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Finding Flipgrid FANTASTIC!

Today was my inaugural launch of Flipgrid.  Having heard wonderful reviews on the platform, I made it my mission to give it a try, and the results were flipping great!
If you haven't seen/heard of Flipgrid, its billing claims that it is 'social learning for everyone' Essentially,  Flipgrid allows users to engage in video dialogue about a Topic.  For this dialogue, educators can establish 'Grids' that contain Topics for discussion.  For a Topic, you can record and upload video stimuli, embed videos, upload a high-resolution image for students to discuss, or add a little fun with GIPHY and Emoji. You can also feature an attached file or any website as the stimulus in your Topics.

Students log in by simply entering an access code and are then granted access to the grid (and Topics).  The power in Flipgrid resides in the response strategies.  Students are allowed 1 minute and 30 seconds to respond/discuss a topic that is provided and are encourage to provide feedback to each other about the topics.  Flipgrid houses ALL of the video responses for a topic together, and shares a thumbnail 'selfie' that students create to show that there are responses for a Topic.  As students explore, they can watch other video responses and give feedback to one another.

Flipgrid is free to educators and the free account has a great number of useful features, including:
  • Unlimited student response videos (15-sec or 90-sec)
  • Security, privacy + moderation settings
  • Simple individual student feedback
  • Private video sharing with families
  • Custom Integrations (Microsoft Teams, Canvas) + embed anywhere
  • Free iPhone, iPad, Android apps
For a fee of $65 a year, educators get access to Unlimited student response videos (15-sec up to 5-min)
  • Unlimited student video replies-to-responses
  • Customizable feedback + assessment rubrics
  • Advanced Grid management + data exports
  • Topic launch + freeze scheduling
  • Exclusive webinars 
  • More than 50 Classroom features
Lesson Example

PreHistoric Cartoon Analysis

Setting the Stage
Students were given 10 cartoons representing pre-historic times and were asked to analyze the cartoons to determine whether they believed the cartoon to be representative of  Paleolithic times or Neolithic times.  As part of their analysis, they had to provide THREE pieces of evidence to support their claim.  Students were also asked to identify any errors in the illustration that conflict with historical facts.

As students evaluated each cartoon, they were required to record a notesheet of their facts.

See detailed example of project here -----> Cartoon Analysis

The Flipgrid Experience
After the analysis was complete, students were provided access to a FlipGrid with individual topics that contained a link to each cartoon.  Within the FlipGrid, students had to choose 3 cartoons and provide a video response of their analysis of those cartoons.


Student Reaction
I launched FlipGrid with a small amount of trepidation; not sure if students would appreciate the platform and concerned that they'd be too shy to record.  Happily, I was wrong!  Students jumped eagerly into the process.  Within minutes, I'd explained the directions, provided the grid code and they were recording on iPads.

As you can see, students were ESPECIALLY fond of the 'selfie' option....


of course, I flipping hope you're