About Piazza

On this page:

Overview
Order Piazza for an upcoming term
Configure Piazza for FERPA compliance
Learn more and get help

Overview

Piazza is an online problem-solving place where students can ask, answer, and explore questions 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, under the guidance of their instructors. In Piazza, students collaborate in a wiki-like interface to come up with answers to questions that may be posed by students or instructors. Instructors can also collaborate on answers in their own space. In addition, Piazza offers a more traditional discussion format.

Piazza updates continuously, so students (and instructors) can stay connected and keep track of the activity around a particular question. Mobile apps are available for both iOS and Android devices. Piazza also supports the editing of computer code, and has a built-in LaTeX editor for equations.

Note:

The cost for access to Piazza will be $5.00 per student, per course, billed to student bursar accounts. IU offers an alternative tool at no additional charge to students, InScribe 2.0, that is already integrated into Canvas.

Order Piazza for an upcoming term

Piazza is available via IU eTexts. To use Piazza with Canvas integration for an upcoming term, you must order it via IU eTexts.

Note:

Ordering periods begin on September 2 for the subsequent spring and winter terms, and on February 2 for the subsequent summer and fall terms. The duration of each order period varies by campus. For campus specific deadlines, see Deadlines/Timeline.
When an ordering period closes, the Order Tool is no longer available to faculty and coordinators. To place post-deadline orders, follow the procedure in Post-Deadline Ordering.

To place an order for Piazza before the deadline for a given term, follow the instructions in Use IU eTexts to order digital course materials, and in place of an ISBN, enter PIAZZALICENSE. Requesters will receive an email confirmation when Piazza has been provisioned to Canvas sites.

To learn more about IU eTexts, see the IU eTexts: A Faculty and Staff Introduction Canvas resource site.

Configure Piazza for FERPA compliance

Important:

At IU, new courses created in Piazza are, by default, open to any user with an IU email address. IU students and faculty can enter open courses by searching for them and opting to join. To remain FERPA-compliant, instructors should set access codes to prevent unauthorized users from enrolling in their Piazza classes. Once your course access code is set, all users will be prompted for the code the first time they access the course.

To set an access code for a Piazza course:

Log into Canvas.
Navigate to the desired course, and then launch Piazza.
At the top of the Piazza screen, select Manage Class.
On the General Settings tab, in the "Class Information" section, under "Access Code", choose Add access code.
When prompted to create an access code, enter a code that will be difficult for others to guess.
At the bottom of the "Class Information" section, choose Save Changes.

Share the course access code with your students by posting an announcement or sending a message.

Learn more and get help

For instructions on using Piazza, see Support: Piazza. For help with Piazza, email team@piazza.com or call 800-818-4124.

Instructors can get help using technology in their teaching at the teaching and learning centers on each campus.