In high school, some students try their homework on their own, while others get so frustrated that they quit before their homework is complete. In order to help those who may not understand the material, math department head Mike Fenton encourages the use of Piazzza.com, a recently launched student collaboration site.
Piazzza provides a unique experience to help students and teachers with asking and answering questions. This website allows teachers to answer a question that the whole class can see and lets other students help their peers who may be struggling with a concept.
Entrepreneur Pooja Nath created this website to allow students to collaborate on their homework, fostering a better understanding of the material.
According to TechCruch, Nath got the idea for this website while studying at IIT Kanpur in India. Because she struggled to find classmates to study with, she looked for a way to get students together online.
Although Piazzza was created for college students, this is the second year that Fenton has utilized the service in his classes. Universities that use Piazzza include the University of Maryland, Santa Clara University and Stanford University.
“I found out about Piazzza by reading a TechCrunch article,” Fenton said. “I do not have an endless supply of time to help students, so I like how Piazzza allows the students to help each other. They can work and get help on their own timeframe. If students continue to use it as much as they have been this year, I will definitely continue to use Piazzza.”
On Piazzza, each class has its own forum which the students can access to see what other classmates have posted and to post their own questions and comments. Both teachers and students can provide input on the topic to give everyone who visits the site ideas and suggestions on how to go about completing their homework.
Junior Julianne King uses Piazzza in her Honors Algebra II class. She likes the website enough to check it every day, she says.
“I like using Piazzza because I like getting responses from students instead of the teacher,” King said. “They understand the problems I am having and can explain it in a way I can understand.”
Though Piazzza provides many benefits, there are still some areas that could use improvement, according to senior Joshua Smith.
“I like using Piazzza because it can help me with my homework,” Smith said, “but I wish it could be connected to Facebook so that I don’t have to constantly check my e-mail.”
To some students who do not know about Piazzza, this website might seem unfamiliar and confusing. Sophomore Miriam DeWolf has never used Piazzza in school but views it as a potentially useful tool.
“I feel like I wouldn’t use Piazzza because I get help from my dad with my math homework,” DeWolf said. “I do think that it could be helpful, though, for students, depending on the assignment and how well they grasp the material.”
For more information on math classes, read the May 5, 2010, article, Gillespie innovates math instruction.
