Packback is a very Chicago company. They started out as a student-run startup operating out of college apartments (and later 1871), but quickly attracted interest with their e-texbook rental service. In 2014 they were featured on ABC’s “Shark Tank,” where Mark Cuban agreed to invest $250,000 in exchange for 20 percent equity in the company. Seed investors included The 20 Million Minds Foundation, Howard Tullman, Mark Achler, Mark Tebbe, and Rishi Shah.

Beyond their e-textbook rental service, Packback now offers Packback Questions - designed to increase students' intellectual confidence and curiosity, while alleviating administrative work for professors.

The Packback Platform has been used by over 10,000 students at 50 universities, with over 230,000 questions and answers posted to date.

"Packback has exceeded my expectations in every way. It’s intuitive for the students to use and it’s easy to peruse and participate in discussions…[and] hasn’t added to my workload, which I appreciate. What has surprised me the most are the quality of the questions the students are submitting. I’ve used LMS discussion boards but never with the level of success afforded by Packback."

- Jodi Hallsten-Lyzack, Communications Instructor at Illinois State University

At this special Tech Tuesday (Wednesday) session Packback will demonstrate their services, answer your questions, and show you how entrepreneurial students are attempting to improve learning and collaboration.

The session will take place in the new Coleman Entrepreneurship Center (DPC 7900).