Courtesy of Packback Questions.
What is it about the classroom that encourages us to learn? Is it the environment created by our peers and professors? If so, then why do so many students feel as if they could be getting more out of their education? There is a large gap between the quality of education students expect to receive and the quality we end up with. The issue doesn't lie with the students for lack of effort, or even with the professor for lack of investment. Rather, it’s due to a societal shift concerning technology’s role in the classroom and slow adaptation of these advancements by educational institutions. This is where Packback has bridged the gap in my educational journey.
When my professor introduced Packback this semester, something about the platform instantly felt different than learning tools I’ve used in the past, and I knew exactly what that was: Packback’s mission was student-focused. We’re encouraged to be fearlessly, relentlessly curious and to broaden our horizons by asking deep, thought provoking questions and answering those questions in the same captivating way. Many classes focus students’ attention on memorizing information to recall for exams. As someone who has typed up 40-page outlines for a single exam before, that’s a lot of information to remember for any student, no matter how diligently you study. This is why learning should be about much more than memorization. It should be about innovation, creativity, and inspiring others to dream bigger. It should build solution-finders and future leaders, rather than teaching us to follow instructions well. Packback paves the way by motivating students to step outside the box and challenge both themselves and each other.
Take my class for example. In Lean Operations, we learn the most effective theories to organize business processes and projects while making sure every minute and every dollar adds value to the end-product. While this sounds very black-and-white, Packback helped my class see the implications of these decisions in a new light. As the semester progressed, every question we asked included a real-world application that reached beyond the classroom, like Karan’s question below:
So why am I so passionate about Packback? Because it gives me the chance to learn in a whole new way. By teaching my peers, I learn even better than simply asking my own questions and reading their responses. In fact, Packback gave me such great confidence that I challenged my curiosity in a new way: I began answering questions that I didn’t know the answer to yet. By breaking down the information to its basics and creating examples to help my classmates, I gave myself the “ah-ha” moment that I’d been searching for throughout my academic career. What other platform gives student real-time confidence boosters, like Packback’s automatic question and response feedback, the Curious Reader digest, and tips on how to write a great question?
I mentioned earlier that the gap in education is not because professors aren’t invested in their students. If they weren’t invested, they wouldn’t be teaching us each day. But for the professors like mine who implement platforms such as Packback, I’ve felt a whole new level of commitment to my quality of education from their end. Every professor at the beginning of the semester gives their version of the same speech, and it always begins with, “If you only take one thing away from this class, I want you to learn…” With Packback, whatever way a professor chooses to finish that sentence feels like the handshake at the end of a business deal. Packback is like a guarantee from professor to student that we will truly learn something in their course, and that they will see that mission through. Education is more than testing and reading and turning assignments in on time. While all of those teach us important lessons like discipline, punctuality, and organization, Packback is the deciding factor in whether our educational journey fulfills the promise that professors make to us each semester.
If every professor on every college campus utilized Packback in their course, they would see how much students care about being active learners. Packback is the light at the end of the tunnel for awkward silences after a professor asks a question. It’s a catalyst for students to feel comfortable in the class right from the start of the school year, and it’s the driving force behind increasing participation all year. Student engagement is infectious—once the discussion gets rolling, it can be hard to stop, and who wants to cut a great conversation short?
“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.”—Benjamin Franklin
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