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Bringing back the joy of teaching
According to Gallup, “More than four in 10 K-12 workers in the U.S. (44%) say they "always" or "very often" feel burned out at work, outpacing all other industries nationally. College and university workers have the next-highest burnout level, at 35%, making educators among the most burned out groups in the U.S. workforce.”
These jarring statistics illustrate why faculty retention and satisfaction should be a top priority for institutions.
OUR CLIENTS HAVE SEEN...
reduction in routine grading
of instructors felt more connected to their students
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Teachers are nerds and we all understand the joy of the intellectual life... and ideally we communicate that joy and that love to our students. But it's easy to get bogged down in counting beans and chasing down problem students. And the Yellowdig forum I think has really helped bring some of that joy of learning back to the surface.
How does Yellowdig help to energize faculty?
Swapping grading for meaningful interactions
We’ve never heard an instructor look forward to grading their 150 discussion posts from students all responding to the same prompt with basically the same language, but we’ve often heard of instructors getting sucked into their Yellowdig Community feed. Yellowdig enables educators to decide how much time they spend and when. The best part is that instead of grading, the time they spend is meaningful interactions with their learners adding insights to a conversation, clarifying confusion, or sharing something interesting from their expertise with the class.
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Previously, I was hand-grading discussions twice a week for 50-plus people in addition to other assignments. Yellowdig automatically grades discussion boards, allowing me to intentionally focus my attention on other high-impact areas.
Stephanie Raible
Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship
University of Delaware
Giving faculty a window into their students
Instructors who enjoy teaching often do so because they enjoy getting to know their students and making a personal impact on their lives. In online courses, that’s often missing due to the inherent distance between faculty and students. In courses with in-person interactions, instructors often still miss out on these meaningful interactions because class time is limited and class sizes are large. Yellowdig Communities act as that connector between faculty and students. Faculty can encourage students to introduce themselves and have “getting to know you” style conversations.
When discussing course content in Yellowdig, faculty are often surprised and delighted by the level of interest from students and their willingness to go above and beyond to delve deeper into topics that interest them from their course.
Being able to build a social and interpersonal connection with students and watching students express iterative ideas and interact in contemporary context is essential.
Anonymous
Instructional Professional
Arizona State University, College of Nursing and Health Innovation
Easy implementation and usage
It’s no secret that many faculty members are afraid to adopt edtech because of the setup hassle and learning curve involved for themselves and their students. However, with Yellowdig, educators report how seamless and easy it is to get setup. Once implemented, faculty share how students just “get” Yellowdig because it feels familiar to the social media platforms they interact with daily.
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With tech I have to think about 600 students and how much I'll have to support them for set up. If even 5% have an issue, I'm getting over 30 emails. If I'm using 4 things and there's problems at that rate, I'm getting over 100 emails. That's bad for them and really puts a dent in my time. So a big reason I keep going back to Yellowdig is that it is the easiest tech I’ve seen for students to pick up… they just “get it.” With the LTI integration it is also hassle-free for them. They don’t have to deal with access codes and I don’t have to help with login issues. It’s a better experience for everyone and that helps me focus on teaching rather than tech support.
Adam Munson
Senior Lecturer
University of Florida
Aspects of Yellowdig that reduce work + increase satisfaction
Gamification
Accolades
No-point topics enabling “off-topic” conversations
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