“We are reversing education’s fast-answer epidemic, reviving the life skill of asking great questions by awakening and fueling lifelong curiosity, no matter the scale.”
Listen to our co-founder and CEO Mike Shannon discuss the mission of Packback at the ASU/GSV conference.
At Packback, we believe that when students are given an opportunity to be curious and ask the big questions, they’ll be equipped with skills to become future innovators. Packback encourages students to explore classroom materials in a new and interesting way, which makes students more willing to engage and apply their learnings.
Our cofounder, Jessica Tenuta spoke at TEDxNormal 2015 about the critical importance of cultivating curiosity in education. We believe that every great innovation is born out of a great question…but students are being taught to answer questions in school, not ask them.
Dr. Carol Higham has been using Packback for a few semesters and created a unique way to grade her discussions. Since the Curiosity Score on Packback doesn’t correlate to a standard grading scale, Dr. Higham takes the mean Curiosity Score in her class and establishes that as the “C” for the course. At the beginning of the term, she establishes the “C” by taking the mean Curiosity Score from the previous semester.
Dr. Higham awards As and Bs based on deviation from the average curiosity score. As the semester progresses, she updates the grading scale to better reflect the level of her current course. In the video, Dr. Higham shares that the mean curiosity score on Packback increases throughout the term!
Dr. Carol Higham shares how Packback helped her get to know everyone in her 40-student class a lot faster than she would have without Packback.
Read more “Video: Getting To Know Students with Packback”Dr. Carol Higham from UNC Charlotte shares why she doesn’t worry about students spreading misinformation on Packback. In fact, because of Packback, Dr. Higham says she has more visibility into what concepts her students may not fully understand.
Read more “Video: Encountering Misinformation on Packback”Thanks to Packback’s artificial intelligence and moderation, Dr. Carol Higham says student questions and responses on Packback are much more engaging and thought-provoking than the discussions she was seeing on Canvas Discussion Forums.
Read more “Video: Packback Discussions Compared to Canvas Discussion Forums”
