FAQ_SP.md

Spurti Points (SP) FAQ

Section 1: Overview And Purpose

1. What Is Spurti?

Spurti is the student engagement and motivation system used for the VLED Summership/Internship programme. It tracks learning participation through Spurti Points, also called SP.

Spurti is designed to help students see their learning energy, consistency, attendance, participation, and recovery over time. It is not a marks system. It is a motivation and engagement system.

In simple words:

• Marks show academic performance.
• Attendance shows presence.
• Spurti Points show learning engagement and consistency.

Spurti helps students understand whether they are actively participating in the programme or slowly disconnecting from it.

2. What Does The Word "Spurti" Mean?

Spurti means energy, inspiration, inner motivation, and forward movement.

The name was chosen because the system is meant to help students maintain learning energy throughout the programme. Many students begin a course or internship with enthusiasm, but over time they may lose consistency. Spurti makes that process visible early so students and mentors can respond before it becomes a serious problem.

3. Which Programme Is Spurti Used For?

Spurti is currently used for the VLED Summership/Internship programme at IIT Ropar.

It tracks engagement in live sessions and programme activities using:

• Attendance records
• Poll participation
• Chat participation
• Manual SP awards or deductions when applicable
• Student onboarding status
• Student SP balance and leaderboard position

4. Why Do We Need Spurti?

In most learning systems, students only see marks at the end of an exam, assignment, or course. By that time, it may already be too late to correct habits.

Spurti gives a live signal of student engagement. It helps answer questions like:

• Am I attending sessions regularly?
• Am I participating in polls?
• Am I interacting during sessions?
• Am I improving or falling behind?
• Am I maintaining consistency?
• Do I need to recover my learning momentum?

Spurti is not meant to punish students. It is meant to make learning behavior visible.

5. What Are Spurti Points?

Spurti Points, or SP, are the learning engagement points assigned to each student.

Students earn SP for positive learning behaviors such as:

• Joining and staying in live sessions
• Attempting polls
• Participating meaningfully
• Responding to activities
• Receiving manual appreciation or awards from instructors

Students may lose SP for:

• Low attendance
• Missing polls
• Not participating in required activities
• Negative or problematic participation when reviewed

SP is like a learning energy bank. Every student starts with an initial balance and then gains or loses SP based on participation.

6. Is SP The Same As Marks?

No. SP is not the same as marks.

Marks measure academic performance. They usually answer: "How well did the student perform in an assessed task?"

SP measures engagement behavior. It answers: "How consistently is the student participating in the learning process?"

A student can have:

• High marks but low SP if they perform well but do not participate consistently.
• Lower marks but high SP if they are sincerely attending, attempting, participating, and improving.

Both performance and engagement matter, but Spurti focuses on engagement.

7. Is SP A Punishment System?

No. Spurti should not be understood as a punishment system.

SP deductions are signals. They show where participation was missing or incomplete. The purpose is to help students notice the issue early and recover.

For example:

• If attendance is low, SP decreases.
• If polls are missed, SP decreases.
• If participation improves, SP increases again.

The system is meant to support recovery, not label students as failures.

7A. Are The SP Rules Final?

The SP rules described in this FAQ are the current working rules being used or planned for the programme. They are not necessarily final forever.

For the time being, SP is awarded using the rules documented here. For example, poll SP currently uses:

+1 SP for each attempted poll question
-1 SP for each missed poll question

However, the programme team may revise SP rules if required. If a new rule is approved, this FAQ should be updated so that students and the AI bot both answer from the latest documented rule.

Students should treat this FAQ as the current source of explanation, but they should also understand that SP rules may be improved as the programme evolves.

Section 2: Onboarding, Status, And Start Date

8. How Much SP Does A Student Get Initially?

Every active student receives an initial credit of:

+100 SP

This is given on the student's official internship start date.

This initial SP is like a starting learning energy balance. It represents the trust and opportunity given to every student at the beginning of the programme.

9. Do All Students Get 100 SP Immediately?

Only active students receive the initial 100 SP.

Students who are not yet onboarded do not receive SP until they become active.

The student lifecycle is:

yet to onboard -> active -> excused

Meaning:

• yet to onboard: Student exists in the system but has not started earning SP.
• active: Student can earn and lose SP.
• excused: Student is no longer part of current active calculations and does not receive new SP changes.

10. From Which Date Does My SP Start Counting?

Your SP starts counting from your official internship start date.

Sessions before your internship start date should not affect your SP.

Example:

If your internship start date is 17 May 2026, then sessions on 15 May and 16 May should not create SP transactions for you.

11. What Happens If I Join The Programme Late?

If you officially join late, your SP should start from your actual onboarding or internship start date.

You should not be penalized for sessions that happened before your official start date.

However, after you become active, future sessions will count normally.

12. What Happens If A Student Is Excused?

If a student is marked as excused:

• They stop receiving new SP changes.
• They are excluded from active cohort calculations.
• Their previous SP history is preserved.
• They are not treated as active for future attendance, poll, or chat calculations.

This is useful when a student leaves, pauses, or is officially removed from the active cohort.

Section 3: Attendance SP Rules

13. How Are SP Awarded For Attendance?

Attendance is evaluated for each session.

The general rule is:

If attendance is 75% or more: +5 SP
If attendance is less than 75%: -5 SP

Example:

If a session is 120 minutes long:

• 75% of 120 minutes = 90 minutes
• If you attend 90 minutes or more, you get +5 SP.
• If you attend less than 90 minutes, you get -5 SP.

14. Is The Attendance Rule Always 75%?

The general rule is 75%.

However, a special session may have a different rule if the programme team defines it.

For example, the 17 May Evening session had a fixed threshold of 50 minutes instead of the regular 75% calculation.

Unless specifically announced or configured otherwise, assume that the threshold is 75%.

15. What If I Join Late Or Leave Early?

Your attendance is calculated using the actual minutes recorded in the session.

If you join late or leave early, only your attended minutes are counted.

Example:

Session duration: 100 minutes
Required attendance at 75%: 75 minutes

• Attended 90 minutes: +5 SP
• Attended 75 minutes: +5 SP
• Attended 60 minutes: -5 SP
• Attended 0 minutes: -5 SP

16. What If My Internet Disconnects?

Spurti depends on the attendance data available from the session platform.

If your internet disconnects and your attendance minutes become low, the system may mark you below the threshold.

If you believe your attendance is incorrect, you should raise a request with evidence such as:

• Session date
• Session name
• Email used to join
• Approximate joining and leaving time
• Screenshot or other proof, if available

17. Which Email Is Used For Attendance?

Attendance is usually matched using the email recorded in the session attendance file.

You should join sessions using the same email that is registered in the programme system.

If you join using a different email, your attendance may not match correctly.

If you use an alternate email, you should inform the team early and ensure it is added to your record.

18. What If I Joined With A Different Email?

If you joined with a different email, your attendance may not automatically connect to your Spurti account.

To request correction, provide:

• Your registered email
• The alternate email used
• Session date and label
• Approximate time attended
• Any proof that the alternate email belongs to you

The team can then check whether the alternate email appears in the attendance records.

Section 4: Poll SP Rules

19. How Are SP Awarded For Polls?

Poll SP is calculated question by question.

The rule is:

+1 SP for each poll question attempted
-1 SP for each poll question missed

The final poll SP is:

attempted questions - missed questions

Example:

If a poll has 10 questions:

• Attempted 10, missed 0: +10 SP
• Attempted 8, missed 2: +6 SP
• Attempted 5, missed 5: 0 SP
• Attempted 3, missed 7: -4 SP
• Attempted 0, missed 10: -10 SP

20. Why Can Poll SP Be Negative?

Poll SP can be negative because missed questions also count.

The idea is to encourage active participation during live sessions. If a student is present but does not attempt polls, the system treats that as incomplete participation.

21. What If I Was Present But Did Not See The Poll?

If you were present but missed the poll because of a technical issue, raise a request with details:

• Session name
• Time of issue
• What happened
• Whether others had the same problem
• Screenshot, if available

The team can review the case, but automatic SP is based on the poll records available.

22. What If A Poll Was Not Conducted?

If a session does not have a poll file or poll activity, poll SP may not be applied for that session.

Only sessions with poll data generate poll-based SP.

Section 5: Chat SP Rules

23. How Are SP Awarded For Chat Participation?

Chat participation may be evaluated when a session has chat data.

The current automated chat rule uses a simple sentiment method:

• Positive or meaningful chat participation can receive +5 SP.
• Negative chat sentiment can receive -5 SP.

This is calculated per student per session when the student has sent chat messages.

24. How Does Chat Sentiment Work?

The current system uses a rule-based word list.

Some positive words increase the chat score, such as:

good, great, excellent, helpful, learned, interesting, clear,
understood, thanks, motivated, useful, curious, practical

Some negative words reduce the chat score, such as:

bad, poor, confused, issue, problem, not, failed, unable,
difficult, boring, missed, wrong, error, stuck

The system then counts positive and negative messages.

General decision:

If positive messages are greater than or equal to negative messages: +5 SP
If negative messages are greater than positive messages: -5 SP

25. Is Chat Sentiment Always Perfect?

No. Chat sentiment is not perfect.

It is currently rule-based and can misunderstand context.

Example:

"I was not confused after the explanation."

This is actually positive, but the words "not" and "confused" may be interpreted negatively by a simple word-based system.

For this reason, some chat-related SP may require admin review or correction.

26. Do Simple Messages Like "Hi" Or "Good Morning" Count?

Simple greeting or filler messages may be treated as neutral.

Examples:

hi
hello
ok
done
good morning
thank you

These may not always represent meaningful academic participation.

Students should try to use chat for useful participation, questions, answers, reflections, and activity responses.

27. Can Chat Give Extra SP Apart From Automatic Sentiment?

Yes. Instructors may manually award SP based on chat responses or participation.

For example, if a teacher appreciates a student's answer or activity response, they may award:

+3 SP
+5 SP
+10 SP

Manual awards may go through a review process before being added to the SP ledger.

28. Can Instructors Deduct SP Manually?

Yes, manual deduction may also happen if required.

Examples:

• Incorrect conduct
• Repeated disregard of instructions
• Camera or participation-related penalties if announced
• Specific instructor-reviewed cases

Manual deductions should have a reason attached so that the student can understand why the SP changed.

29. What Is A Manual SP Review?

A manual SP review is an item that is detected or created for admin approval.

For example, if a chat message says:

Award +5 SP to Rahul

The system may create a review item. The admin then checks it and either:

• Accepts it, which creates the SP transaction.
• Rejects it, which means no SP change is applied.

This prevents accidental or incorrect SP changes.

Section 6: ViBe Course SP Rules

30. What Are The Main SP Categories?

The main SP categories are:

initial
attendance
poll
chat
ViBe course milestone
manual award or manual deduction

Each SP change is recorded as a transaction.

31. How Will ViBe Course Completion Affect SP?

ViBe course completion may also generate SP based on milestone completion.

Unlike attendance and polls, ViBe course SP is percentage-based. This means the SP change is calculated as a percentage of your current SP balance at the time the milestone is processed.

The planned milestone rule is:

25% course completion by deadline: +2.5% of current SP
50% course completion by deadline: +5% of current SP
75% course completion by deadline: +7.5% of current SP
100% course completion by deadline: +10% of current SP

Example:

If your current SP is 200 and you complete the 25% ViBe milestone before the deadline:

2.5% of 200 = 5 SP
New balance = 205 SP

32. What Happens If I Miss A ViBe Course Deadline?

If a ViBe course milestone deadline is missed, a percentage deduction may be applied to your current SP.

For example:

Missed 50% course completion deadline: -5% of current SP

Example:

If your current SP is 200 and you miss the 50% ViBe deadline:

5% of 200 = 10 SP
New balance = 190 SP

This deduction is applied because the required milestone was not completed within the given timeline.

33. Can I Recover Missed ViBe Milestone SP Later?

You can continue the course and earn future milestone SP, but the SP missed or deducted for an earlier deadline is not automatically restored.

Example:

Week 1: You complete 25% before the deadline.
Result: +2.5% of current SP

Week 2: You miss the 50% deadline.
Result: -5% of current SP

Week 3: You complete 75% before the deadline.
Result: +7.5% of current SP

In this case, when you complete 75%, you receive the 75% milestone reward only. You do not also receive the 50% reward that was missed, and the earlier -5% deduction is not automatically reversed.

The idea is that each ViBe milestone has its own timeline. Completing a later milestone helps you move forward, but it does not erase a missed earlier deadline unless the programme team explicitly announces a correction or recovery rule.

34. Why Is ViBe SP Percentage-Based?

ViBe SP is percentage-based because it rewards learning momentum relative to your current engagement level.

If you have maintained a strong SP balance, your milestone reward becomes larger. If your balance is lower, the reward is smaller, but recovery is still possible through future milestones and participation.

This makes consistency valuable over time.

Section 7: SP Bank, Transactions, And Ledger

35. What Is An SP Transaction?

An SP transaction is a record of one SP change.

It usually contains:

• Student email
• Student ID
• Category
• Session label
• SP change
• Balance after the change
• Reason
• Date and time

This creates a transparent SP Bank ledger.

36. What Is The SP Bank?

The SP Bank is your personal SP ledger.

It shows:

• Current SP balance
• SP earned
• SP deducted
• Session-wise transactions
• Reasons for each change
• Attendance, poll, and participation records where available

It helps you understand how your SP changed over time.

37. Why Did My SP Decrease Even Though I Attended?

Possible reasons:

• You attended less than the required threshold.
• You missed some or all poll questions.
• Your chat participation was scored negatively.
• You missed a ViBe course milestone deadline.
• A manual deduction was applied.
• You joined using an email that did not match your registered account.

Attendance alone is not the only source of SP. Polls and chat can also affect your balance.

38. Why Did My SP Increase Even Though I Missed Some Attendance?

This can happen because SP is calculated category-wise.

Example:

• Attendance: -5 SP
• Poll: +10 SP
• Chat/manual award: +5 SP

Net effect:

-5 + 10 + 5 = +10 SP

So your total SP may increase even if one category was negative.

39. Why Did I Get Negative SP For A Session?

You may get negative SP if:

• Attendance was below threshold.
• Polls were missed.
• Chat sentiment was negative.
• A ViBe course milestone deadline was missed.
• A manual penalty was approved.

Check the transaction reason in your SP Bank to know the exact cause.

Section 8: Leaderboard, Red Zone, And Recovery

40. What Is The Leaderboard?

The leaderboard ranks active students based on SP.

It reflects engagement and consistency, not marks.

A higher SP balance usually means the student has been more consistent in attendance, polls, and participation.

41. Does A Higher SP Mean I Am Academically Better?

Not necessarily.

High SP means strong engagement and participation. It does not automatically mean higher academic mastery.

Similarly, low SP does not mean a student is incapable. It may mean the student missed sessions, polls, or participation opportunities.

42. What Is The Red Zone?

The Red Zone is a warning concept used in the broader Spurti design.

It means a student's SP has dropped below a safe level or expected engagement level for a period of time.

The purpose is not punishment. The purpose is early intervention.

If a student enters the Red Zone, mentors or teachers may reach out to understand the issue and help the student recover.

43. Can I Recover Lost SP?

Yes. Spurti is designed so that recovery is possible.

You can recover by:

• Attending future sessions properly
• Attempting polls
• Participating meaningfully
• Completing future ViBe milestones within the given timeline
• Completing required activities
• Responding to mentor guidance
• Taking part in announced SP opportunities

One bad session should not define your entire journey.

44. Can My SP Go Below Zero?

The current active Summership system tracks total SP as transactions are added.

The broader Spurti design includes ideas such as minimum SP limits and recovery mechanisms. For the active programme, students should focus on maintaining and improving their SP through participation.

If a balance appears incorrect or unusually low, students should request a review.

Section 9: Corrections, Evidence, And Missing Records

45. What If My SP Balance Looks Wrong?

If your SP balance looks wrong, first check your SP Bank transaction history.

Look for:

• Attendance transaction
• Poll transaction
• Chat transaction
• ViBe course milestone transaction
• Manual award or deduction
• Session label
• Reason text
• Balance after transaction

If you still think there is an error, raise a correction request.

46. How Do I Request An SP Correction?

When requesting a correction, provide complete details.

Use this format:

Name:
Registered email:
Alternate email, if any:
Session date:
Session label:
Issue category: Attendance / Poll / Chat / ViBe / Manual SP / Other
What is wrong:
What you expected:
Evidence, if any:

Incomplete requests are harder to verify.

47. What Evidence Helps In SP Correction?

Useful evidence includes:

• Screenshot of Zoom attendance or session presence
• Screenshot of poll participation
• Screenshot or proof of ViBe course progress
• Chat screenshot
• Email used to join the session
• Approximate join and leave time
• Any message from instructor or mentor
• Clear explanation of the issue

The team checks system records first, so specific dates and session labels are very important.

48. Why Is My Alternate Email Important?

If you joined sessions with another email, the attendance file may record that alternate email instead of your registered email.

If the alternate email is not linked to your account, Spurti may not know that both emails belong to the same student.

Always use the registered email whenever possible.

49. Can I Use Multiple Emails?

Avoid using multiple emails.

Use the same registered email for:

• Joining sessions
• Poll participation
• Programme communication
• Spurti access

If you must use another email, inform the team and get it added as an alternate email.

50. Why Am I Not Able To Search My SP Directly?

In production, direct student search may be disabled for privacy and security.

Students should normally open Spurti from the Samagama dashboard or official programme link.

This ensures that students see only their own SP details.

51. How Should I Read My SP Ledger?

Read your ledger session by session.

For each session, check:

• Did I get attendance SP?
• Did I get poll SP?
• Did I get chat SP?
• Did I get ViBe course milestone SP?
• Was there a manual award or deduction?
• What was my balance after that transaction?

Do not look only at the final number. The ledger tells the story of how your SP changed.

52. Why Are Some Sessions Missing From My SP?

Possible reasons:

• The session happened before your internship start date.
• You were not active at that time.
• You were marked excused.
• That session did not have a particular data source, such as poll or chat.
• The session has not yet been ingested into the system.
• Your email did not match the attendance or poll records.

53. Why Is My ViBe Course Milestone Missing From My SP?

Possible reasons:

• The milestone deadline has not yet arrived.
• Your course progress was not recorded before the deadline.
• The ViBe progress data has not yet been processed.
• You completed the milestone after the deadline.
• Your ViBe account/email does not match your registered programme email.
• The milestone is still under review.

If you believe your ViBe progress is missing, raise a correction request with your course progress proof and the email used on ViBe.

54. What If A Session Happened Before My Onboarding?

Sessions before your official internship start date should not count for SP.

You should not receive rewards or penalties for those sessions.

55. Are SP Updates Immediate?

Not always.

Some SP updates depend on data processing after the session:

• Attendance files need to be uploaded and processed.
• Poll files need to be uploaded and processed.
• Chat files may need review.
• ViBe course progress may need to be checked against milestone deadlines.
• Manual awards or deductions may need admin approval.

So your SP may update after some delay.

56. Can SP Be Changed Later?

Yes. SP may be corrected later if:

• Attendance data was mismatched.
• Wrong email was used.
• A poll record was missing.
• ViBe course progress was not matched correctly.
• A manual review was accepted or rejected.
• A transaction was found to be incorrect.

Corrections should be based on evidence and system records.

Section 10: Automatic And Manual SP

57. What Is The Difference Between Automatic And Manual SP?

Automatic SP is calculated from available data:

• Attendance minutes
• Poll attempts
• Chat sentiment
• ViBe course milestone progress, when configured

Manual SP is given or deducted by an instructor/admin after review.

Examples of manual SP:

• Bonus for a very good answer
• Bonus for helping others
• Deduction for specific rule violation
• Correction after verifying an issue

Section 11: Good Practices For Students

58. What Are Good Practices To Maintain SP?

Good practices:

• Join sessions with your registered email.
• Join on time.
• Stay until the end.
• Attempt all polls.
• Use chat meaningfully.
• Complete ViBe course milestones before their deadlines.
• Ask questions when confused.
• Respond to activities.
• Avoid spam or irrelevant messages.
• Check your SP ledger regularly.
• Raise issues quickly with full details.

59. What Should I Avoid?

Avoid:

• Joining with different emails without informing the team.
• Joining very late or leaving early.
• Ignoring polls.
• Missing ViBe course milestone deadlines.
• Sending only filler messages repeatedly.
• Spamming chat.
• Assuming attendance is counted without checking.
• Raising vague complaints without session details.

60. If I Ask "I Am Confused", Will I Lose SP?

The current rule-based chat sentiment can sometimes misunderstand negative words like "confused" or "stuck".

Students should not stop asking questions because of this. Asking questions is part of learning.

If a genuine learning question is incorrectly treated as negative, it can be reviewed.

To reduce misunderstanding, write clearly:

I am confused about the assignment step. Can you explain the submission format?

This is better than only writing:

confused

61. Is It Better To Stay Silent In Chat?

No. Meaningful participation is better than silence.

Use chat for:

• Answers
• Questions
• Reflections
• Poll-related discussion
• Activity responses
• Constructive feedback

Avoid spam or repeated filler messages.

Section 12: Meaning, Future Features, And Summary

62. Can SP Be Used Like Money?

SP is not real money.

It is a learning motivation currency inside the programme.

Depending on programme rules, SP may be used for rankings, recognition, achievements, redemption, recovery signals, or other academic engagement features.

63. What Are Achievements Or Badges?

The broader Spurti design includes badges, streaks, achievements, red zone recovery, analytics, and other motivation features.

These may be introduced gradually as the system evolves.

64. What Is The Main Message Of Spurti?

The main message is:

Your learning effort matters.
Your consistency matters.
Your participation matters.
Your recovery matters.

Spurti tries to make these things visible.

65. One-Line Summary

Spurti is a motivation and engagement system for the VLED Summership/Internship programme that uses SP to make student attendance, participation, ViBe course progress, consistency, and recovery visible throughout the learning journey.