One of the great things that sets Packback apart from other online discussion platforms is our Curiosity Scoring System, which calculates a grade for you based on a set criteria. Some instructors also use a grade book to show your weekly earned points.
How is my Participation Report Calculated?
Your Packback Participation Report is calculated by two major components: your weekly deadline and your posting requirements. Both of these are set by your instructor but here's a great layout of what that means for you.
Weekly Deadline
Your Packback Participation Report is determined first by a set weekly deadline called Grading Periods! In order to earn points towards a specific Grading Period, you must post in your community before its deadline.
Posting Requirements and Curiosity Score Minimum
Your instructor will also set a posting requirement. This indicates the number of questions and the number of responses you should be posting within each grading period. Some instructors have even set a minimum Curiosity Score that your post must reach in order to earn points for the week.
Note: When a curiosity score minimum is set, Packback grades your best-performing posts. For instance, if a minimum score of 50 on one question is worth 5 points, submitting scores of 15 and 60 means only the 60 will be graded, earning you 5/5. Submitting extra questions won't increase your score, and low scores won't decrease it.
How do I find my professors posting requirements?
If your professor has chosen their own posting requirements for your community, you can locate those requirements in your "Participation Report".
How Are Curiosity Scores Calculated?
The Curiosity Score measures quality of your questions and answers on Packback. Every post earns a point score out of 100 based on its Depth (how thoughtful you were in forming your response), Credibility (citing high-quality sources), and Presentation (using our Text Editor to properly format, and inserting images/video).
You can earn higher scores by posting questions and responses that are more aligned with our guidelines. To view examples of posts that received higher curiosity scores, navigate to the "Featured" tab, which contains a collection of high-quality questions and responses.
Depth
A writer who demonstrates effort asks a question or responds to another classmate’s question in ways that are unique and engaging rather than simply straightforward! The more open-ended your question or the more in-depth and exploratory your response, the more effort is shown, and the more Curiosity Points you earn on the post.
Credibility
Does your post provide evidence that supports your ideas and arguments? Are the sources you’re using to provide support reliable and relevant? Including this kind of evidence provides a strong structure for you to build your post upon!
Presentation
This takes into consideration formatting, legibility, images, videos, and other supplemental resources that enhance the post to make it more interesting. The more of this a post has, the more opportunity there is for people in your community to explore their curiosity!
The accumulative curiosity points will be used to determine a student's ranking on the Learner Leaderboard!
Is Late Work Accepted?
You can post in your community at any time! Just keep in mind that your post will be counted towards the Grading Period it falls under. We are unable to change the timestamps on posts to match a desired Grading Period.
The more attention to these three criteria your post demonstrates, the more Curiosity Points your post will earn! Check out our Packback Blog post for more insight of our Curiosity Scoring System.
Can You Change the Timestamp on My Post?
Because we hold our platform and its users to high learning standards, we do not, under any circumstances, change the timestamps on posts. Doing so would compromise the integrity of our grading system and the platform itself. If you are trying to make up points for a missed Grading Period, we recommend you reach out to your instructor or TA to see if they'd be willing to work with you!