The learning management system (LMS) discussion forum comes off as archaic and overly controlling to today’s students, who are used to working in a much richer social media environment. Whereas the LMS forum is designed for lengthy text comments, young people are used to communicating with a variety of media, including videos and images. Plus, traditional LMS discussions are set up by the instructor with a prompt that all students need to answer along fairly limiting parameters for a grade.

Yellowdig is a modern alternative for hosting discussion in a visually appealing mashup of social media and gameful experience that many students find motivating. It extends the traditional discussion board features within an aesthetically pleasing environment that allows images, videos, links, poll, and other features.