Piazza: Alternative Discussion Tool for Moodle

Last Modified on 12/12/2023 5:32 pm EST

Piazza is a third-party platform for online class discussion. It is similar to Moodle's Forum activity, but has additional features for managing discussions, enabling student questions, and providing meaningful answers. LITS manages an institutional license for Piazza that enables ad-free use.

Warning: Unlike Moodle, which the College hosts and manages internally, Piazza is a third-party platform governed by Piazza's terms of service and privacy policy. Be sure you read and understand how your and your students' content and data will be used and the risks of misuse before adopting this tool.

Add a Piazza to a Moodle course

Before you start, you will need the following:

  • an Instructor of record or Other editing teacher role in a Bryn Mawr Moodle course
  1. Log into your course and switch Edit Mode on.
  2. Click +Add an activity or resource.
  3. Select Piazza from the menu.
  4. Type in an Activity name, then click Save and Display at the bottom of the screen. 
  5. If prompted, follow Piazza's instructions for creating an account and confirming your email.
  6. When you reach the Piazza Setup page, check that:
    • School Information lists Bryn Mawr College
    • School Email(s) include brynmawr.edu, haverford.edu, swarthmore.edu. 
  7. Leave the default settings under Automatic Roster Sync (Enable and Start automatic roster sync now) to ensure your Moodle participants list is synced to the Piazza site for your course. 
  8. Choose the appropriate next step:
    • Create your class on Piazza: Use to create a NEW Piazza site for this Moodle course.
    • Already have a class on Piazza: Use link the Moodle course to an existing Piazza class site you have already created.

Pro tip: You can set up a course-level discussion site in Piazza for a multi-section course even if you don't have a merged Moodle course. Add a Piazza activity to the Moodle course for the first section and choose Create your class on Piazza, then add Piazza activities to the Moodle pages for the other sections and use the Already have a class on Piazza option to choose the same Piazza site.

Learn how to use Piazza

See Piazza's Support page resources for video demos and instructor and student guides for using Piazza, including:

Questions?

If you have any additional questions or problems, don't hesitate to reach out to the Help Desk!

Phone: 610-526-7440 | Library and Help Desk hours
Email: help@brynmawr.edu | Service catalog
Location: Canaday Library 1st floor


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