Creating an Account and Joining a Yellowdig Community

IN THIS ARTICLE
Account Creation at a Glance
Design Principles
Account Creation: A Detailed Look
 [1] Creation via LMS course launch
 [2] Creation via e-mail invitation
 [3] Creation via Share Link
 How LMS Credentials Are Added to Your Yellowdig User Account

Yellowdig's user account creation system was carefully designed to ensure security, flexibility, and persistence. As both an LTI tool and a free-standing web application, Yellowdig occupies a unique place in an institution's suite of educational technologies. While account creation might seem mundane, it plays a crucial role in ensuring that students remain securely connected to each other regardless of the devices they use to access Yellowdig; the Learning Management System(s) with which Yellowdig is integrated; and whether they're a newly accepted student, a fully or partially matriculated student, or an alumnus.

Account Creation at a Glance

Your Yellowdig account gets created by performing any of these actions:

1. Launching into an LTI-integrated Yellowdig Community from your Learning Management System course.

2. Accepting an Email Invitation to a Network or Community.

3. Following a Share Link to a Community.

Design Principles

Yellowdig's account creation process might include a couple of steps you have not encountered with other LTI tools. This is for good reason. Yellowdig is deeply committed to protecting students' data while simultaneously ensuring maximal flexibility and persistent platform access. Here's how Yellowdig's account creation flow accomplishes this:

1. Security. To add LTI credentials to an existing Yellowdig account, users must verify their email address. This prevents users from associating a dummy email with their LMS account and using this email to launch into someone else's Yellowdig account. Moreover, this allows users to safely launch into Yellowdig from their LMS without supplying a Yellowdig password.

2. Flexibility. Users can launch into Yellowdig inside and outside of their Learning Management System. Logging into Yellowdig outside of the LMS is preferable for students who access Yellowdig via phones or tablets. Moreover, users can access their Yellowdig account from multiple Learning Management Systems or from different SSO portals your institution may be using. For institutions who are transitioning from one LMS to another, this feature is essential for ensuring duplicate accounts are not created.

3. Persistence. Because they can access Yellowdig outside of their institutional LMS and manage their verified emails, students can easily access their Yellowdig accounts before matriculation and after graduation. This is particularly useful for keep-warm initiatives, alumni programs, and co-curricular communities. Yellowdig is a persistent, multi-purpose network of communities that accompanies students throughout their learning journey, and these account flows ensure uninterrupted ownership of their Yellowdig identity.

Account Creation: A Detailed Look

1. Creation via LMS course launch

If you launch into Yellowdig through your Learning Management System, you typically see a series of screens as in the video. (The shell or the course links varies with the LMS.

You will have the ability to set a custom username. Yellowdig automatically fills the First Name and Last Name fields with the names associated with your LMS account, though you can change these fields. Yellowdig automatically receives, saves, and verifies the email associated with your LMS account, though you will have the ability to add additional emails on a later screen. You can also add a profile photo by clicking on the silhouette icon in the upper-right-hand corner of the window.

To ensure that you always have access to your Yellowdig account regardless of LMS or platform, you are encouraged to set a password. Once the password has been set, you will not be required to provide it when you launch into your Community via your Learning Management System. You will only be prompted when you log into Yellowdig outside of your LMS (via yellowdig.app). For security reasons, you will not be able to submit the form unless your password is sufficiently secure. To increase password security, use a mix of upper- and lower-case alphanumeric characters and symbols.

On the next screen, you can add multiple emails to your account if you prefer to receive notifications somewhere else or want to use a different login email:

Adding an email will send a verification email to the added email account. Users must verify that they own the added email address before using it to log into the platform.

Upon clicking NEXT, the user will be launched directly into the Community. Any subsequent launch from the same institution's LMS into Yellowdig will take you directly to the Community for the associated course.

2. Creation via e-mail invitation

This account creation process, which is designed primarily for co-curricular and alumni use cases, is comparatively simple. You can customize your username, change your email address, and create a password. Upon clicking SUBMIT, you will be prompted to join the Network or Community to which you were invited.

3. Creation via Share Link

When you click a Share Link, you will have the option to log into your account (if you already have one) or create a new account. Upon clicking CREATE ACCOUNT, you will be redirected to the "Create Account" window described in the section above. 

How LMS Credentials Are Added to Your Yellowdig User Account

For essential security reasons, Yellowdig users are required to verify their email address when:

1. They create a Yellowdig account via (2) or (3), then attempt to launch into Yellowdig via their Learning Management System; or

2. They create a Yellowdig account via (1), then attempt to launch into Yellowdig via a different Learning Management System.

This feature was designed to prevent users from deliberately or accidentally launching into someone else's Yellowdig account. The user can verify their identity by providing their Yellowdig password or receiving a verification email and clicking the verification link.