Professor Tara Craig on Using Piazza for Faculty Collaboration and Development

Professor Tara Craig of the University of Texas at Austin discusses using Piazza for collaboration and instructional development for faculty in her department.

Using Piazza for faculty collaboration and development

As part of the online instruction team, we were faced with the task of supporting faculty in their transition to online classes when our campus closed. We had to support a wide range of faculty, including several who were not used to online tools.

It was hard to manage an effective communication channel through email. Professor Craig’s team was getting so many emails, and information was scattered across dozens of email replies. The confusion of where to go to get information and answers, on top of the sudden transition to online, was stressful for their faculty members.

I brought up Piazza and created a faculty development course on Piazza, we called it ‘MATH ONLINE’. I added all of the faculty in my department as students to this Piazza class. It has been a lifesaver.

Faculty are now using this course to ask questions as they stumble upon issues with their online teaching, such as how TAs can access different breakout rooms for online discussion groups. ‘MATH ONLINE’ was especially useful as Professor Craig’s instruction team helps faculty redesign their courses for a new learning environment.

To learn how you can set up a Piazza course to collaborate with your colleagues, visit our support page on Piazza for Faculty Instructional Development.