We’ve recently received information that Piazza Technologies has reached out to many of you directly regarding your instructional use of their product and informing you that their product is now accessible to students with disabilities. Unfortunately, Piazza did not inform us about these developments so we have not verified that their recent release meets the UC accessibility requirements. In addition, Piazza has not been recently reviewed with regards to data security and privacy.
As we outlined, along with Vice Provost for Graduate Studies & Dean of the Graduate Division Lisa García Bedolla, and Chair, Berkeley Division of the Academic Senate, Ronald Cohen, in the June 1, 2022 Calmessages guidance, the campus engaged in a faculty-supported Request for Proposal (RFP) process. This process allowed us to collect and review the needs of users as well as the policy compliance of all submitting vendors to ensure that they met our institutional guidelines for security, privacy, and accessibility.
As noted in the CalMessage linked above, Ed Discussion is the only supported online course discussion tool offered by campus, and “the use of Piazza for individual licensing will be prohibited to ensure increased access to course materials for all students.”
To learn more about our supported official online course discussion tool, Ed Discussion, review the following resources:
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Visit the Academic Innovation Studio (AIS) Open House - August 22
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Email: discussionshelp@berkeley.edu
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Webform: Request Support
Thank you,
Oliver M. O'Reilly
Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education
Shawna Dark
Chief Academic Technology Officer
and Assistant Vice Provost, Undergraduate Education