How does the Yellowdig point system work?

Different actions and responses to your posted content in Yellowdig can earn you points if points are activated for your class or organization. The Community Owner or Facilitators can configure rules for how you can earn points. Those rules can be seen at any time by clicking on "How Points Work" below the main points display.

The "How Points Work" link will display the Point rules decided upon and set by your instructor. To see your current grade and recent activity, go to My Participation on the left-hand navigation.

How does Yellowdig pass back grades?

Yellowdig passes grades as a percentage to your Learning Management System (e.g., Blackboard, Canvas), and that percentage is multiplied by the number of points allocated to Yellowdig in your LMS gradebook. To configure your grade to pass back to your learning management system gradebook, you must first launch into Yellowdig from your LMS. In most Learning Management Systems, you must click on the one graded assignment link established by your instructor at least once per course. The graded assignment link is most often located in the Assignments or Modules tab of your LMS course. We cannot access your course and do cannot tell you exactly where this link is so if you do not know which link is the graded assignment link, ask your instructor.

Important things to know:

• If you join a Yellowdig Community from outside your LMS course, grade passback will not be configured. You must launch into your Yellowdig Community through the LMS course associated with that Community in order to configure grade passback.
• If you are a Canvas user, clicking a link to Yellowdig in the sidebar will not establish grade passback. You must click the graded assignment link before grade passback will be in effect. (For more information, see the section at the bottom of this article.)

How to launch into Yellowdig via the graded assignment link:

The GIF below is an example from Canvas. The location of your graded assignment link may vary depending on your LMS and your instructor's course configuration.

Your grade in Yellowdig versus your LMS grade

If your instructor has Yellowdig synced with your course gradebook in your LMS (Blackboard, Canvas, etc.), it is important to know that the proportion Yellowdig sends to your LMS is the percentage currently shown at the upper-left side of your community screen, in the grade area.  That proportion is based on the current Yellowdig point total divided by the number of points you would need to earn up to that point in the course to be on pace to reach the 100% participation goal. Since Yellowdig sends a proportion (not a point total) to your LMS, the points in your LMS grade column will not be equivalent to your Yellowdig points.  The points in your LMS will be the value of the LMS assignment multiplied by the grade percentage from Yellowdig (e.g., if you have a 75% in Yellowdig and your assignment in your LMS is worth 200 points your LMS gradebook would be displaying 150 points).  For more on how all this works, see this article. For the math behind your Yellowdig grade, see this article.

Grade passback delay

The grade sync for Yellowdig runs on a schedule for each Community. Therefore, points earned in Yellowdig will not immediately be displayed in your LMS gradebook; the points indicated inside the Yellowdig platform will be the most up-to-date and accurate record of your progress toward your participation goal. Depending on the exact timing of your participation and your institution's settings, timezone, etc., it may take as long as 6-12 hours for a grade earned in Yellowdig to appear in the gradebook. As long as the gradebook link was previously established (i.e., after the first week you can see that you have earned some points in your LMS gradebook) and the points appear as expected in the LMS grade section of Yellowdig, please allow some time for your gradebook to update before notifying your instructor or Yellowdig of a problem.

Unfortunately, Yellowdig does not have control over the LMS systems we integrate with or how instructors choose to use them, so there are times that updates or service outages for the LMS, or the setup that the instructor has chosen, will create some unexpected or unusual behavior that may require some attention from your instructor or Yellowdig. Please do know that if there are any issues with the link between Yellowdig and the LMS, any points earned and displayed within Yellowdig's platform are being logged and will be passed to the LMS whenever the link to your LMS is fully established or can be re-established. Therefore, please try not panic if your LMS gradebook does not seem quite right! We also recommend, unless told so by your instructor, that you do NOT stop participating in Yellowdig if you do not see your LMS gradebook working. Rather we would suggest that you continue posting any assigned content. If you are concerned about your LMS grade passback, we would also suggest making a Post on Yellowdig about it to see if other students are experiencing the same issue or if your professor is aware of the issue. The bottom line is that as long as you see that you are earning the expected points in the Yellowdig platform, the LMS grade should automatically be updated in the future. If all else fails, your instructor can manually assign grades in your LMS to match what Yellowdig indicates.

A note about Canvas grade passback

If you are a Canvas user—and you believe that your grade should be, but never has been, passed back for a class—please ensure that you have launched Yellowdig at least once from a graded assignment link that your instructor will have set up and that should appear in the Assignments tab of Canvas. Every individual learner must launch from an assignment to establish their individual grade passback. If you cannot find the assignment link, ask your instructor. Please remember that it is possible to log in to a Community for a class before an instructor may be entirely done setting it up, so wait until you receive some instructions from your professor about your Yellowdig participation—or at least until after your first classes to worry about grade passback. As noted above, any points earned in Yellowdig and displayed there will be retained unless your instructor resets the points for everyone in the Community. Remember: your Yellowdig point percentage is authoritative, and Yellowdig will always pass back the up-to-date percentage whenever LMS passback is correctly set up. In other words, you won't "miss out" on points simply because your instructor was delayed in setting up passback.