{"id":525,"date":"2020-02-07T10:18:44","date_gmt":"2020-02-07T10:18:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/digitaleducation\/?p=525"},"modified":"2020-03-09T11:13:35","modified_gmt":"2020-03-09T11:13:35","slug":"flipgrid-enhancing-student-voice-with-a-bit-of-fun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/digitaleducation\/flipgrid-enhancing-student-voice-with-a-bit-of-fun\/","title":{"rendered":"Flipgrid: Enhancing Student Voice With a Bit of Fun!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Flipgrid<\/a>, a social learning platform, caught my eye because it looked fun, modern, simple and similar to Snapchat<\/a>. I have found that students will catch on quickly and are more likely to engage if the \u2018tech\u2019 we use for learning can subtly slot into the seamless and even subconscious way they already use technology in their everyday lives. In this post I\u2019ll give you a quick introduction to what Flipgrid is, feedback from a couple of case studies on its uses in Teaching and Learning within King\u2019s Foundations<\/a> and its potential for further use.<\/p>\n

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What is Flipgrid?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Flipgrid is a video discussion platform where a teacher can setup a discussion prompt or assignment task and students share and discuss their responses through video. It is user-friendly and has many fun features that foster social learning in an engaging manner. Microsoft acquired Flipgrid in 2018, which is beneficial for King\u2019s College London staff and students as they can access it for free using their King\u2019s Office 365 login and it works on any device.<\/p>\n

\"Flipgrid<\/p>\n

How we\u2019ve used it for distance learning:<\/strong><\/p>\n

King’s Foundations delivers Combined Pre-sessional courses to develop academic skills in Reading & Writing and Speaking & Listening. The first four weeks of the programmes are delivered online as distance learning. While students provide positive feedback for the online part of their courses, they do comment that their speaking and listening skills only see increased improvement once they arrive in London and take part in the face to face teaching sessions.<\/p>\n

This is where I saw Flipgrid could be a quick win, providing a social environment to help students engage with their peers to practice English-speaking and seminar skills regardless of their location.<\/p>\n

This summer we added a discussion prompt for students to introduce themselves in Induction Week and one discussion task per week as part of their Listening & Speaking lessons. These include tasks that prompt them to practice various seminar skills, such as being able to make a claim and back it up and to respond to other student\u2019s claims.<\/p>\n

\"Flipgrid<\/p>\n

My expectations regarding student engagement were completely exceeded. For one class of 32 students, for just the induction discussion task, there were 99 videos<\/strong> created, 60 of those which were replies, 3526 views<\/strong> and 75.5h engagement<\/strong> (time spent creating or viewing videos). For the same class, across all of the discussion tasks during the four weeks, they posted a total of 433 videos<\/strong>, with 9456 views<\/strong> and 211.1h engagement<\/strong> (see teacher dashboard image). Teachers have commented on being surprised by the quality of students\u2019 comments as well.<\/p>\n

Be creative<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Flipgrid<\/p>\n

This is just an example of the success we have had with introducing Flipgrid into both our distant learning and face-to-face classes. There are so many possibilities for how this simple platform could be used to harness the power of your students\u2019 voices to enhance their learning. You just have to use a bit of creativity.<\/p>\n

Some quick brainstorming ideas:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2022 Try a video to get students to reflect or give feedback
\n\u2022 Be creative with the tasks (it doesn\u2019t have to be just them recording themselves talking)
\n\u2022 Help them through the different steps of a writing process by verbally talking through their ideas and points first
\n\u2022 Have students film steps in a project, demonstrate an experiment or teach a process\/topic
\n\u2022 Use the graphics Flipgrid provide (any from their site are free to use) to promote it to students to make it look appealing
\n\u2022 Create a Mixed Tape (group of a student\u2019s videos) to share with a student to see their progress
\n\u2022 Use the custom rubric to score and give feedback
\n\u2022 Use as a flipped classroom task or to continue a discussion as homework
\n\u2022 The possibilities are limitless, please share your ideas in the comments!<\/p>\n

Flipgrid also provides a great community for gaining inspirational ideas (Educator Innovation Station<\/a> or #FlipgridFever on Twitter).<\/p>\n

It is simple and easy to get started with Flipgrid, set up of discussion boards and share them with your students. Log into Flipgrid and give it a go. Maybe think about a task that could help your students prepare for their exams and help each other revise. Or looking to the start of next year, how you could use it for an induction task.<\/p>\n

Please do look at some helpful training links provided below to get you started and leave comments for any ideas you may want to try or have already tried.<\/p>\n

Useful links:<\/strong><\/p>\n