Teachers First - Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers

In June, educators worldwide learned that Flip (formerly Flipgrid) would cease to exist as a standalone platform, leaving a large void in many teachers’ technology toolboxes. Flip is now accessible only within the Microsoft Teams ecosystem.

Flip was much more than a camera; it was a home for students to share their voices and a global community supporting educators with an extensive library of resources, live learning events, and international partnerships. On a personal note, I am deeply grateful to the people behind Flip for the resources they created and shared and the lessons I learned from using this tool, and I will miss it greatly.

Here are just 10 lessons learned from using Flip:

1. Flip Enhanced Student Engagement and promoted Student voice. Flip uses a lower barrier to participation that invites all students to engage and participate. For example, students who are comfortable verbally sharing might be less comfortable with a written presentation. Flip gave these students the confidence to participate fully.
2. Built-in tools made implementing immediate, personalized feedback from instructors and peers easy, leading to improved Feedback and Assessment.
3. Differentiated Instruction doesn’t have to be complicated or time-consuming. Flip made it easy to add a variety of resources suitable for different needs, allowing students to share their voices creatively while still meeting curriculum goals.
4. Developing 21st-century Skills is essential but doesn’t have to be complicated. Using Flip could be as simple as writing and sharing a prompt with students or as complex as building an entire learning unit within Flip’s framework. 
5. Building a Classroom Community encourages all students to be themselves. Flip’s camera included many built-in tools for self-expression, such as filters, stickers, and images. Using these tools offered endless opportunities for students to share their knowledge in their own unique ways.
6. Teacher Professional Development can be easily accessible and productive. Thousands of teachers shared ideas in all subjects by posting topics to the Discovery Library. These topics provided an opportunity to learn how others use digital tools to engage learners and a look into different teaching styles. The educator community was as robust as the classroom communities created within Flip.
7. Accessibility and Equity are essential. Flip continually added accessibility features such as closed captions, immersive reader, and asynchronous learning opportunities that allowed all students access to learning.
8. Global connections are available for everyone and come in many different formats. Flip shared global learning opportunities for students to connect through books, culture, and classrooms. At the same time, teachers made global connections through the many resources available in the Discovery Learning Library from around the world.
9. Students practiced Digital Citizenship within a safe community, and educators had options to moderate responses and teach digital citizenship in a space that didn’t create a long-lasting digital footprint.
10. Authentic communication was available to all. Students and teachers easily engaged in authentic communication through video responses. Using additional tools such as backgrounds, whiteboards, and screen sharing enabled us to respond fully and in engaging ways. 

Although millions of educators will miss Flip,  it is time to look forward to applying those lessons using other digital resources while always remembering that digital tools are constantly changing. Even if we have favorite resources, we can help by staying current with new technology and being prepared to pivot as change inevitably happens.

While Flip remains irreplaceable, these tools offer viable alternatives for certain built-in features within Flip’s software.

Flip-like Feature: The teleprompter. Having a teleprompter handy for students to use while recording videos helps them remember what to include, builds fluency, and reminds them to use a natural tone.
Replacement:  Use sticky notes to replace the teleprompter. Sticky notes are available on Macs and as a Windows or Chrome add-on, such as Sticky Notes: Just Popped Up! (reviewed here).

Flip-like Feature: The video recorder/camera. The key component of Flip is the camera. The camera was easy to use and included many features that supplemented recorded conversations.
Replacement: The camera is still available if you use Microsoft Teams. ScreenPal (reviewed here) is a free video recorder with captions, a screen recorder, and a background remover. It integrates with Google Classroom, Teams, Canvas, and more.

Flip-like Feature: Recording a video within the Flip browser or app. 
Replacement: Several popular tools include a built-in video recorder, including Canva for Education (reviewed here), Book Creator (reviewed here), Padlet (reviewed here) and Seesaw (reviewed here)

Flip-like Feature: Including links, videos, documents, and other resources within a prompt gives quick access to all the information needed to complete a response.
Replacement: Many different tools offer the ability to share learning resources with students in one location. 

• For example, use Google Slides (reviewed here) to create prompts asking students to share a video discussion like this one. Students share information using the prompts in the directions, then conclude with a short video discussion created with Animate from Audio (reviewed here). To make this a collaborative learning activity, add enough blank slides for each student to share their learning while creating a presentation for all to view. Enable comments for classmates to provide meaningful feedback.
• Another tool that offers opportunities for interaction and sharing of resources is Figjam (reviewed here). Figjam doesn’t have a built-in camera; however, it does have an add-on that integrates with your Vimeo account called Vimeo Record. You can use Vimeo Record for up to 30 minutes, and similar to Flip’s camera, it allows you to record your screen, camera, or both. 

Flip-like Feature: Sharing student-created videos with others. For example, many teachers added QR codes to posters and student artwork for others to use to access student-created video explanations. 
Replacement: Use this QR Code Generator (reviewed here) to create an easy-to-access link to student videos. This URL shortener with an easy download feature lets you copy images directly to your device’s clipboard and incorporate them into various documents.

Flip-like Feature: More than anything else, Flip was a safe environment for encouraging student voice and creating collaborative social communities.
Replacement: Tools such as MySciLife (reviewed here), a free educational social media learning platform for middle school science, provide a safe environment for students to collaborate with other classrooms and actively experience science. Learn more about MySciLife by watching Introducing MySciLife: Social Media for Middle Level Science.

As we bid farewell to Flip, it’s important to remember the valuable lessons it taught us and continue to explore innovative ways that engage and inspire our students. What lessons have you learned from using Flip? Do you have suggestions for creating and sharing Flip-inspired activities? We would love to hear your suggestions in the comments as we learn together.