Flipgrid fun! I wrote twice recently about Flipgrid, but I really didn’t get to the fun parts, like stickers! Today let’s walk through all the options students have before, during and after creating their video responses. Welcome to Day 89 of 365 Ideas for Office 365.
You have created your assignment in Flipgrid and shared it with your students. Now it’s time for them to have some Flipgrid fun.
They will start by clicking on the big, green plus sign.
They can jump right in and press the record button, but there are many Flipgrid fun options they can do first.
Flipgrid fun with Filters
They can choose a filter color. This colors everything on your screen during your video. It lets everyone view your world through rose-colored glasses. Or yellow. Or black-and-white. Forgot your comb or brush today? No worries. Go with the pixelated look.
Text Boxes
They can add a text box, also in your choice of designer colors. Choose from black on white or a variety of colors on a black background. Resize, and click and drag to position your text box. You can add a text box before, or at any point during your recording.
Flipgrid fun with Stickers
There are also HUNDREDS of choices of stickers to add lots of Flipgrid fun. One use here is for a student that does not want their face to appear on screen. They can add a smiley face or similar sticker, and click and drag on the corner to resize it, then keep their face behind it during the c=video recording.
Many stickers work as props to add to your image- try to keep still so those glasses stay in place!
Other stickers function as a label.
In case you didn’t know just how magical Flipgrid is:
Flipgrid fun with Digital Inking
There’s also digital inking. I wrote/drew this before recording, but the pen is available in a whole rainbow of color choices while recording, too, so you can write, draw, or highlight while narrating.
Whiteboard/Blackboard Mode
But what if you don’t want to appear on screen at all? Or what if you want the whole screen available to write or draw on? What if you want to solve a math problem onscreen while talking it through in the recording? Your students can choose to have a whiteboard or blackboard onscreen instead of using the camera.
If you don’t see a sticker that suits your needs, you can upload your own. What that really means is you can upload any image onto the screen. In the example below, I took a screenshot of a Word document and uploaded it as an image onto Flipgrid, then used the pen to highlight important words. Students can take notes, mark up text or label diagrams, all the while explaining their thinking by recording their narration.
Students can also choose to turn off audio narration, or upload a video to Flipgrid that they recorded elsewhere. I have used the Screen recorder on PowerPoint to record a screencast and uploaded to a Flipgrid before.
Selfie
After recording, students click next, and they can preview their video, going back to re-record if they aren’t satisfied. When they click next again, they can choose the thumbnail image that other users will see in the gallery, that they will click on to see your video. They can choose to upload an image, select a screen capture from their recorded video, or just take a new selfie. The selfie option lets them choose from all the same options of Flipgrid fun as the video recording.
Flipgrid was made for student voice, student choice and student engagement. I’ve met the people responsible for Flipgrid. They’re a fun group of educators. They know how to throw a party. They do their best to bring that spirit into your classroom, and they’re really good at what they do.
If you like this style of directions and screenshots, walking you through ideas for using Microsoft tools in your classroom, check out my book,
All the Microsoft Tools You Need to Transform Your Classroom: 50 Ideas for using Microsoft Office 365 for Education available on amazon in both Kindle and paperback.