
Video from the April Faculty Forum on In-Class and Online Discussions
Dear Faculty Colleagues,
Thanks to everyone who participated in our April 18 Faculty Forum on in-class and online discussions, discussion forums, and digital meeting rooms.
The attending faculty talked about a number of the opportunities and challenges inherent in guiding students into small work groups or digital breakout rooms to encourage collaboration and problem-solving.
I’m grateful to all the faculty who participated, especially Molecular and Cellular Biology Professor Sean Burgess who shared her experiences using Piazza to encourage sustained and asynchronous attention to class topics.
Speaking of Piazza, after the faculty discussion, we heard from vendor representatives Ryan Bradford and TJ Kidd. Together they offered us a broad overview and then a thorough tour of the online question and answer platform known as Piazza. If you are curious, please also visit the recording of that bonus webinar about Piazza.
Enjoy this short preview before reviewing the full recording of our April 18th Faculty Forum.
Please plan to join us on Zoom for our DOLCE on Friday, May 2, 12-1pm. We will hear from Whitney Duim about Google slides and from Jennifer Choi about GenAI. The lively Zoom chat always rewards our faculty colleagues who can join us in synchronously.
Dr. Andy Jones
Academic Director, Academic Technology Services
Editor in Chief, The Wheel
University of California, Davis
P.S. SITT 2025 registration is now open! Mark your calendars for September 11 and 12, and plan to join us via Zoom for our biggest event of the year. Also, we are seeking presenters!
Access the Zoom chat from the event.
Selected resources / links shared during the event
- A few perspectives from other faculty about creating community through online discussions, in case folks want to review these later:
- From SITT 2021: “Online discussion board fosters sense of community and contributes to learning in online classes” by Talitha van der Meulen
- From SITT 2023: “Using technology to foster a class learning community” by Mark Verbitsky
- From SITT 2023: “Comparing Discussion Platforms for Student Engagement” by Debbie Fetter
- If you’d like to dig deeper into Community of Inquiry
- Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Framework
- Support resources from Piazza
- About Piazza at UC Davis
- KB: “How can I use Piazza for class collaboration and discussion?”
- From our Ed Tech Spotlight Series (2023): “Getting Started with Piazza”