Team Assignments are now available in Packback for Originality Review assignment types. In the future, Team Assignments will be available for Deep Dives as well. In order to facilitate Team Assignments, instructors must create a Team Set.

“Team” vs “Team Set”

A team is a collection of students who will collaborate on an assignment together. A team set is a collection of teams within your community.

Every Team Assignment requires a team set. A student can only belong to one team within a given team set, but you can create multiple team sets if you want different student groupings for different assignments.

Note: It is best to create team sets when your student roster is finalized. If students are added to Packback after a team set is created, they'll appear as Unassigned Students and you'll need to manually place them into a team. Packback will surface warnings throughout the platform to flag any unassigned students.

Creating a Team Set

1. In the left sidebar, click Teams

2. On the Manage Teams page, click Add Team Set.

3. Give your team set a name

4. Choose how you want to assign students to teams:

   - Random assignment — Packback distributes students automatically. You choose either the minimum number of students per team or the total number of teams. 

   - Manual assignment — You assign each student to a team individually by moving them one by one. You choose the number of teams you want and assign students in the next step.

5. Click Create Teams and go to the next page to view/manage them.

Managing a Team Set

On the Manage Team Set page, you can take the following actions:

• Click Add Team to create additional teams
• Use the Actions ⋮ menu next to any student to add, remove, or change their team
  • Note: some of these actions are prevented if student work is in progress
• Use the Actions ⋮ menu next to any Team Set or Team to delete it (if no work is in progress)
• Click View Students if a warning banner appears about unassigned students

Important Notes:

• If you need different teams for different assignments, create a separate team set for each. You can then assign the appropriate team set when creating each assignment.
• If you change a team set that's linked to multiple assignments, those changes will apply to all assignments using that team set. 
• If a student is added to your roster after a team set is created, they'll show with Unassigned Students. You'll see a warning banner on the Manage Team Set page. The student will also be notified that they haven't been assigned yet.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I create more than one team set in a community?

Yes. Create as many team sets as you need. You'll see them listed on the Teams page. Writing Assignments can be linked to different team sets.

Can I edit team membership after a team set is created?

Yes, but be mindful that changes to a team set affect all assignments it's linked to. If assignments are already in progress, some actions will be restricted.

What happens if a student leaves the community mid-assignment?

If the student already submitted work on behalf of their team, that work is preserved in the platform under a deactivated user state.