Packback is an AI-supported online discussion platform that enables curiosity-based student discussion. Learn more about Packback on their overview webpage.
Features:
- Algorithmic Moderation
- Instant Quality Rating
- Real Time Coaching
- Post Recommendations
- Custom Feedback
Smart
Feed Sorting- Counter and Supporting Points
- Professor Tools
Pricing
- How pricing on Packback works: The Packback Questions discussion platform is priced on a per-community basis. Communities on Packback are created for each class that is using Packback Questions. This fee is often paid by the student when registering for their discussion community; however, departments and universities may choose to pre-pay for their students.
- The Curiosity Credits Program: Each time a student purchases a Packback community, they earn $3 of Curiosity Credits. The credits are applied toward future community purchases, up to a maximum of $15 off. The students’ Curiosity Credits do not get spent. They are an earned discount that applies at checkout on all of their future communities!
Learn more about Packback pricing.
How to Access Packback
Instructors
All instructors have access to use Packback inside of the Canvas Learning Management System (LMS). Instructors can add Packback Questions to their Canvas course navigation and access Packback from this link. See how to add items to Canvas course navigation here. If you have not used Packback before, please view the Instructor Training section below.
Students
Students have access to Packback when an instructors chooses to use it in their course. Access Packback by clicking Packback Questions in your Canvas course navigation.
Guides/Tutorials
FAQ
Instructor Training
Account Executive Julia Downs (julia.downs@packback.co) brings on new professors, helps them create their communities, develops a plan for Packback in their course (grade allocation, weekly expectations).
Experience Manager Bo Massoudi (bo.massoudi@packback.co) is UAB’s Packback point-person/online TA. Works with professors throughout the term, sets up check-in calls, helps with grading, logistics, professor questions.
Technical Support
Please follow the steps below if you need technical support after reviewing the information, guides, and FAQs above.
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Check Status Page
Status Page - Check to see if there any know issues before submitting a ticket.
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Contact Packback Support
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Ask Learning Technologies
If these support options do not give a satisfactory resolution, please submit a Learning Technologies Support request and include any ticket numbers provided by Packback.
Privacy & Accessibility
Learning Technologies are tools provided by third-party vendors that help enhance the digital experience of the academic classroom. Many of these tools integrate directly into Canvas and assist in creating assignments, videos, media storage, proctoring and portfolios.
Learning Technologies that are supported campus-wide are listed on the Learning Technologies webpage. Several of these tools are already integrated into UAB’s Canvas instance. Some are available automatically on the left side course navigation. If the tool is not visible on the left side navigation, you can enable the tool by customizing your navigation list. See How Do I Manage Course Navigation Links for more information. Other approved tools can be found in the Canvas App Center through the Apps tab in the course settings. If any of these approved tools require a key and secret for install, please contact Learning Technologies for assistance.
If you would like to use a technology not listed on our website or listed in the Canvas App Center, you can request it be installed by submitting a New Learning Technology Request. Details on this process are below.
What Should Be Considered before Requesting a New Learning Technology?
Before requesting a new technology, review the current list of tools approved university wide and see if a comparable tool already exists on campus. If you need help identifying these, please reach out to UAB eLearning.
When reviewing a possible new technology, ask yourself the following questions:
- What is the goal of the technology?
- How does this technology help both the students and the university?
- Does the new tool meet the UAB data policy requirements? (See the Data Protection and Security Policy for details on these requirements.)
- Does this tool collect personal identifiable information of your students? If so, is this data listed as public, sensitive, or restrictive? (See table below for examples). Data that is listed as sensitive must have permission from the data steward before the tool can use the data. This is in accordance to the UAB data protection rule.
Type of Data |
Description |
Examples |
|---|---|---|
|
Public Data |
Data that may be disclosed to the general public without harm. |
Public phone directory, course catalogs, public research findings, enrollment figures, public web sites, general benefits data, press releases, newsletters, etc. |
|
Sensitive Data |
Data that should be kept confidential. Access to these data shall require authorization and legitimate need-to-know. Privacy may be required by law or contract. |
FERPA, budgetary plans, proprietary business plans, patent pending information, and data protected by law. |
|
Restricted/PHI Data |
Sensitive data that is highly confidential in nature, carries significant risk from unauthorized access, or uninterrupted accessibility is critical to UAB operation. Privacy and security controls are typically required by law or contract. |
HIPAA PHI, Social Security numbers, credit card numbers (PCI DSS), GLBA data, Export Controlled data, FISMA regulated data, log-in credentials, and information protected by non-disclosure agreements. |
Additional details on data classification are available on the UAB IT webpage.
Any Learning Technology that requires Canvas application program interface (API) access must follow the developer key scoping feature outlined by Canvas. This feature limits the application’s access to only the data they need. When this feature is not enabled, the application has access to all of our Canvas data. This is required for any application that is requesting API access and/or Developer Keys.
New Learning Technologies cannot be installed during an active semester. If the tool is approved during an active semester, the tool will be installed during the break between the current semester and the following semester.
What is the Review Process?
After the Learning Technology is submitted for review, the following process will take place. This process can take up to three months to complete. It is suggested that the request form be completed the semester before you would like to use the technology in your course. The review process is as follows:
- Technology is vetted to determine cost, scope, and required data security documentation. Please note: Some technologies may not move past this stage due to lack of documentation or available resources to process at that time.
- A product demo is scheduled between the requested technology tool representatives and the Division of eLearning and Professional Studies.
- The Office of Learning Technology uses the UAB LTI Tools (External Apps) Rubric to evaluate the tool in the following criteria: security, privacy, legal, data sharing, economics, pedogogical impact, technical considerations, support and accessibility. See the rubric here.
- After the product demo, the technology tool will be required to submit a copy of their Higher Education Cloud Vendor Assessment Tool (HECVAT) and a list of any data they collect.
- Once submitted, the technology tool will be reviewed by the UAB IT Governance Committee.
- The results from the review will be sent to Learning Technologies for final review.
- If the final review is approved by Learning Technologies, the technology will be physically tested inside the UAB Canvas Test instance.
- After physical testing is complete, Learning Technologies will work with the requester to set up the application inside their course(s) in between active semesters.
If you would like to inquire about using a Learning Technology tool for your course, please fill out the form below. Once the request is submitted, the Office of Learning Technologies will reach out to you directly to further discuss the request.
Library Guides in Canvas
Canvas allows instructors to link to UAB Library resources such as their Library Guides. These guides can even be customized for your course.
How to Access UAB Library Guides in Canvas
Course Navigation
Canvas courses automatically have a course navigation link called “UAB Libraries” that allow instructors and students to access UAB Library Guides within Canvas. The content that is displayed is automatically curated based on your course name or will default to the home page of UAB libraries. If you would like to have UAB libraries curate where your UAB Libraries course navigation link goes to in your Canvas course, please contact Dana Hettich or Delores Carlito.
Embedded Specific UAB Library Content
Instructors can also embed specific guides or content into a module or page inside of Canvas. Options include embedding a full library guide, a single page from a guide, or a specific content box from a library guide.
Guides/Tutorials
Instructors
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Manually Embed Library Guides in Canvas
Instructors can manually add library content in a Canvas course by embedding it in a module or page. This allows the instructor to choose a content type, guide, and which page of that guide desired to embed. See the instructional video and instructions below.
Note for users of screen readers: letters in parentheses in the instructions below refer to corresponding areas on example images. If you have any questions about these instructions, contact eLearning for assistance.
Embedding in a Module
- Go to desired course and click Modules (A).
- Click the + (B) on the desired module.
- Click the drop-down box and select External Tool (C).
- Scroll down, click UAB Libraries Content (D).
- Click each dropdown box (E) and make the desired selections. For more information, hover the cursor over the i (F).
- Click Embed Content (G).
- Click Add Item (H).
- Publish when desired by clicking the No Circle (I).
- Click the Link (J).
- Click See Content (K) to see the content students will have access to.
- Click Edit Selection (L) to change what library content it links to.
Embedding in a Page
- Go to desired course and click Pages (A).
- Choose desired page (B) or click the + Page (C) button to add a new page.
- Move insertion point to desired location of embedded content.
- Click the More External Tools (D) button.
- Scroll down and click UAB Libraries Content (E).
- Click each dropdown box (F) and make the desired selections.
- For more information, hover the cursor over the i (G).
- Click Embed Content (H).
- The content will embed in the page where the insertion point was located.
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Automatic Library Guide for a Canvas Course
Instructors can enable the Library Guides navigation tab in their course and the library content displayed in that tab will automatically be curated.
If UAB libraries is not enabled in your course follow these directions:
- Navigate to the desired Course.
- Go to the course Settings.
- Click the Navigation tab at the top
- Locate and enable UAB libraries by dragging it to the list at the top or by clicking the three dots and choosing Enable.
- Finally, scroll down to the bottom and click Save.
By default, each guide will be directed to a default Library Guide. If the course has a specific curated guide it will be displayed in its place. If you would like a specific guide created to be linked to your course, please contact Dana Hettich or Delores Carlito.
Instructor Training
Schedule a consultation with a Librarian
More information about instruction and workshops can be found on the UAB Libraries Instructions & Workshops page.
Technical Support
Please follow the steps below if you need technical support after reviewing the information, guides, and FAQs above.
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Contact UAB Libraries Support
- Live Chat
- (205) 236-8303
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Ask Learning Technologies
If these support options do not give a satisfactory resolution, please submit a Learning Technologies Support request and include any ticket numbers provided by UAB Libraries.
Privacy & Accessibility
If Simple Syllabus is not visible in your left-hand course navigation, you will need to enable it via the course settings. Follow the instructions below to enable and make visible Simple Syllabus in your course.
- Select “Settings” from the left-hand course navigation.
- Select “Navigation” from the horizontal menu.
- Locate “Simple Syllabus” from the second column of items.
- Click the vertical, parallel sequence of dots next to “Simple Syllabus”, and drag the rectangle to the top column of items located under the text “Drag and drop items to reorder them in the course navigation” (A).
- If “Syllabus” is present in the top column (as depicted in the numeral 4 screenshot), click and drag the “Syllabus” rectangle to the bottom column of items located under the text “Drag items here to hide them from students".
- Select “Save” at the bottom of the page.
- Simple Syllabus will now be visible and enabled in your left-hand course navigation.
Poll Everywhere is a web-based audience response system that lets you embed interactive activities such as polls, questions, and competitions into presentations. On the surface, Poll Everywhere is a simple application that works well for live audiences using mobile devices like phones. People participate by visiting a fast mobile-friendly web page/app or sending text messages. Instructions are displayed on-screen. The poll that is embedded within the presentation or web page will update in real time.
See Poll Everywhere compared to iClicker and Zoom Polls here.
Features:
- Gather responses to gauge students’ comprehension before moving on
- Poll students and display class results instantly
- Increase and manage student participation and interaction
- Engage students with competitions (similar to Kahoot)
- Students can respond via computer, tablet, or phone
- Reduce time on administrative tasks such as grading and attendance
- Interactive Q&A feature
- Customize Poll results
How to Access Poll Everywhere
Instructors
UAB faculty have access to Poll Everywhere Pro accounts:
- No limit on the amount of responses per poll
- Access to the reporting feature
- Customize poll URL
- Response segmentation
- Moderation
- Automatic Censoring
- Access to PowerPoint plug-in
Staff/Students
UAB staff and students have access to Poll Everywhere Higher-Ed accounts:
- Limited to 40 responses per poll (polls can be reset for continued use)
- Can present all activity types
- Access to PowerPoint plug-in
Downloads
Presentation Apps
Poll Everywhere Mobile App
Guides/Tutorials
FAQ
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Does this cost the students money?
No, our license includes the cost of students signing up as a participant, and they do not have to pay anything. As far as text message responses, Poll Everywhere does not charge anything to participants. If they send a text response, it will be the same price as if they had texted a regular phone number.
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Why is my poll not displaying/updating?
Make sure your Poll has been activated. This can be done from your “My Polls” page or from the activity page. Click the activate icon shown below.
Within a Presentation
To present your activities from within a PowerPoint, Keynote, or Google Slides presentation you will need to have the Poll Everywhere Presentation app installed and be logged in to your account to ensure your questions activate.
Polls are automatically activated when you display a slide containing an embedded poll in presentation mode.
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What browsers are supported?
Poll Everywhere strongly recommends using the latest version of Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Internet Explorer, and/or Edge. Learn more about specific browser versions.
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Why isn’t my Activity accepting text message responses?
There may be a few reasons why an activity doesn’t accept text message responses. Firstly, it is important to remember that only Multiple Choice, Word Clouds, and Open Ended activities can accept text message responses. If you have any other activity type or a survey then text responses will not work.
Instructor Training
Archived Workshops
Request Training
Group, one-on-one, or virtual sessions are available to faculty.
Technical Support
Please follow the steps below if you need technical support after reviewing the information, guides, and FAQs above.
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Contact Poll Everywhere Support
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Ask Learning Technologies
If these support options do not give a satisfactory resolution, please submit a Learning Technologies Support request and include any ticket numbers provided by Poll Everywhere.
Privacy & Accessibility