The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
PIAZZA
From Page 1A
said he was surprised by the suc-
cess he's experienced with Piazza
so far. At first, he dismissed it as
"one more thing" to deal with at
the beginning of the semester and
feared that it would be similar to
the CTools chat room, in which
his students would give away
answers by telling others to sim-
ply plug in numbers to a formula.
However, Tarle said Piazza is
more organized than the CTools
chat room because questions are
sorted into color-coded threads,
making it easier to discern which
responses are from the instruc-
tor, the graduate student instruc-
tors or other students.
The instructor can also
"endorse" a particular answer
that he or she has deemed correct
and that other students should
use as guidance.
He added that students'
questions get answered almost
immediately since he and his
GSIs check the forum frequently
throughout the day to provide
answers and explanations.
"It's easy to get your questions
answered without a lot of one-on-
one time," Tarle stated.
Tarle said using Piazza is ben-
eficial for facilitating discussion
among students that help them
learn. While the program sends
MOTT
From Page 1A
providing gas cards to families
that frequently commute to the
hospital.
"We're also taking donations
for Mott," Gavin said. "Because
obviously, even though the build-
ing is open, there are many pro-
grams and services that Mott
offers that are donation-based."
Prior to the show and during
intermission, children were invit-
him e-mail notifications when a
post has been made, he said by
the time he logs on, a student in
the class has often already pro-
vided the correct answer to the
problem.
Tarle added that he spends
significantly less time answer-
ing questions in office hours or
by e-mail because of the pro-
gram.
"It definitely has reduced the
amount of work I have to do
meeting with a lot of students
and individually taking them
through problems," Tarle stated.
Rackham student Holly
Tederington, electrical engi-
neering and computer science
instructor, agrees that Piazza
has been easier to use than the
CTools chat room - which has
caused problems for students
in the past because users could
not determine which responses
were posted by an instructor.
Tederington said another
helpful feature for students is
the option to post a private ques-
tion so only the instructors can
view the question and provide
responses.
"It's basically a way of shar-
ing their work with us without
exposing it to the rest of the
students and still being able to
ask office hour-style questions
without coming to office hours,"
Tederington stated.
Of the 402 students enrolled
ed to partake in an "instrument
petting zoo," where they could try
out different instruments with
the help of volunteer musicians.
Gavin said Urbach, who trav-
els to perform at concerts to raise
money for children, first contact-
ed LSO when he was only 13 years
old. Now 19, Urbach came to play
with LSO in honor of Mott, along-
side accompanist pianist Karen
Beluso.
The concert provided attend-
ees with a range of music, includ-
ing foxtrotand tangotunes. Gavin
in EECS 280, the course Teder-
ington teaches, she said 363
students use Piazza, and the
average response time for each
question is 15 minutes, as GSIs
and instructors check it often
during the day.
LSA junior Jacquelyn Cos-
grove uses Piazza in her Physics
235 class, and she said it provides
valuable interactions between
instructors and students so stu-
dents can see if they're "on the
right track or totally lost."
Cosgrove often goes on Piazza
to look at the discussions, and
said it's especially helpful for
students who don't want to ask
questions in person.
"I think it's a good thing,"
Cosgrove said. "That way, peo-
ple who don't feel comfortable
asking questions don't necessar-
ily have to do it in person, or they
can be anonymous."
LSA junior Logan Powell, also
a Physics 235 student, said the
iPhone application for Piazza
has been particularly helpful for
him. He has asked two questions
in the forum, and when some-
one posts a response, he receives
notifications similar to a text
message so he can view it imme-
diately.
"It's just nice to have a forum
to use," Powell stated. "It's bet-
ter than the chat room that
CTools has because you can put
in symbols."
said conductor Oriol Sans wanted
the concert to have elements of a
serious classical concert, while
still being family-friendly.
She added that at most tradi-
tional orchestral concerts, the
conductor does not address the
audience, but Sans interacted
with the audience to make it more
fun.
"Basically it's a really wide
range in the type of music but
it's all danceable," she said. "We
expect kids to be dancing in the
aisles."
FINANCIAL AID
From Page 1A
experiment's term expired this
year and the University must now
enforce the Title IV regulation,
which requires students to com-
plete their degrees more quickly,
according to Fowler.
The policies laid out in Title IV
say that students must continue
to earn their grants by remain-
ing enrolled and completing the
necessary amount of credit hours
each year. A student can either
be officially withdrawn from the
University through ceased enroll-
ment, or unofficially withdrawn
by failing a class, Fowler said.
While students who officially
withdraw must return their grant
money, students who withdraw
unofficially are only forced to
repay the grant in some cases.
Fowler said the process of reg-
ulating loan proration is challeng-
ing for students who graduate a
term early, since it prevents them
from receiving their full potential
grant or loan money.
"There comes a point in time,
especially when you're borrowing
money and taking the taxpayers'
money, that the goal here is to get
a degree, and you should get that
as quickly and efficiently as pos-
sible," Fowler said.
Fowler said the process of
determining the cause of an unof-
ficial withdrawal often results
in disputes over grant money,
particularly challenging when
dealing with the approximately
10,000 University students who
have federal loans or grants.
"I have to go through every
single term and get a list of all
the students that have an 'F,' and
determine if that student just
walked away from their classes or
if that student really earned the
'F,"' Fowler said.
She said one of the reasons
issues over dispersing grant
money arises is due to the univer-
sality of the regulations.
"(The loan and grant regula-
tions) don't always apply to every-
body, but everybody has to follow
the same rules and regulations,"
Fowler said.
Beyond resistance atthe univer-
sity level, the advisory committee
on Student Financial Assistance
- an independent organization
that provides information to Con-
gress on student aid related issues
- filed a report on Dec. 7 that
reviewed regulations for dispens-
ing federal loans and grants to
college students, giving particular
scrutiny to Title IV loans.
Rich Williams, higher educa-
Monday, January 23, 2012 - 5A
tion advocate for the U.S. Public
Interest Research Group, said the
regulations are in place to provide
security forthe federal moneythat
is allocated to higher education.
"(The regulations are) wide-
ranging and cover various issues
to prevent fraud and the integrity
of the financial aid program for
students," Williams said.
Williams said the advisory
committee on Student Financial
Assistance is currently reviewing
the regulations and recognizes
their ineffectiveness for certain
higher-education situations.
"Maybe some (regulations) are
needed less than others," Wil-
liams said. "The committee is
taking a look at what those could
be and finding a wayto streamline
them."
In addition to ensuring that
grant and loan money is being
used efficiently, Christine Lind-
strom, director of the Higher
Education Debt Project, said stu-
dent welfare is also a primary
concern in constructing federal
regulations.
"(We) view student loans and
regulation through the lens of
what's best for the student bor-
rower," Lindstrom said." ... Will
it protect the student loan bor-
rower? That's how we define our
advocacy."
SYRIA
From Page 1A
number of protestors killed to be
over 5,000 people.
There have also been attacks
on the medical personnel who
have attempted to treat pro-
testers, The Los Angeles Times
reported. Arabi said he hopes
protests like the one held yester-
day can help spur increased sup-
port to help doctors in Syria who
maybe in danger.
"We need to increase the
pressure on the international
community and the interna-
tional society to help the medical
community (do its) jobs in Syria
without fear of any repression,"
he said.
Arabi said the work provided
by Syrian medical personnel to
protesters is not only crucial, but
also a part of their duty as doc-
tors.
"We need to treat patients
regardless of their political back-
ground, regardless of their ethi-
cal background," he said. "(We
need to) do our duty (and) fulfill
our oath."
Nour Akhras, a pediatrician at
Children's Hospital of Michigan
in Detroit, said she participated
in the protest because of the dif-
ficult conditions faced by medi-
cal personnel in Syria.
"I think it is appalling that
physicians in Syria are being
attacked while they are trying to
attend to wounded protesters,"
she said.
Akhras said she went to Tur-
key to treat Syrian refugees in
the refugee camps there. The
United Nations estimated that
the government crackdown on
the protests resulted in more
than 12,400 Syrian refugees.
Like Arabi, Akhras said she
hopes the protest will raise
awareness about the violence in
Syria.
"I don't know if a lot of the
people know that the citizens
in Syria are being attacked and
tortured, imprisoned and threat-
ened," Akhras said.
Akhras, a native Syrian with
relatives in Homs, Syria - the
epicenter of the protests - said
a resolution to the violence in
Syria is important to her.
"I am in between night shifts
but I came today, although I am
super tired, because this is a
worthy cause," she said.
- Katie Szymanski
contributed to this report.
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