVAILABLE IN CONTENT AREA column as well. Note that “Guest” and “Observer” roles are disabled in UDM’s Blackboard, so checking these columns will have no effect on actual availability.

available

Course Tools, Customization Updated: January 19, 2016

Recording a Lecture with Office Mix

Office Mix is a free plug-in for PowerPoint that makes it easy for faculty or students to record narrated presentations and post them to Blackboard. The below video walk you through the process of recording, publishing, and posting a lecture to Knowledge.

 

 

Want more help? Microsoft has developed a series of detailed tutorials on using Mix that can be found on the Office Mix web site.

Note: Mix is only available for the Office 2013 version of PowerPoint for Windows. Faculty who wish to install Office Mix on their UDM computer will need to contact ITS for assistance.

Build / Add Content Updated: August 19, 2015
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