Unlike other discussion boards, Packback Questions is equipped with an algorithm that measures the quality of posts on Packback. We call it the Curiosity Score, and we are very excited about the accuracy with which it can score the effort, presentation and credibility of every question and response on Packback!

What is a Packback Curiosity Score?

Every post on Packback earns a unique point score. Those post level points get totaled up in conjunction with points for specific behaviors that are correlated with highly active, highly curious, highly driven members of the community to calculate a per-community score for each Packback member. On a higher level, these points are summed across all of a user’s communities to calculate a user’s Curiosity Score and rank across all active users on Packback.

The algorithm used to calculate these scores was created with deep testing and refinement against the human grading that our research and design team members assigned to thousands of posts. From this data, we distilled the commonalities amongst high-quality posts and the behaviors of top users, we were able to develop a concise algorithm that grades every piece of content on the Packback platform within a tight degree of accuracy to how a human grader would score each post and rank each user.

How are Packback Curiosity Scores Calculated?

The Packback Curiosity Scoring Algorithm currently scores individual posts based on three main criteria: Curiosity, Communication, and Credibility. Packback also monitors a fourth criteria, Convention. However, Convention is not calculated into a user’s Curiosity Score to ensure English Language Learners (ELL) are not penalized.

Curiosity

The Curiosity category refers to the effort, interest, though process, and “discuss-ability” of a student’s post. This criteria specifically looks at the depth of thought put into a discussion post to make sure students are posting thought provoking and open-ended questions and responses.

Credibility

The Credibility category refers to the strength of the sources students cite in their discussion posts. Credibility helps encourage students to properly cite strong academic sources to support their claims.

Communication

The third criteria that the Packback Curiosity Score algorithm considers is a student’s communication. Communication refers to the use of appropriate spacing, paragraph breaks, formatting, and the use of media. This helps students ensure their discussion posts can be easily read and understood.

Convention

While Convention is not calculated in a student’s Curiosity Score, it is taken into consideration when the AI is providing feedback. Convention refers to traditional elements of grammar like spelling, sentence fluency, punctuation, and language.

About Packback Curiosity Scores

While the Packback Curiosity Scoring Algorithm is used primarily to measure the quality of posts within the Packback platform, the long-term goal of this algorithm is to continue to push the limits of what Packback members can do in their communities.

The Packback Curiosity Score drives friendly competition between members, helps to make professors’ lives a little easier when grading and gives students feedback about their curious questions and insightful responses. It is a living algorithm that will continue to be refined, researched and improved upon as our members continue to redefine what it means to be a curious mind and show the world what students can accomplish when they put their minds together.

Learn more about the Packback Curiosity Scoring System