How is AI used in Flagging?

Packback employs a set of algorithms that reviews' the text of every post submitted by students to identify potential community guidelines violations or issues in a students’ post. Within moments of submitting, a student’s post is reviewed automatically and if a potential violation is detected, the Packback AI automatically “flags” the post. 

Every “flagged” post is then sent to a queue to be reviewed by a member of our Moderation team. While a post is “flagged”, it still earns full credit and is visible on the platform.  

A question/response can be flagged by anyone in the community for a number of reasons, including: 

• It was a closed-ended question: The answer to your question has a "correct" or straightforward answer and does not invite classmates to respond in new and unique ways. For more information check out our article on: Why was my post moderated for being Closed-Ended? – Packback

• It was plagiarized or consisted primarily of quoted material: Much of your post was quoted directly from an online source with little to no original thoughts or ideas interspersed. For more information check out our article on: Why was my post moderated for Plagiarism? – Packback

• It contained profanity or offensive language: Your post contained language that was inappropriate to the topic being discussed or generally conveyed a hostile tone. For more information check out our article on: Why was my post moderated for Profanity/Offensive language? – Packback

• It was too class-specific rather than concept focused: Questions about class-logistics like "When is the next test" or "Is class canceled?" will be flagged and removed, as Packback is a place for concept-focused open-ended discussion. For more information check out our article on: Why was my post moderated for being Class Specific, Rather Than Concept-Focused? – Packback

• It was off topic from the subject of the class: While we appreciate students posting about a variety of topics, we also want to make sure the Curiosity Feed is populated with ones that pertain to material learned in class. For more information check out our article on: Why was my post moderated for being off Topic From the Subject of the Class? – Packback

• It was a duplicate of another question posted earlier in the community: Oops! This question already exists somewhere in the community and may have a few responses already. For more information check out our article on: Why was my post moderated for Plagiarism? – Packback

• It was a statement, not a question: Whether it be from the language or the structure of it, your post does not currently pose a question to your classmates and you may need to reword it. 

Note: Once a post has been flagged for any of the above reasons, it will be brought to our moderation queue where it will be further investigated by a member of our Moderation team. Don't worry, just because a post is flagged does not necessarily mean it will be moderated! 

How is AI used in Moderation?

Once a member of Packback’s moderation team reviews the flagged post, they will either dismiss the flag or confirm the flag by “Moderating” the post. When a post is moderated, the student receives a notification in the app as well as by email with feedback on how to edit and republish their post. Until they edit and republish their post, the post will not count for credit and it will be hidden from the platform.

This process is considered AI-assisted, since a member of the Packback team still carefully reviews all flagged posts to ensure that no posts are mistakenly moderated. For more details on  the moderation process please check out or article on: The Flag-to-Moderation Process

Note: Instructor and TA posts are NOT auto-flagged, due their role in the classroom. Our AI always defers to the Instructor/TA of the community