Keeping Conversations Alive Outside of Class

February 10, 2020 Author: Read time: 2 min

Graphic of a spotlight on a red background shining onto the words "Faculty Spotlight"

Packback gives students in Melissa Mendelson’s class a place to write their ideas before sharing them in class

Melissa Mendelson found students reserved during in-class discussions. She wanted a way to get students thinking outside of the classroom so when they attend class, they would have thought through some ideas and be more comfortable sharing their opinions. Mendelson found Packback to be an efficient tool in keeping conversations alive both in and outside of the classroom.

INSTITUTION

University of Utah

DEPARTMENT

Linguistics

COURSE

Expository Writing for EAS

SIZE

19 Students

“I teach writing to international students at the University of Utah. I’ve been using Packback this semester to kind of liven up our discussions and bring those discussions that we have in class home, online so that students when they leave the classroom, they can think about what we talked about in class. [They can put their ideas] into writing and add a little more depth and nuance, and then respond to each other. They don’t always feel comfortable responding in class, and online they kind of have a little bit more anonymity to kind of write what they think. But they’re also asked to justify and offer rationale, so Packback has been working really great for me.”