Flipgrid - A video discussion forum for learning together

Flipgrid

Flipgrid, owned by Microsoft, is a freely accessible video chat platform that, according to the Microsoft Center for Teachers, helps teachers see and hear every student in the classroom while fostering an interactive, social and fun learning environment.

The platform encourages students to record short videos (Flipgrid also offers an "audio only" mode) to create collaborative lessons, which sometimes earns it comparisons to a Snapchat or Instagram for teaching.

How it works

Learn in this first episode, how to create an account and how to get started creating your first "topic." Along with Laurent Di Pasquale, a trainer at eduLAB, you'll also learn how to record an original video and how to quickly upload it via the interface.

FlipGrid Tutorial 1: "taking your first steps in the app"

In this second episode, you will be placed in the posture of the student who has to send his work via the app. What are the different steps to send his video? What will the student actually see when using the application?

FlipGrid 2 Tutorial: "in the posture of the student"

N.B.: You can also find a beginner's course in the Microsoft Teacher Center.

Feedback

Laurent Di Pasquale

Laurent Di Pasquale, an eduLAB trainer and high school social studies teacher, presented a workshop in the learning room area at Ludovia#BE titled "Flipgrid, the educational Snapchat that engages and motivates students."

He explains, in an interview with Eric Fourcaud for Ludomag (to be found below), that the day-to-day effect of social networks on young people today should prompt us to think about how to take advantage of these codes in terms of motivation and cross-curricular education. For him, Flipgrid with its appearance and functioning is really reminiscent of Snapchat or any Instagram story.

However, he is keen to point out that the application is not enough on its own and that it is crucial to integrate a pedagogical scenario. His advice to teachers is to first think about the situation in which they want to integrate the tool.

Here is also the recording of Laurent Di Pasquale's webinar at Microsoft EDU Day 2021, where he shares his experience with the app through an educational exchange project between his class in Belgium and a class in Canada. You'll also find his tips and tricks.

Nathalie Mathieu

Nathalie Mathieu, an English teacher at the Lycée Saint-Bénigne in Dijon, uses Flipgrid regularly with her students. In remarks reported by EdtechActu, she explains that this application gives voice to the most discreet students and gives us 5 uses for Flipgrid that can be deployed in the classroom:

• Beginning of the year presentation: Because the traditional short presentation at the beginning of the school year in front of the entire class in English can be stressful for some, she asks her students to film this presentation at home with their phones. This way they can as many times as they want and their videos are viewed in class.
  
  
Pairs work: Flipgrid allows students to work on their speaking skills in pairs. Students, in groups of two, can practice and film themselves practicing a job interview or simulate selling a product, for example.

Interdisciplinary Project: His students had to warm up in English during sports class and it was difficult for them to memorize all of this new vocabulary. Videos helped illustrate movement and technical terms.


• School trip: During the annual school trip to England, highlights are filmed and commented on by the students.
  
  
• Discussion with students from around the world: Communities are available for teachers in Flipgrid. GridPals  thus allows to exchange with students of the same age in very distant countries on common topics. Very motivating moments for a class.
  
  

Mikaël Bertrand

Mikaël Bertrand, a history-geography and civic education teacher at the Anna Judic high school in Semur-en-Auxois, explains on the Académie de Dijon website that Flipgrid is an application that promotes the development of oral skills in students. For him, the tool is particularly ideal for preparing a debate, as students can indeed propose arguments before the session and benefit from an initial feedback from their peers and their teacher.

With a view to a debate in the European section, he actually asked his students to search for elements of reflection related to the theme of immigration. The result? 81 videos were published by a group of 35 students for a total of 1700 views. Proof for Mikaël Bertrand that his students really used this tool to listen and respond to each other.

Julie Chardonnet & Pierre-Olivier Cloutier

Julie Chardonnet and Pierre-Olivier Cloutier, elementary and secondary school teachers in Quebec, explain for l'Ecole branchée, that as teachers we are all looking for tools to make student thinking visible and that Flipgrid is one of those tools. To inspire us and get us started, they actually offer a few ideas that they themselves have implemented:

• Checking students' initial conceptions of a topic.
• Production of a "field trip ticket" type to see what was retained from a lesson.
• Explaining a process in solving a problem, conducting an experiment or designing a project.
• Work on oral communication (French, English, Spanish) by giving students a chance to get their act together and turn in work they are proud of.
• Validate a mathematical approach orally.
• Present their appreciation of a literary or artistic work.
• Present the synthesis of a brainstorming during a project.
  
  

My opinion on Flipgrid

In the end, Flipgrid proves to be an excellent tool to develop the oral skills of even the most discreet students. Besides, we'll appreciate the "audio only" mode which can come in handy for students who may be more screen shy.

But for me, the real strength of Flipgrid lies in its ability to make students' thinking visible by moving them from a simple situation of passive consumption (viewing a video) to a more complex situation of content creation, or even participatory co-creation of knowledge (cf. Margarida Romero's Five Levels of ICT Use - 2015).

A collaborative learning that is not unlike the famous quote of Professor Philippe Carré: "We always learn alone, but never without others" (L'apprenance: vers un nouveau rapport au savoir, Dunod - 2005).

Its intuitive features also make it quick to pick up by students, who find in its design great similarities with other applications in their daily lives on social networks that they are quite fond of.

Giving voice to the quiet ones with Flipgrid. EdTech Actu, February 24, 2021, https://edtechactu.com/outils-collaboratifs/donner-la-parole-aux-plus-discrets-avec-flipgrid/.

Flipgrid | Empower Every Voice. https://info.flipgrid.com/. Accessed February 14, 2022.

FlipGrid: creation in the service of feedback. Connected School, June 9, 2020, https://ecolebranchee.com/flipgrid-la-creation-au-service-de-la-retroaction/.

Moochg5: Developing oral skills with Flipgrid - History-Geography Dijon. http://histoire-geographie.ac-dijon.fr/spip.php?article953. Accessed February 14, 2022.

Social networks: Flipgrid, the educational Snapchat that engages and motivates students. Ludomag, November 10, 2021, https://www.ludomag.com/2021/11/10/reseaux-sociaux-flipgrid-le-snapchat-pedagogique-qui-engage-et-motive-les-eleves/.

Spark learner engagement and boost learning with Flipgrid. Microsoft Educator Centre, https://education.microsoft.com/fr-fr/course/130fa5cb/0. Accessed February 14, 2022.

FlipGrid Tutorial 1: taking your first steps in the app. www.youtube.com, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHKWkpc5skQ. Accessed February 14, 2022.

FlipGrid 2 Tutorial: In the Student Posture. www.youtube.com, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFmEHGHxjlQ. Accessed February 14, 2022.