Dr. Monica Papes shares how she’s supplementing in-class discussions with Packback
Even though Packback is an online discussion board used outside of class time, Dr. Monica Papes feels it’s a valuable tool for improving in-class discussions. Before each class, Dr. Papes shares case studies and other materials on Packback for her students to read and discuss. This way, when students come to class, they’ve already started thinking about and forming opinions about the class topic.
INSTITUTION
University of Tennessee-Knoxville
DEPARTMENT
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
COURSE
Ecophysiology
SIZE
12 Students
“This semester I’m teaching a course called Ecophysiology. It’s a small course. It has about 14 students enrolled. It’s an upper level for seniors and graduate students, and we’ve been using Packback to supplement discussions that we have in class about various topics. So I’m using specifically Packback to prime the students about a paper we’re discussing in class or a case study. So I post materials, the case study materials before class, and then I give them time to comment, to ask a question and make two comments or post two comments on other students’ questions. [This helps me understand] what kinds of angles are interesting to the student, so then I can come to class and provide more information about those specific details that they were interested in.”
Community Stats
QUESTIONS
126
AVG CURIOSITY SCORE
60
RESPONSES
231
AVG WORDS PER POST
84
