Packback Discussions
Introduction
Whether a professor performs in-person lectures or assigns video lectures, the fact is that there is usually little engagement during lecture. In frequently a student may ask a question and get a response. One smaller reason for lack of engagement is student anxiety and personality - people often do not want to speak up in class. That said, the main reason for a lack of engagement is that students are hearing the material for the first time in lecture and so they are just trying to take it in. It usually takes follow-up activities to mentally process the information.
One of those activiites in this class is the video response participation "quiz", but that is an individual activity.
The other activity is to engage with your peers, but we need a way to do that.
Packback is an AI-powered platform available through the UC Davis Equitable Access program.
We will be using Packback Discussions, which is a student-led, inquiry-driven forum to build confidence in understand course content, while also helping students learn how to ask stronger questions and building community among peers.
Packback Discussion will help you digest course content to help you learn the material and prepare for exams... but also a lot more...
In your career, you will likely work regularly with coworkers, bosses, and subordinates you do not choose. You will also interact with clients, sponsors, professional competitors, government staffers, and/or community members, so you need to learn how to communicate effectively with people in a professional context. This takes practice.
Packback Discussions is an online community where you can be curious and ask open-ended questions to build on top of what we are covering in class and relate topics to real-world applications. For a brief introduction to Packback Questions and why we are using it in class, watch this video (at this link or in the video below):
Discussion Assignments
Packback's Discussion platform will be used for online discussion about class topics. Participation is a requirement for this course. Your participation will count toward 10% of your overall course grade.
There will be one packback discussion each week. For several weeks the deadline for participation is 11:59 pm on Sunday evening, but that is not true every week - check Canvas for the deadline each week
To receive full credit, you should submit the following:
- 1 question to your peers to stimulate their responses (worth 3 points)
- 2 respectful responses to questions posed by your peers (worth 6 points total, 3 per response)
When writing your question and responses, avoid creating trivial content or repeating content produced by other students. It's ok to say that you have the same question but then try to go beyond what someone else already wrote by adding your ideas.
To help you assess the quality of what you are contributing, Packback Discussions features AI Instant Feedback and Moderation to ensure that the discussion stays on track. Students using Packback Discussions can reply to peers’ responses with “Counterpoints” or “Supporting Points” to constructively debate their peers. The platform guides students with prompts to help them engage in effective and constructive debates.
With Packback’s accessible mobile-friendly editor platform, students can upload images and GIFs, as well as embed videos and images, all with prompts to add Alt text. They can even insert code blocks, as well as specific formulae using LaTeX.
PackBack Discussions Grading
While I will be keeping an eye on the discussions in Packback, grading wil be handled by Packback using its Curiosity Scoring system. Posting a good question is worth 3 points. Posting a good response is worth 3 points, and you need to post 2 each week, so that's 6 points total. That means you can earn 9 points total each week. For each item that is graded (i.e. a question or a response), you either get all 3 points or you get 0 points. To earn 3 points, you have to achieve a minimum score of 55 according to the Packback Curiosity Scoring system. There is no mysetery in what you are going to get; you can use the AI feedback tool to see what your Curiosity score is and then you can use the feedback to improve your item until it is above the minimum, as needed.
The Curiosity Scoring system scores individual posts based on three main criteria: Curiosity, Communication, and Credibility, per the guidance below:
Curiosity
The Curiosity category refers to the effort, interest, thought process, and “discuss-ability” of a student’s post. This criteria specifically looks at the depth of thought put into a discussion post to make sure students are posting thought provoking and open-ended questions and responses.
Credibility
The Credibility category refers to the strength of the sources students cite in their discussion posts. Credibility helps encourage students to properly cite strong academic sources to support their claims.
Communication
The third criteria that the Packback Curiosity Score algorithm considers is a student’s communication. Communication refers to the use of appropriate spacing, paragraph breaks, formatting, and the use of media. This helps students ensure their discussion posts can be easily read and understood.
Convention
Convention is another factor that the system tracks, but it is not calculated in a student’s Curiosity Score; it is only taken into consideration when the AI is providing feedback. Convention refers to traditional elements of grammar like spelling, sentence fluency, punctuation, and language.
How to Register on Packback
Note: Only access Packback through Canvas in order to ensure your grades sync properly
1. Click “Packback” within Canvas to access the community.
2. Follow the instructions on your screen to finish your registration.
3. For your grade to be visible in Canvas, make sure to only access Packback via Canvas.
How to Get Help from the Packback Team:
If you have any questions or concerns about Packback, please read their Help articles at help.packback.co. If you need more help, contact their customer support team directly at help@packback.co.
Here are more student resources you can check out:
