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Fresh perspectives, proven strategies, and stories from real Yellowdig classrooms.
Featured
If Students Have Something to Say, Let Them Talk : A Yellowdig Story

Dr. Scott StandiferrSouthern California University of Health Sciences   Challenge: Traditional discussion boards feel structured and predictable. Students complete prompts, but rarely explore ideas beyond them. The human moment “This is how I kind of envision a discussion board, as a sort of stair step of knowledge. At the end of the course, we end […]
When Students Turn to Each Other First : A Yellowdig Story

Dr. Kevin Carr University of Michigan   Challenge: Students defaulted to instructor answers or external tools instead of learning through each other. The human moment “They can ask their peers, and they get a much better and more interesting response, and they’re more part of a community through that.” — Kevin Carr Dr. Carr teaches […]
Announcing Yellowdig's Guaranteed Retention Outcome

Higher education is facing a structural challenge.   Enrollment pressure is real.   Student acquisition costs are rising.   And too many capable students quietly disengage before we see it coming.   The data is clear: academic performance alone does not predict persistence. Connection does.   Belonging is no longer a “student life” concept. It […]
Latest at Yellowdig
Product Updates
New Feature: Getting Started

We have some amazing updates rolling as the schools begin to come back in session. Changes to Yellowdig’s reminders and notifications can be configurable within your Yellowdig Community and will be released now. At Yellowdig, we value the feedback from our unique instructor and faculty experiences, these updates are coming directly from your feedback, thank […]
Yellowdig
Using Discussion Boards to Increase Student and Class Engagement: Effective? Clichéd? Let’s discuss.

We’ve all heard of discussion boards at this point. It has long been introduced to universities and various K-12 schools for students to access course material, complete assignments, and look at grades. What is a discussion board? It is an online “bulletin board” where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. People […]
Corporate Learning, Instructor Stories
How The University of Delaware Boosted Its Online MBA Ranking by Targeting Student Engagement

We had the pleasure of sitting down (virtually) with Jack Baroudi, Senior Associate Dean of Academic Programs for the University of Delaware’s Lerner College of Business and Economics. In our conversation he shared the secrets behind the University of Delaware’s 15 spot jump up to 32nd in the US News & World Report Best Online […]
Product Updates, Yellowdig
New Update: Reminders and Notifications!

We have some amazing updates coming up this Summer! Changes to Yellowdig’s reminders and notifications can be configurable within your Yellowdig Community and will be released on June 28th. At Yellowdig, we value the feedback from our unique instructor and faculty experiences, these updates are coming directly from your feedback, thank you! We’re hoping you […]
Yellowdig
The Evolution of Gameful Learning with Yellowdig’s Shaunak Roy and Brian Hurlow

The world of education has come a long way with new methods of teaching and learning arising as years progress. In particular, the increase in different education technologies has had a significant impact in how content is delivered in the classroom. Shaunak Roy, CEO of Yellowdig, and Brian Hurlow, Director of Technology, sat down to […]
Yellowdig
Roles of Hybrid Learning and Blended Learning — What Will and Will Not Work Post-Pandemic

What is Hybrid Learning? Hybrid learning is a unique combination of in-person and online instruction, mixing traditional styles of teaching and learning with online teaching practices. The goal of this type of learning is to provide different techniques of learning to effectively deliver course content and material. Students enrolled in hybrid classes that meet three […]
Instructor Stories
Teaching a Women’s History Course — Thoughts about Yellowdig From a Professor on the Deaf Spectrum

Speakers: Gayle Fischer and Bob Ertischek Building a community for students to learn and listen to each other is an effective approach to teaching. Gayle Fischer, history professor at Salem State University, sat down with Yellowdig in April 2021 to talk about how she uses our virtual classroom platform for her Women’s History Class. Prior […]
A Student Perspective, Yellowdig
In-Person vs. Online Learning — Can They Compare?

Online vs. In-Person Class for Learning — What is Best? Many may believe with the changes in the way students are being taught that there is one medium of teaching that is better than the other. As technology has developed, we’ve been able to connect with people all over the world through apps like WhatsApp, […]
Product Updates
New Update: Anonymous Posting, Feed Redesign, Search Improvements, and More!

For those who couldn’t find a way to get the summer off to spend more time cooling off in a pool, we’re hoping this makes your summer in the classroom feel a bit cooler! We plan to start releasing this set of changes on May 3rd, after which you will start noticing the changes in […]
Co-Curricular Uses, Instructor Stories, Student Success
Driving Virtual Participation in a Career Exploration Program

Yellowdig had the honor of hosting a guest webinar with DePaul University, a school that has been integrating Yellowdig’s services for “Future Forward” program. We had notable key speakers from our team and DePaul’s team to talk about the ways Yellowdig is used. What is the Future Forward Career Education Program? It is a co-curricular […]
Guest Feature
5 Questions for MIT's Vice President for Open Learning, Sanjay Sarma

Sanjay Sarma is the Vice President for Open Learning at MIT, and the co-author of Grasp: The Science Transforming How We Learn. Along with Luke Yoquinto. Their book is a fantastic resource for teachers, professors looking for cutting-edge learning research, and parents evaluating educational opportunities. “Grasp takes readers across multiple frontiers, from fundamental neuroscience to […]
Instructor Stories
Spring Clean Your Classroom: Clear Out These 8 Myths About Online Communities

Talking to instructors who are new to Yellowdig, we often find there are a number of misconceptions around student participation and the role of the instructor. We have compiled a list of 8 myths and debunked them with the reality we have seen across our company partners below! Myth #1 – Students need prompts to […]
Latest at Yellowdig
Case Study
Gamification Is the Secret Weapon of Remote Learning

Case Study with Carolyn Siccama, Ed.D. The University of Vermont Instructional Designer One piece of advice from Dr. Siccama to fellow Yellowdig instructors: “Be willing to reconsider your notions of online interaction.” How Dr. Siccama Uses Yellowdig: Between Summer 2018 and Summer 2019, Dr. Carolyn Siccama integrated Yellowdig into 7 online graduate courses, 5 online […]
A Student Perspective
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Initiatives: Measuring Their Impact on Student Belonging

In the ever-evolving landscape of higher education, the emphasis on equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) initiatives has grown significantly. Campuses across the globe are striving to create environments where all students feel a sense of belonging, regardless of their background, race, or identity. In this blog, we’ll delve into the key aspects of EDI initiatives, […]
A Student Perspective, Student Success
Addressing Higher Ed's Dropout Rate by Enhancing Academic Quality and Belonging

In his recent blog, The Crisis of Belonging in Higher Education, Shaunak Roy addressed the value that technology can bring to issues of loneliness and belonging in learners’ lives throughout the learning life cycle. Done correctly, he argues, technology can bring consistency and quality coupled with deep personalization to online and hybrid learning at a […]
Yellowdig
Yellowdig Connect and Succeed Community Management Strategies

Highlights: Expectations Getting Started Prepare Your Community for Launch Keeping Your Community Going Expectations: Yellowdig communities can provide a vibrant space for your audience to interact, network, help each other, promote your objectives and events, and provide resources. However, to achieve these results, it’s important to note that Connect and Succeed communities are quite different […]
Yellowdig
Yellowdig's Community of Inquiry: Scaling Proven Pedagogy for Better Outcomes

Education 3.0 is the movement that acknowledges we cannot simply continue with the tried and true methods of yesterday, but we also cannot throw technology at education and expect better outcomes. We must listen to the needs of our modern learners and adapt our pedagogy and teaching methods for this new era of learning. Yellowdig’s […]
Yellowdig
A Q & A on Shifting from Prompts to Topics

I worked as an instructor teaching online communication classes for more than a decade and can remember designing courses and putting in hours to come up with the “right” discussion question(s) each week that tied to weekly outcomes. I was creative and asked students to connect course ideas to their own personal examples. Through the […]
Co-Curricular Uses
Education 3.0: The University of the Future is Now

Just what is Education 3.0 ? As a complete vision, Education 3.0 includes a virtual campus community network that delivers greater engagement, deeper and more reflective learning, higher persistence and completion rates, greater faculty satisfaction and effectiveness, and cradle-to-grave support services for all involved. Today, happily, we have the technological tools and the knowledge to […]
Yellowdig
Tuning Topics

Are you ready to create topic tags for a Yellowdig Community and don’t know where to start? Start by answering these questions. What do I want my learners to have conversations about in the Yellowdig Community? How do I make sure they are having conversations about course relevant topics without giving a prompt? First start […]
AI
The AI horse is out of the barn: How we approach it now will determine whether it hurts us.

Generative AI systems like ChatGPT, recently made available by OpenAI, are a fascinating use of emerging technology that has captured the world’s attention. Search instances for “AI” peaked at an all-time high in December 2022 as a direct result of conversations about that system (trends.google.com). It’s not just the “tech nerds” that know about this […]
Yellowdig
Cultivating a Faculty Community within Yellowdig

Why Yellowdig? At the University of Central Florida (UCF), our division supports faculty and students by leveraging technology, practices, and innovation in online learning. In alignment with UCF’s 2027 strategic plan, we strive to investigate and pilot new technologies with our faculty and students. While searching for a way to improve online student engagement through […]
Student Success
How to Increase Student Success and Unlock the Door to Purposeful Lifelong Learning

The assessment of prior experiential learning began to go mainstream in the early 1970’s with the creation of CAEL, led by Dr. Morris Keeton. Today, after more than 50 years of collecting information and conducting research on the assessment of prior learning, we know that experiential learning, as well as other learning done outside of academic circles, […]
Case Study
Engagement of students in online learning

In summary The implementation of an integrated and standardised data eco-system, including incorporating data from student engagement platforms such as Yellowdig, supports critical student success initiatives by breaking down data silos. Students observed in this study used Yellowdig Engage to build interpersonal connections that eased their anxieties around their studies, created a sense of community, […]

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