FlipGrid Fundementals

Grids

Previously posted October 2018

A Grid is your classroom or community of learners. Grids have Topics and Topics have Responses.

Adding a New Grid is relatively easy. First click on the +New Grid button. Then, fill in the form that provide the details for your grid. You can designate the community type and choose from school domain (ex. su.edu), a student ID List or make the grip public. The School domain option requires a user account in that Microsoft or Google domain.

There are features that can be activated or deactivated such as notifications, downloads, followers and captions. I activated notifications so I would know when someone posted and allowed downloads in case someone wanted their own copy of their video. I did not activate Grid Followers which would notify students when new Topics are posted or videos recorded nor did I activate captions which would display auto-generated captions for the video.

I did personalize the Grid with a banner image. The banner can be selected from a Library or uploaded from your computer.

Topics

Topics are the individual prompts within the Grid. Add a Topic in the same way as adding a Grid, click the +NewTopic button and again fill in the topic details. The details that can be controlled within a Topic include Response Time (from 15 to 90 seconds in the free version). A Display Date can be set but it requires a paid version to set and end date so the Topic must be manually set to Inactive. Here is where you also add the text for your Question or prompt, set up Moderation if you want to approve video posts.

You can Change the status of the Topic from Active to Frozen to Inactive. Section 4 of the Topic Details has a setting to allow students to respond to one another, allow Video Titles, show the number of views and allow emojis as a reaction to the video. Consider these options carefully based on your purpose and your audience.

Responses

Once you share the link or code with students, the student can post a response. The interface for students can include a description of the task in either text or a video or both. Students are given a timed window for response. There is a redo button if you don’t like your first take. There is also an option for uploading a video hidden under the options gear. Once the student has recorded there is also option for adding a caption which can include hashtags for improving search capabilities and also attaching a file to the video.

The student responses are shown below with a unique link and actions for sharing and extending the conversation including the creation of a MixTape of the Responses that stand out or each and every one of the recorded Responses. The instructor can create and edit the mix. 

I feel there is a fairly easy point of entry for those new to FlipGrid and some solid features and functionality for those that like to either geek out or create more robust possibilities for Topics, Responses and ongoing interactions among students.

There is also great potential for collecting content to create a culminating multimedia project from the Grid to evidence depth of knowledge and the evolution of ideas among learners. I would strongly recommend the nine minute video tutorial by Richard Byrne to help you get started.

Here is an example of a Grid Topic I used with the EDU585 Fall 2019 class. You must use your SU.EDU account to view the Grid Topic.