Deeper Learning in Yellowdig
In Yellowdig Communities, learners dig deeper, unearth new knowledge, and lift each other up.
OUR CLIENTS HAVE SEEN...
increase in successful course completions
Source: Large Online University
of instructors felt that Yellowdig engaged their students more in course material
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I am not one to speak out much but... this format ensures that I make sure my voice is heard while allowing for time for reflection. I'm definitely not one of those people that has answers quickly and I find this platform really conducive to my learning style.
How does Yellowdig drive deeper learning?
Better quality participation
In Yellowdig, learners apply real-world experiences to class material, have conversations on topics they find genuinely interesting, answer each other's questions, and build peer relationships that can extend beyond the course. The whole learning environment becomes more engaging and educationally valuable.
Yellowdig’s gameful learning is purposefully designed to encourage learners to be thoughtful in the content they share. Since community members earn points when others decide to comment or react to their posts or a faculty member awards an accolade, students are more likely to think critically about what their posts should include. Instead of writing repetitive boring posts like in the “1 post and 2 comments” style forum, students are encouraged to think outside of the box. With Yellowdig’s expansive post editor, they’re more likely to make their posts more engaging by referencing an article or video they found interesting or adding visuals. Maybe most importantly, they can’t just re-word something someone else already started a conversation about or post nonsense just for the sake of posting because nobody would interact with it, thus earning fewer points.
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Comments also transform from a requirement to simply another way to earn points, which means students who are more comfortable with joining a conversation rather than starting one are able to actively participate too. Threads in Yellowdig no longer take on they typical form of “I agree…” but instead students add their own insights, answer questions, and give feedback to their peers.
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Where Yellowdig is important to me in this process, in terms of KPIs and understanding the learning that’s occurring, is that it’s designed for an education setting, so you can get the data back in an educational context through an educational lens…It allows people to engage socially and collaboratively in a really meaningful way…We can then look at all the interaction data that’s occurring between people in that space and be able to assess the true effectiveness of the collaboration and sharing that’s going on in the learning process.”
~ Kurt Hayes
Chief Product Officer
Dignity Health Global Education
Increased willing participation
It's no secret that most discussion boards only get as much engagement as required to get a good grade, but Yellowdig Engage's proven engagement tools foster much more student-to-student interaction than traditional methods. At the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, one professor saw a 190% participation rate in their community meaning the engagement was almost double what was required in the class. It's no surprise to find out that 90% of the students from that course prefer Yellowdig to traditional discussion boards.
Yellowdig has definitely saved my learning experience to be honest, it's just a warm and familiar kind of setup, and I think we all really make it a priority to check often because it's pretty cool.
Anonymous
COMP 1000 (Intro to Computers) Student
Georgia North Western Technical College
Asking and answering questions
Most people who have taken a difficult course can remember a time when they were stuck and needed to rely on someone else’s help (often late at night in a dorm room right before something is due, I might add). Yellowdig enables students who may not have that built-in network of support for various reasons to get timely support from their classmates whenever it fits their schedule. Maybe it's after tucking their kids into bed or bright and early before sports practice.
However, it’s not just the students who are receiving help in the Yellowdig community who are getting better learning outcomes. The process of answering questions is actually a fantastic way for students to solidify their learnings. “The power of teaching on learning is real. It's so powerful that researchers have given it a name—The Protege Effect.”
In Yellowdig, learners can ask and answer questions, and instructors can swoop in if someone went astray or if the answer seems unclear. Thus, getting the best of late-night dorm help and 1:1 instructor help for all students.
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About 75% of the students' questions are answered sufficiently by other students, which is a huge timesaver and it lets me focus on the more challenging questions that students have. I LOVE that students are able to get points for asking and/or answering questions.
Mckinzie Sutter
Department of Agronomy and Horticulture, Distance Education Specialist
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Going beyond posting
Posting and commenting are great ways for students to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of course content, but there’s another layer to Yellowdig community engagement that is often overlooked - consuming content.
Rarely would a student spend time reading their school’s discussion board, but students often report adding Yellowdig to their list of social media platforms they check regularly. Reading other students’ conversations is a great way to review concepts, learn from their peers, and gain clarity around areas they may be confused.
I noticed that the class was more active in discussions and replying back to people. Yellowdig made posting and interacting with classmates more fun instead of feeling tedious. I enjoyed checking up on the site to see what others had posted and reading other cool articles that were posted that I may have otherwise not noticed and came across. The platform made it real easy to post websites and videos as well which was a huge plus, and the engagement felt more natural as we were free to openly discuss what was on our mind for each posting as long as it was related to the weekly topic. I felt myself wanting to keep up with the discussions and enjoyed it.
Anonymous
Student
Drexel University
What are a few elements of Yellowdig that lend themselves to deeper learning?
Gameful Learning
Topics, not prompts
Expansive Post Editor
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