Packback Reviews & Product Details

I appreciate the curiosity scores assigned to the discussion posts. They add an interesting dimension to the conversations and encourage more thoughtful participation. Customer support is a value, as they are traditionally quick to respond to me or my students and address their problems/concerns about the platform. Once the students are in the program, it is pretty easy for them to navigate it and know what needs to be done. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The limited formatting options in Deep Dives are frustrating, and the high cost is a significant concern for me. Additionally, the integration with Canvas is not as seamless as I would like, and it does not sync with the Canvas calendar to display student due dates. Implementing it is a challenge in my class because of the limited formatting and design features of the assignments I have students complete. This forces me to require students to submit part of the assignment in Packback and the other part, which requires more specific formatting that Packback doesn't allow, in Canvas. This is a considerable frustration for students semester after semester. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

My favorite feature about Packback is the AI-grading system or curiosity score. This feature allows me to focus more on the content of the students' posts and provide better feedback rather than having to determine where their grade falls on a particular scoring range. It also helps by identifying the minimum curiosity score that students have to achieve to receive full credit for their submission. When students are aware of the minimum curiosity score their post has to reach, they have a better understanding of what they have to achieve to master their discussion board assignments. Overall, quicker grading, more efficient and useful feedback for students, and a better understanding of the requirements for discussion board assignments is why I continue to use Packback in my courses. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I would appreciate being included in the message chain whenever students' posts are flagged for potential AI use or other concerns. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I use Packback as a remote professor. I work full-time as a remote worker consulting for Operations Management. Packback is a platform where I can simulate e-mail conversation among collaborative co-workers. The AI tutor provides simple and direct feedback to improve casual writing. The application also supports references and images. This provides a forum where students must proofread and take feedback in order to be confident (with an AI score of 75 out of 100) in sending their response.

I often challenge the system to meet the needs of my students, and the support team usually finds a way that we can make the application work for us.

Students admit that they find the tool very intutitive and easy to use, when they remember to submit their responses. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Packback is designed as a school tool instead of a proctored collaboration tool. I would like it to return to its organic roots where conversation and dialog was encouraged. I believe too much emphasis is placed on submitting a comment at the right time and in the right topic. Instead, I would like to see an approach that rewards "first to comment" and "high value" questions and responses. This type of scoring would better mimic the organic valuation of opinions in a remote collaboration environment.

I would also like to see a way to AI-generatively harvest some of the conversation. I believe that the AI could be doing so much more: summarizing conversations and creating a table of alternatives, creating conversational feedback for instructors to proof and send to students. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I was an early adopter of Packback at my institution, so I have been using it for many semesters now. I have used the Discussion Questions and I created a Topic of the Week that is related to something biology-related for my seniors to help keep them up to date. I have great participation and very good responses from students. I also love the Deep Dive Essays. Having the AI component helps me grade assignments and helps students learn to write better.

Overall, Packback gives me another dimension to my classes that I would not have. Discussion boards are boring and don't really help engage students in course content but Discussion Questions do.

The support I have received from John Kaczorowski has been phenomenal! Having him as a sounding board for things I want to do with my class and having him as a resource has been wonderful. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Nothing. I have enjoyed using all aspects of Packback. I am not even sure I use it to its true potential but what I do use is great. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

In my opinion, Packback has been useful in enhancing student engagement and promoting higher-order thinking in my Exercise Physiology course. I regularly use the question-driven discussion model because it encourages my students to move beyond rote memorization and actively apply course concepts. One of the most valuable features is the real-time, AI-powered feedback, which guides students toward improving the depth, clarity, and originality of their contributions. Additionally, the platform’s automatic grading system significantly reduces administrative workload, allowing me to focus more on teaching and providing personalized feedback rather than manual scoring. The emalied highlights are also really helpful. This combination of pedagogical rigor and time-saving functionality makes Packback an exceptional resource. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

There is a learning curve for both students and instructors. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Packback allows me to give meaningful assignments for students to apply concepts we have been learning in class in a real world setting. It allows for ease of scoring without need to manually grade each one. Feedback can be given to the class as a whole during discussion but each student has received a score.

The support from the experience managers has always been excellent. They have helped me in setting up the courses and were a great source of knowledge and support as i originally was determining how I could best set up assignments for particular courses. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I would use polling more often if the polling questions could be easily integrated. The ability to embed polling questions in my power point slides and not require jumping back and forth between applications in class would be a significant improvement.. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Adding Packback to my courses has lead to deeper student engagement, improved writing outcomes, and saves me time by allowing me to provide quicker feedback to students. The AI Writing Tutor in the Writing Assignments is very valuable to students, especially developmental-level students, as it provides prompting questions if they are experiencing writer's block (while not giving them the answers--a student told me, "It's asking me the same questions you would ask me in the tutoring lab!" The depth of student responses in the Discussion Assignments is much improved over discussion boards in our LMS, too. Overall, Packback is a way of "steering into the skid" of incorporating AI into the classroom. It is easy to get students set up in the platform, as the customer support from the Packback team is second to none: creating a 15 or 30 minute meeting with a Packback support representative can have you set up and ready to use your classes right away. It integrates very smoothly with our LMS, so students can access Packback assignments very easily. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

My only suggestion for improvement is on the Discussions--I wish that student replies to their classmates were indented in some way so that I could easily see which post they are responding to. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I cannot speak highly enough of their customer support. The curriculum consultants, in particular, are extremely helpful. They listen to your concerns, they express enthusiasm about new features, and they will be your biggest cheerleaders when you're mired down in the midst of a school year. I've never worked with an ed-tech company that almost exclusively staffs former educators. I have been working with Packback for about 4 years now, and one of the best things about their customer service is that they LISTEN TO FEEDBACK and implement changes that teachers need/want.

For the students, I love that Packback assists students in checking credibility of sources, in monitoring their grammar, and in strengthening their claims.

For me, I like how easy it is to use; I can connect Packback to Schoology, I can set how often I use it, I can change due dates as necessary. I find that it closely mimics college style discussion boards, so my students will feel comfortable when they make that transition. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

While the AI feedback is helpful, I've had to create new rules for my students to follow when generating Packback discussion questions or responses as they have found "loopholes" to increase their Creativity score (including a source without actually referencing it; using various text treatments like bold or underline when it doesn't make sense; needless photos). Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

As a professor, I use Packback in all my courses. It is especially helpful in my MBA Marketing Management class. Students engage more thoroughly with the course material. In Packback, student responses to one another's posts are much more thorough than in the LMS discussion boards.

Packback provides intelligent writing support, moderation, automated checking of specified rubric items, and an easily understood discussion scoring system. It speeds up grading, making it especially useful for large online classes.

It serves as a grammar checker and gives students feedback as they write. It has improved submissions in all of my classes. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The writing section allows students to submit late work. All have to do is push one button. The discussions require that I give students extensions to preset deadlines. With up to 120 students in a class, that can be annoying. Also, some students take longer to become accustomed to the platform. Most, however, adapt quickly. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Packback is great for several reasons. It harnesses AI resources to assist your students (not generative AI, mind you), with grammar suggestions and prompts. It has a generative AI check that at the very least requires students to pause and think about what they are submitting. It's easy to use for faculty and students--my grading with Packback is way easier and more convenient than with Canvas Speed Grader. It has a cost to the students, to be sure, but that is the world we live in with generative AI. Their staff are great and easy to work with. They are very available and responsive. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Do I still have some issues with students submitting generative AI work? Yes. There is no perfect system. Packback is still the best I've found, and for that reason I'll continue to use it religiously. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.