Campuswire FAQs
All of the most common questions answered right here!
What is Campuswire?
Campuswire is complete teaching tool that professor use to manage course Q&A, host live video office hours, and implement active learning during lectures.
Professors use Campuswire to replace discussion forums and clickers and conduct video office hours and review sessions from anywhere.
Campuswire includes four features: a modern Q&A forum, chatrooms for group discussion, a video office hours feature, and a clicker tool for in-class active learning and attendance.
Campuswire is designed to streamline the workflows of professors and TAs and save professors a ton of time by consolidating their teaching tools.
We’re a team of recent students used all the Q&A, discussion, video chat, and active learning tools available to college students — none of them were modern, consolidated, or user-friendly. We knew that students and professors deserved a better, more customizable, more complete teaching and learning tool, so we designed Campuswire with the specific needs of college classes in mind.
What makes Campuswire different from forums and Q&A tools?
(For a direct comparison of Campuswire and Piazza, look here.)
(For a direct comparison of Campuswire and Slack, look here.)
Campuswire is not just a messaging app, a Q&A platform, or an LMS — we’ve incorporated our favorite features from Q&A forums and modern messaging tools to provide a powerful and consolidated home base for your course communication.
Campuswire is designed specifically with college classes in mind. From an AI to prevent duplicate questions to a clean and intuitive UI to direct messaging that eliminates email inbox clutter to reputation tracking that identifies credible answers to discussion spaces that promotes continued dialogue to Slack-style Rooms that host group chats for any purpose, Campuswire offers features that other class communication tools don’t.
Campuswire also feels more welcoming to today’s students. The familiar, user-friendly interface is inspired by the communication apps they use every day. We’ve found that students use Campuswire three times more than similar tools, which means that instructors have to spend less time managing communication and that students are spending more time collaborating and helping each other out.
Ultimately, our approach is fundamentally different than other companies. Whereas many of the course communication tools used today are the
same as they were five years ago, Campuswire improves every week — we’re constantly incorporating feedback from professors and students to build new features.
What makes Campuswire different from the LMS?
Campuswire is designed specifically to improve class communication, not to replace all of the functionality of the LMS (gradebooks, registration, etc.)
Campuswire works best when professors use it to completely replace LMS discussion forums and other video office hours tools and clickers — you’ll save more time and your students will spend more time collaborating and engaging with class discussions and content.
Does Campuswire have mobile apps?
Yes — Campuswire has iOS and Android apps that are intuitive and that support all the functionality of the web app. Campuswire is also optimized for mobile web, so you can use Campuswire on your smartphone even without one of our apps.
Does Campuswire integrate with my LMS?
Campuswire will integrate with every major LMS (Blackboard, Canvas, Sakai, Moodle, etc.) Fall 2020! (Right now, professors use Campuswire smoothly alongside their LMS, but we’re hustling to finish those integrations!)
What do professors and students think about Campuswire?
The feedback we’ve collected from professors and students has been virtually unanimous — students spend more time collaborating, asking questions, and helping each other out and professors love having one user-friendly home base for their Q&A, discussion, office hours, and active learning.
Take a look here and here for professor testimonials:
And check out our approach to professor feedback to get a sense for why so many professors keep returning to Campuswire every term.
We have the data to back this up as well. From usage patterns to professor retention rates to anecdotal feedback to class-wide polls, we’re happy to share any feedback with you — just ask!
How much does Campuswire cost?
Campuswire Basic is completely free! You can use Campuswire’s Q&A forum and chatrooms for free in perpetutity.
Campuswire Pro is the paid version of Campuswire that includes Campuswire Lectures (our active learning features) and Campuswire Live (our video office hours tool. Campuswire Pro is in Beta through May 2020, and pricing is TBD. Read more about Campuswire Pro here.
So how does Campuswire make money?
Read all about our business model and monetization plan here.
Is Campuswire FERPA-compliant?
Yes, Campuswire is 100% FERPA-compliant. We take student data privacy extremely seriously — one of the reasons we built Campuswire in the first place is that we were tired of being forced to use communication tools that sold or failed to protect our data and class content.
We don’t sell student data, expose it to third parties, or advertise. All we do with student data is protect it!
Why should I try Campuswire in my class?
If you’re a professor who wants to save time, help your students get more engaged in your class, send fewer one-off emails, give your students a better way to collaborate and get help, and consolidate your Q&A+ video office hours + active learning, Campuswire is for you.
If you’re tired of relying on several different modes of communication (email, discussion forum, Slack, LMS announcement, etc.), Campuswire is for you.
If you’re unsatisfied with similar Q&A tools (Piazza, LMS forums, Slack, etc.), looking to replace your clicker tool, or interested in hosting live office hours or review sessions, Campuswire is for you.
Does Campuswire support anonymous posting?
Yes, Campuswire offers three different levels of anonymity posting and messaging. (Check out the details here).
What can I do with the Class Feed?
The Campuswire Class Feed can be used to host Q&A (for assignments, readings, problem sets, lectures, projects, etc.), to share important documents and announcements, and as a tool for boosting engagement through discussion posts and real-time discussion.
Most professors use Campuswire because our Q&A platform is cleaner and more intuitive than other tools, because we offer more functionality within the Feed (duplicate question prevention, real-time discussions, live polling), and because Campuswire produces higher levels of student engagement.
What can I do with Campuswire Chatrooms?
Campuswire Rooms are chat spaces (think Slack or GroupMe) that allow class communication to be more customizable and organized. Any conversations that don’t fit nicely into the traditional Q&A format can take place in a Room, which professors can create for any purpose (discussion sections, virtual office hours, project groups, late night help, interesting readings from outside of class, TA conversations, or even individual assignments or lectures.)
Let us know if you have any other questions! You can reach me via email at brian@campuswire.com or via the chat window on our homepage: https://campuswire.com/
-The Campuswire Team
