Shaunak Roy founded Yellowdig’s Engage digital platform which aims to build learning communities by bringing together gameful concepts within a social media interface directly through an existing learning management system (LMS). This platform supports active learning, student agency, and increases course participation, engagement, and retention (USDLA, 2024).
You may be wondering what Yellowdig offers that the discussion features of the LMS do not. LMS are mainly used for organizing course content. LMS’s discussion boards are predominately used for discussion assignments. Yellowdig on the other hand builds true learning communities. Creating meaningful relationships between peers is an important feature of this platform. Real interactions are created resulting in real communities, giving students an opportunity to learn together (Kim, 2021).
I appreciate the focus on community, and it reminds me of the constructivist learning theory. Social and cultural effects on learning play a role in constructivism. It is important to consider the interaction between the cognizing individual and the context within a culture (Fosnot, 2005). Humans are social creatures and as such need a chance to defend and discuss their ideas with others. I consider the social and cultural aspects in the learning process as helping broaden individuals’ perspectives of the world. I believe interaction between people helps strengthen the beliefs that people hold. While we may not be able to know the world directly, the perspectives we gain from one another may help validate our knowledge of the world.
Resources:
Fosnot, C.T. (2005). Constructivism: Theory, perspectives, and practice. 2nd Ed. Teachers College Press.
Kim, J. (2021, Feb 17). 3 Questions for Yellowdig’s Founder and CEO Shaunak Roy. Inside Higher Ed. https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/learning-innovation/3-questions-yellowdig’s-founder-and-ceo-shaunak-roy
USDLA. (2024). https://usdla.org/usdla-partners/yellow-dig/
I think Shaunak has done a great job of identifying a problem and creating a solution. Community in online learning has been found to be one of the key factors in success, it is important that students have a sense of belonging and it seems that Shaunak’s focus on creating something that is lacking in a lot of LMS systems is a great addition.