Yellowdig

Create a Yellowdig Community in a Blackboard Original Course

1. Login to Blackboard, select Courses, and open the Blackboard Original Course in which you want to create a Yellowdig Community
2. Navigate to the content area of your course Blackboard where you want students to access Yellowdig.  Students will use a single Yellowdig link to access the community throughout the semester, the link can be placed in any content area in the course (e.g. Course Unit folder, Course Content folder).  While a tool link cannot be created directly in the left navigation, after you create your link, there is a workaround that allows you to create a course link there, more about that in a moment.
3. From the Build Content Menu, choose Yellowdig.
4. Title your access link (e.g. Yellowdig Community, Yellowdig Discussion, or Yellowdig).
5. To enable grading (highly recommended), set Enable Evaluation to Yes.
6. Set the Points Possible to the cumulative number of points students can earn in your course for Yellowdig discussion throughout the semester.  These points are separate from the Yellowdig point scheme.  Yellowdig participation points will result in a percentage that will be applied to the Blackboard points you set here.
7. Set the Due Date to the last day in the semester you want students to use Yellowdig.
8. Click Submit.

Create a Yellowdig Community in a Blackboard Ultra Course

1.  Login to Blackboard, select Courses, and open the Blackboard Ultra Course in which you want to create a Yellowdig Community
2. Navigate to the content area/folder of your course Blackboard where you want students to access Yellowdig.  Students will use a single Yellowdig link to access the community throughout the semester, the link can be placed in any content area in the course (e.g. the main Course Content area or any subfolder).  The link cannot be created in the left navigation or the top right tool navigation.  There is also no way to hide the top right Blackboard discussion tool or replace it with Yellowdig.
3. Choose the ⊕Create button and choose Content Market, then click the ⊕ symbol at the bottom right of the Yellowdig tool pane.  If this step takes you directly to Yellowdig, close the window and be sure to select the ⊕ symbol.  The window should close and display your Yellowdig access link.
4. Use the three dot menu at the right side of the new Yellowdig link and choose Edit. 
5. If desired, click on the title at the top to rename your access link (e.g. Yellowdig Community or Yellowdig Discussion).
6. Leave Allow class conversations unchecked
7. To enable grading (highly recommended), check Create gradebook entry for this item
8. Set the Due Date to the last day in the semester you want students to use Yellowdig.
9. Set the Points Possible to the cumulative number of points students can earn in your course for Yellowdig discussion throughout the semester.  These points are separate from the Yellowdig point scheme.  Yellowdig participation points will result in a percentage that will be applied to the Blackboard points you set here.
10. From the Category drop down, select Discussion.
11. Click Save.

Configuring your Yellowdig Community

The Yellowdig Community configuration process is covered in great detail in Yellowdig's Blackboard Course Setup Guide. The list below will summarize the key steps and highlight a couple of important points to consider.  These instructions are the same for Blackboard Original and Ultra courses.

1. In your Blackboard course, click your Yellowdig link.  The very first time you and your students use Yellowdig, you will be prompted to modify your username and create a password.  Users do not need to remember this password, Blackboard will handle the authentication after this first access.
2. Once you save your user information, you will see the New Community page.  You may retitle the community (this title displays at the top of the community when students are inside of it).  Leave all other settings at their default and click Submit.
3. You should now see your community main page.  This is where all Yellowdig discussion occurs, see the Quick Guide and additional Yellowdig resources below for a detailed walkthrough of the features and functions.  At the top of the screen, you will see a yellow banner and a link that says "finish your setup."  Click this link to open the Participation Setup page.  You can also reach this page by clicking Settting in the left navigation and choosing Participation.
4. In the Earning Window, set the earning dates using the first day of class (or up to 6 days earlier if you plan to open your course early) and set the End Date to the last day of the semester that you want students to earn Yellowdig points.  The day of the week of the End Date determines which day of the week (and time) the weekly Yellowdig points will start over at 0.  Click Next.
5. In the Periodic Target text box, replace the 10,000 points with 1,000 points or something similar, 1,000 is the recommended default.  The 10,000 point prefilled number is a technical bug.  Click Next.
6. The Periodic Buffer allows students to earn extra points which they can "bank" to supplement future weeks in which they may fall short of the periodic target.  The recommended value here is 20-30%.  Click Next.
7. The Earning Rules are prepopulated based on the Periodic Target.  These values determine the points students are awarded for the four actions they can take in Yellowdig, authoring original posts, authoring comments, receiving comments, and receiving a reaction.  It is highly recommended that you leave these default values in place, or if tweaking staying within the recommended range.  The recommendations will appear if you begin to modify the values.  Click Review and Submit and then Submit to submit the point configuration.
8. Requiring students to add Topic tags to their posts is highly recommended.  This is one way to encourage students to discuss issues related to your course and course content. 
   1. In the Settings menu, choose Topics.
   2. Change the dropdown to Topics are required.
   3. Modify or remove any of the six default topics, and use the Create New Topic button to create topics related to the topics you would like students to discuss in your course.

Connecting One Yellowdig Community to Two Courses

One of the great aspects of Yellowdig is how easy it is to connect students from multiple courses through a single Yellowdig community.

1. Create and configure a Yellowdig community in one of your courses in Blackboard by following the instructions above for either Original or Ultra Course View.
2. Go to the other course in Blackboard.
3. Create a link to Yellowdig in the second course, again following the steps above.
4. Click the link you just created to launch Yellowdig.
5. Under the New Community heading, you should see Want to link this LTI launch to an existing community? Click here.
6. Clilck the Click here link.
7. Click the blank box under Community to link and choose the community you created for the first course.
8. Click Submit.

Now, the links in both courses will direct students to the same Yellowdig community.