Flipgrid - Engaging Student Voice for Creative Critical Thinking

"An education isn't how much you have committed to memory, or even how much you know. It's being able to differentiate between what you do know and what you don't." - Anatole France

Outside of the Google for Education Suite of resources, there are three essential resources that are fixtures in my classroom. My students and I use Flipgrid, Pear Deck, and Padlet to communicate, collaborate, create, and most importantly engage in critical thinking. 

This post is all about Flipgrid. If you are not familiar with Flipgrid, know that it is one of the easiest tools to capture student voice using video. Educators can quickly and easily create Grids with different Topics and then share a link with students.

Grid = classroom or learning community. Adjust any security/privacy settings and customize the look of the Grid. Create a Grid for each class, school-wide, or a global connection!

Topics = discussion questions or prompts. Topics are created within a grid. Topics can simply be text-based or include a resource such as an image, video, a giphy, an emoji, and attachment.

My students and I have used Flipgrid in a variety of ways, including:

• Student Introductions
• Online Discussions
• Formative Assessment
• Reflective Learning
• Persuasive TED Talks
• Entrance & Exit Tickets
• Global Connections 
• Engagement in Field Trips
• Debates
• and more . . . 

I want my students to be creative communicators who are comfortable planning and sharing a thoughtful response to a question or concept. The process of planning and creating a response using Flipgrid is often a great critical thinking exercise for my students. 

"Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action. In its exemplary form, it is based on universal intellectual values that transcend subject matter divisions: clarity, accuracy, precision, consistency, relevance, sound evidence, good reasons, depth, breadth, and fairness." - Nichael Scriven & Richard Paul 

While not all of my students love the idea of videotaping themselves, many of my quietest students have found their voice using Flipgrid. Students who may be reluctant to speak up during class discussions will sometimes share some of the most insightful and engaging responses in a Flipgrid topic. (Flipgrid has some great resources to support reluctant students.)

We've organized a document of Flipgrid resources to support educators who are using or might be interested in exploring Flipgrid to engage students. 

Flipgrid Resources and Tips Document

Have a favorite Flipgrid moment or resource? Please share in the comments.