"Ed Discussion" Course Q&A Tool Demonstration

Ed Discussion is an online application for class Q&A, which Caltech is piloting with an institution-wide license this spring. Ed emphasizes student privacy and has no advertising. Ed Discussion is integrated into Caltech's instance of Canvas for this pilot, with secure, single sign-on and enrollment syncing.

During this demo, Caltech instructors and TAs will be joined by Ed Discussion experts for a 30 minute demonstration of features and capabilities, followed by Q&A and optional demonstration of other features that participants would like to explore.

Ed Discussion reports that instructors using their app save considerable time compared to traditional email and forums due to the following:

• Fewer direct emails sent to staff
• Fewer duplicate questions being asked
• Students often answer each other's questions
• Questions can reach and benefit the whole class
• Seamless creation and display of equations, runnable code, and more
• Higher-quality questions and less back and forth with thread templates

Given the new challenges involved in remote teaching, the application's creators report that it is especially useful for instructors and TAs. Ed Discussion can be used across disciplines, whether CS, Arts, Math, Econ, History, Science, Engineering, etc.

Register in advance for this meeting:

https://caltech.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAtdeyprTguGNC78nHDsqdodWKU5kejI-Dp

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.