A New Way to Get Feedback in Your Class with FLIPGRID

While home on a college snow day, after the Martin Luther King holiday, my second grade granddaughter (Katie) sent me a URL web address to view her Flipgrid.  My granddaughter had been out of school for over a week of snow days herself, and her teacher had sent them a Flipgrid assignment while they were out of school.  Each student who had a device or computer were assigned to write a report on Martin Luther King and submit their report orally on the the Flipgrid prompt from home.  I have to admit this was right up Katie's ally, as she had grown up with either a cell phone or an iPad in her hand since she was able to hold one! I came to believe that these devices were an additional appendage of hers. Katie, who is normally very shy found this assignment was not difficult for her as they had been using Flipgrid in their class for the entire year.  Her mom told me that Flip grid has helped her gain confidence and speak up more than she has in the past.   I have to admit she looked like a professional reporter!

A Grid is your classroom or community of learners. Grids have Topics and Topics have a response.

What is Flipgrid

Flipgrid is a video discussion platform used by PreK to PhD educators, students, and classrooms. According to the Flipgrid website, the platform was first created and used by a college professor to engage his classroom because every student brought a phone to class.  This tool is available and useful to all grade levels, and Katie tells me she loves seeing herself and her classmates in the videos.  It is easy to use and teachers just post topics to start discussions and students respond with short videos. Flipgrid is an exciting way to prompt discussion and to assess learning (Flipgrid, 2018).  

Starting a Flipgrid is easy as 1, 2, 3. 
1.  Create a Grid: A grid is your classroom or community of learners. Name it after your class and set the security settings. Only those with the grid URL can find your grid.  Create a Grid for classrooms, school-wide communications, conference/event reflections, or any social community!

2. Add Topics: Topics are the questions, prompts or themes your students discuss. At least 1 topic is required to start, such as class introductions, but you can add unlimited topics throughout the year! Topics can simply be text-based or include a resource such as image, video, giphy, emoji, and attachment. Check out the Topic Discovery Library to find ready-made topics and add right to the Grid!

3. Share with Students: Students do not have to create accounts on Flipgrid. Teachers share the grid URL (Click here to my topic! Respond if you like to see how it works) for easy access on Macs, PCs, or Chromebooks. Students with mobile devices access your grid using the free Flipgrid app.  Once students get the link they can leave video or voice (Flipgrid, 2018).

Applications of Flip Grid

1. Engage Students: At the beginning of a lesson use Flipgrid as a KWL where you can include a video, image, quote, or another link to prior knowledge in your topic for students to respond to.

2. Explore: Students explore a topic through a collection of resources (articles, videos, infographics, text excerpts, etc.) contained in a Flipgrid.

3. Apply and Share: Create an assignment for students to apply what they learn by using Flipgrid to create, collaborate, and/or connect beyond the classroom. View student work and provide feedback, and/or include a section for students to share work.

4. Reflect: Give students an opportunity for digital reflection on their learning journey using Flipgrid to guide students along their learning progression and set new goals (Fahey, 2017).

What Do Teachers Say?

Catherine and Count Basie Middle School, How I Use It: I used Flipgrid as an activity for students to share their opinion on various topics in Health. The video allowed students to create a answer to a question without writing. This was good mode for some of my ELL students that do not have a strong command of the English language to voice their opinion instead of producing a written response. My overall opinion of Flipgrid as a teaching tool is that it is necessary for the new generation of students. Students are able to share their opinion by creating a video response to a topic. Flipgrid is useful in a classroom of struggling readers and writers. I believe that the students that are shy and do not want to participate in class discussions now have a mode to become part of the lesson using Flipgrid.   

Lynn S. Dean of Student Life: Flipgrid can be used in any situation in which you want to hear from students: their responses to a reading, video or discussion; their answers to a content question; their reflections on the completion of an activity or project; their thoughts on a personal topic as part of an advisor program. The user interface is very straightforward for both teacher and student. The teacher creates a grid (probably one for each class) and then posts a question. Students go to the question, take a photo of themselves, and then video record their response to the question. They can view others' responses and "like" them if they choose. There are very clear, specific instructions on the support page, but Flipgrid is so intuitive your students will probably not need it.         

Summary
I found Flipgrid to be effective, an easy way to use technology, and a wonderful way to get feedback from students.  I can see the benefit of sending a Flipgrid link to my college students to get input on a number of topics I am working on.  In my practice link I found that students who were comfortable with technology could easily send a response.  Those who were not proficient in technology (the older folks I sent it too) found it much more difficult.  I think that students should be instructed on how to use the tool and create an account on using their phone.  Like my granddaughter I think it is fun to post videos and I look forward to using this app in the near future.

References
Fahey, S. (2017). Mr. Fahey's Tech. Retrieved From https://faheystech.blogspot.com/2017/

Fahey, S & Moura, K. (2018). The Educators Guide to Flipgrid. Retrieved from https://static1.squarespace.com/static/59887cb1ebbd1aa4144128da/t/59cc075c80bd5ed9e272ed92/1506543456407/Flipgrid+eBook.pdf

Flipgrid (2018). Flipgrid information. Retrieved from https://info.flipgrid.com/

White, N. (2018). Innovations in Education, Nancy's workshop. Retrieved from http://d20innovation.d20blogs.org/category/learning-strategies/