Flipgrid Empowering Student Voice in the Classroom What

Flipgrid Empowering Student Voice in the Classroom

What is Flipgrid? Flipgrid is an award winning program that allows students to discuss relevant school topics as assigned by their teacher. Teachers set up the “grid” (discussion areas) and student create a short video to respond to the discussion assignment. Students also can create their own discussion topics and respond to what others are posting. Allows all students to have a voice and share their thoughts and ideas in an engaging way.

Use technology tools to enhance rigorous, relevant, and engaging learning experiences for all students. Our Technology Vision Flipgrid provides opportunities for rigor, relevance and engaging learning experiences. Teachers can set the rigor based on the questions and topics they post to have students discuss. Students will be immersed in relevance as teachers post questions for discussion that are based on content based standards. Communication is an important part of being successful in the real world and this will allow students to gain confidence in sharing ideas. Flipgrid is a great way to have students engaged in their learning. It is authentic, meaningful, student-centered, has students taking the role of producer and teacher and is performance based.

Why Flipgrid? Technology – Since we are a STEM certified school this is a great way to continue to embrace the “T” in STEM while allowing students a chance to reflect on what they have been learning in the classroom. Students will be using smart devices to share their thoughts and ideas which will help engage them in the learning process. Authentic Learning – Flipgrid provides an opportunity for thoughtful responses. The support site gives teachers tips on how to ask higher level thinking questions to get the most out of responses. Students use smart devices all of the time, Flipgrid gives them a format to produce, analyze, and respond like they will in the real world.

Why Flipgrid? Student Centered – Students create their own thoughtful responses. This gives every student equal time to express themselves in a meaningful way. Students can create new topics to spark discussion and can also respond to others’ posts. Challenging – Students are required to use higher level thinking skills to create a response to the topics in an evaluative way. Flipgrid is a tool that allows teachers to create critical thinking questions that enable kids to communicate and analyze topics. It will be as challenging as the teachers make it.

Why Flipgrid? Differentiation – All students have a voice using this program, not just the ones who are always shouting out. Flipgrid gives teachers a chance to hear what the students are really learning. It allows learners at all levels and from all different cultural backgrounds to show what they know in a self paced environment. This will be a great tool for our ELL students, our students with learning disabilities in addition to our entire population. Culturally responsive – Flipgrid gives every student a voice. It creates a comfort zone and an equal opportunity for students to share in a way that can incorporate their cultural backgrounds, linguistic knowledge and prior experiences

Instructional Design – This program is beneficial to all of our students, grade K through 5. It is very user friendly and allows students to respond at their level. Why Flipgrid? Content Standards – Flipgrid has a standards-aligned guide that helps teachers build a grid for math, science, social studies, language arts and much more. Teachers can use it formative or summative assessment or can use it to spark conversation about topics. Collaboration – Students can respond to each other’s videos and video responses can be shared outside of the local school environment to make their product more important, meaningful and useful. Students can also work together as a group to create their video responses.

Research based -It supports the latest research on giving opportunities for student voice. Why Flipgrid “Students who are given a voice in setting goals gain ownership in what they’re learning. Teachers who listen to what students tell them they need to learn gain more than just a better understanding of the children they teach — they gain clarity on their roadmap to better teaching. ” (Sanford 2013).

But wait, what about…? Cost – There is a free version for educators. It only allows for one grid per teacher, but it does provide a great starting point for our school. The more elaborate plans which include multiple grids, being able to embed the grid into a blog and being able to use PCs start at $65 per teacher per year or $400 for a group of 10 teachers per year. If we do feel we need more access, we can approach our Foundation for funding since this ties in with the STEM programs for which they provide funds. Safety – Flipgrid is as open or as restricted as you set it to be; share with parents, share with other classmates, share in the community or be the only one who gets to see student work, it’s up to you. The only way others will have access to the grid is if teachers share their specific url. Teachers also can review responses to videos before any are posted.

But wait, what about…? Support – Flipgrid has FAQ on their support site that seems to cover just about every issue that may come up, along with support videos and a tech team you can email with questions. It is user friendly and easy to navigate. Equipment – Flipgrid can be used on any i. Pad, i. Phone or Android device for free. The paid version allows you to utilize computers as well.

Limitations School i. Pads will need to be shared (not quite enough in the school, even with i. Pad cart) to be used daily. Teachers need to be aware that not every student will have a device at home, so this should be used primarily in school. Parents need to sign waivers to allow students to videos to be shared outside of school. Parents may not be comfortable with their students sharing videos outside of the classroom. This program is only as good as the teachers make it. Teachers will need to be encouraged to use higher level questioning to get the most out of Flipgrid.

Other concerns (safety, health, legal & ethical) We will need to adopt a school wide digital citizenship plan to be sure that students are posting responsibly. Students need repeated digital citizenship reminders about how to post appropriately if videos will be shared. Students will also need to be reminded not to share last names, addresses, phone numbers or any other personal information. Some students may have anxiety over creating a video of themselves sharing their ideas. However, they have multiple times to practice before posting and communication is a skill that all students will need. Teachers will need to be aware of this concern.

How do we get started? Flipgrid provides an Integration Guide that helps teachers get started with tips for setting up an account, a guide for asking the right kind of questions and general information on using the program. All that is needed to get started is an email address, user name and password. https: //info. flipgrid. com/

My Reflection In creating this project I learned that there is a lot to think about when considering adopting an emerging technology. I found that the rubric went hand in hand with what I’ve learned about high Lo. Ti levels and Engaged Learning Indicators in my 21 st Century Teaching and Learning Class. It is important to consider the school vision, how it can be implemented, and how it will affect students and staff. There is so much technology available and it is important to be vigilant in evaluating programs so that the schools are not just having quantity of programs, but rather quality.

My Reflection Flipgrid is an excellent tool. It will have limitations in that it is only good as the classroom teacher will make it. However, it can also be a way to spark a teacher to reach for those higher level thinking skills since these videos can be shared outside of the school. This type of tool will go perfectly with the standards that I teach in the gifted classroom and will allow so many more opportunities for the students to have meaningful opportunities for communication and self-reflection.

My Reflection In my classroom, I certainly have the students with robust personalities who take over the room. I think this is an excellent opportunity to also hear from those students who rarely raise their hand or participate. Teachers can fairly assess what everyone has learned and give students a chance to speak their mind. I love how this program can give even the shyest child a chance to express themselves. I believe it will help our students to learn how to communicate succinctly and successfully and will also help to build self-esteem.

Works Cited Flipgrid [Computer software]. (2017). Retrieved from https: //info. flipgrid. com/ Sanford, Harriet (2013, May 28). Want to Improve Teaching? Listen to Students. [The Blog]. Retrieved from Huff Post http: //www. huffingtonpost. com/harriet-sanford/want-toimprove-teaching-_b_3342521. html