Both Pinning and Featuring are tools for professors and TAs to call attention to posts on Packback. They are usually thought-provoking questions or insightful responses that you feel set a good example for the quality of discussion you'd like to see in your community.
How Are They Different?
| Pinning | Featuring |
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- Pinning is for professors to call attention to a question, usually the weekly topic or the professor's message. - When a question is pinned, it will jump to the top of your community feed. - Only 1 question can be pinned at a time. |
- Featuring is a way to call out good examples in a community and encourage the students. - When you feature a post, it stays where it is but it also shows up in the "Featured Posts" tab. - Multiple posts can be featured at once. |
Which Posts Should I Pin and Which Should I Feature?
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What posts should I Pin? |
What posts should I Feature? |
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Look at your syllabus! Is there a question posted that hit on a specific objective that was taught that week? |
High Effort: Look for the questions that provided a lot of context (detailed description) and has a strong source |
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Gaps in Learning: If there is a topic that created a lot of confusion for students, pin a question that relates to that topic to draw more students attention to it! Answering the question will require your students to dig into content a little deeper and push them to look to external sources for evidence |
Spot On: Did this question or answer hit your objective/lesson spot on? Was this the ideal response you were looking for? Did this student answer a peer's question in a way that made it easy for them to understand and get clarity? Feature it! |
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Number of responses: Did that question receive a ton of action? Pin it! |
Number of responses: Did that question receive a ton of action? Feature i! |
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Current event: Did something just happen in the world that relates to the content being taught in class? Post a question yourself, link the current event source, and then Pin it! |
Peak Interest: Did the question challenge an idea? Did the response change your perspective on a topic? Had you ever thought about this question before? Feature it! |