Stacy Gant
NC State University
Challenge: Engagement is treated as a single metric. Are students participating? But behavioral compliance tells us almost nothing about whether students actually feel connected. “Do they feel interested, connected, curious, and motivated to return? That’s where Yellowdig is really, really well suited, to spark that emotional engagement.”
The human moment
Stacy Gant’s career has been shaped by one question: what makes students intrinsically motivated to contribute, not because they have to, but because the conversation is worth joining? At NC State, that meant piloting Yellowdig, adopting it institution-wide, and spending five years watching something rare happen: students returning to the community even when it no longer counted toward their grades. Not because of points. Because of belonging. That’s where Yellowdig became part of the design: a space built for emotional engagement, where feeling welcome from the first interaction sets the tone for everything that follows, and where faculty who model the conversation they want to see get students who show up as themselves.
The proof
- Students who feel emotionally engaged go further, reading beyond the requirement
- Low-stakes intro activities set the tone from day one
- Faculty communities of practice at NC State help instructors share what’s actually working
- Behavioral engagement is measurable, but emotional engagement drives persistence and retention
- Modeling the conversation you want is more powerful than writing the prompt that requires it
- Intrinsic motivation begins when students find value, not when they fear losing points
- Faculty: Open with low-pressure activities that set a welcoming tone from day one
- Instructional Design: Design for all three dimensions: behavioral, cognitive, and emotional engagement
- Student Success: Make the purpose clear; students engage more when they understand why it matters
- Online Programs: Measure contribution beyond clicks: look for who keeps coming back
