Professor Pooyan Jamshidi on Online Tools for Connecting with Graduate Students

Professor Pooyan Jamshidi of the University of South Carolina shares some of the online tools he’s been using to stay connected with his graduate students

Encouraging peer learning with Piazza

The thing I really like about Piazza is that one student can ask a question and other students can post an answer. I like letting students engage with each other and answer each other’s questions because I find that sometimes students learn more efficiently from their peers than they do from their instructors.

Annotating Slides during Online Lectures with Blackboard Ultra

I started using Blackboard Ultra for live online lectures. Blackboard Ultra has a feature where you can annotate slides as you’re presenting them. I think students really like this because I’m able to discuss examples in depth whenever they have questions during live class time.

Online tools to keep research students connected

With my graduate students I tend to use Slack. Slack is especially great for my PhD students because it allows them to easily communicate and help each other out with their research.

I use Zoom and Skype to conduct meetings with them as well as regular social events such as a Friday reading group and virtual coffee hours. I know how frustrating PhD studies can be so I hope these social breaks are useful for them.