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Drexel University
LeBow College of Business
Level of Course:
Undergraduate
Instructor:
Lawrence Duke
Course Subject:
Marketing (A Variety of Courses)
Number of community participants:
+200
"I'd say one to two hours a week. I actually wanted to spend more time because there was such good content, I just didn't have the time. So there's really good content there... And I think it's more enjoyable for the students too. I actually think they are reading what other people are doing..." [in regards to how often he checks the Yellowdig feed]
Professor Duke has actively used Yellowdig in six marketing courses from Spring 2018 to Spring 2019. Courses ranged from introductions to marketing to advanced undergraduate seminars. In each of his classes, Professor Duke had students respond to prompts, though perhaps “prompts” is a bit of a misnomer. Professor Duke’s prompts were really conversation starters: open-ended questions that encouraged students to reflect critically and creatively on a topic. Unlike traditional prompts, which merely assess students’ comprehension of course materials, conversation starters initiate dynamic discussions and yield interesting and varied responses. Like good classroom conversations, good Yellowdig conversations don’t just disseminate easily verifiable facts. They facilitate active learning and promote deep understanding. In each of his courses, Professor Duke factored Yellowdig points into the final grade (usually 5-10%). In accordance with our best practices, he also enabled the weekly point max and “nudge” notifications that reminded inactive students to contribute to the board.
By The Numbers
344
Posts
607
Comments
2
Courses
Results
Professor Duke has actively used Yellowdig in six marketing courses from Spring 2018 to Spring 2019. Courses ranged from introductions to marketing to advanced undergraduate seminars. In each of his classes, Professor Duke had students respond to prompts, though perhaps “prompts” is a bit of a
misnomer. Professor Duke’s prompts were really conversation starters: open-ended questions that
encouraged students to reflect critically and creatively on a topic.
Professor Duke's point guidelines in his different communities.
Over the course of his six Yellowdig courses, Professor Duke has solicited valuable feedback on Yellowdig from his students. 83% of students preferred or strongly preferred Yellowdig to Blackboard Discussions; 15% were indifferent; and only 1 student preferred Blackboard Discussions. Students frequently characterized Yellowdig as “more interactive”, “better”, “easier”, “different”, “fun”, and “amazing.” Students compared Yellowdig to social media, praised the quality of the content, and reported enjoying reading others’ posts.
Graph showing Professor Duke's students' views of Yellowdig and Blackboard, with over 80% of students preferring Yellowdig.
Students produce higher-quality posts because they are thinking about what their peers will find interesting and informative. These points also stave off procrastination, since it is difficult to earn social points without posting early in the week. By gently nudging student behavior, social points help transform “discussion boards” into real, interesting conversations, and many students become intrinsically motivated to post. Feedback from Professor Duke’s students confirms that, when points for receiving Comments and Upvotes were enabled, students rewarded each other for writing good content and challenged themselves to earn the maximum number of points each week.
I enjoyed getting emails each time my post was liked or commented on... I wish all my classes would use this and I look forward to seeing this platform grow!
~
Anonymous Student in one of Professor Duke's courses
About the Instructor
Lawrence Duke
M.B.A. (Harvard Business School), Ed.D. (Temple University)
Clinical Professor & Faculty Advisor for the MS Marketing program
Prior to becoming a business professor, Professor Duke was a senior executive in international finance and marketing with twenty years of experience in the public and private sectors at Citigroup, Nomura, State Street, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and as a U.S. naval officer. His teaching has garnered him a number of recognitions (2013 LeBow Teaching Excellence Award; 2013 ArchiTech Technology and Teaching finalist; 2008-2011 LeBow Distinguished Teaching Fellow, Center for Teaching Excellence; 2007-2008 LeBow Teaching Excellence Award). Professor Duke’s research focuses on marketing ethics, quality, digital and global marketing, and finance.
About the Institution
Drexel University
Drexel is a comprehensive global research university with a unique model of experiential learning that combines academic rigor with one of the nation’s premier cooperative education programs. With approximately 25,000 students, Drexel is one of America's 15 largest private universities (https://drexel.edu/about/overview/).
