Flipgrid and HyperDocs: Amplifying student voice in purposeful digital lesson design.

This is a collaborative post written with the incredible Sean Fahey, an amazing 6th grade teacher in Indiana. Be sure to follow him on Twitter and check out his blog at faheystech.blogspot.com.  

If you follow either one of us on Twitter, you will quickly find out that we have many things in common. Two of those being our passion for Flipgrid and HyperDocs. We are have created many HyperDocs collaboratively and share them with our PLN on Twitter. We are also both Flipgrid Ambassadors and love sharing this amazing tool with other educators. We believe that powerful digital lesson design infused with the power of amplifying student voice is truly a game changer in the classroom.

Whoa. Stop the music. You don’t know about Flipgrid or HyperDocs? Well, then you have our permission to stop reading and explore any and all of the resources below.

• HyperDocs! Need I Say More???

• The HyperDoc Effect: 7 Ways Using HyperDocs has Changed my Classroom
• Catch the Flipgrid fever! 15+ ways to use Flipgrid in your class.
• 13 Ways to Enhance Math Lessons with FlipGrid

OK now that we are all on the same page with the WHAT, let’s talk about WHY HyperDocs and WHY Flipgrid? And HOW we can use them together to amplify student voice in purposeful digital lesson design?In an episode of the Cult of Pedagogy podcast, Jennifer Gonzalez interviewed Lisa Highfill, Kelly Hilton, and Sarah Landis the creators of HyperDocs.

HIGHFILL: ...You know when a new web tool comes along, you’re all excited? Like everyone’s excited right now about Flipgrid and whatnot.

GONZALEZ: Yeah.

HIGHFILL: But then I want to ask them, what are you going to do with it? How are you going to build the pedagogy around that cool tool?

GONZALEZ: Right.

HIGHFILL: And where in the lesson flow would it fit in your HyperDocs? So it’s really saying, “I love flashy new tools. Now let’s think about how you can effectively use them in the classroom, and then link it into your HyperDoc that way."

Lisa makes a great point. How many times have you got caught up in all the hoopla over a new edtech tool or update? Flipgrid is THE hot new edtech tool educators are excited to use. However, as Lisa asks, “What are you going to do with it? How are you going to build the pedagogy around that cool tool?”

We need to make sure that we slow down and think about why are we including the technology we have chosen for our lessons. We shouldn’t just toss in a Flipgrid or any other edtech tool we might like just because we need or want to use technology.  Karly’s friend Nick Zefeldt, advises that when implementing educational technology we need to make sure and ask “Is it meaningful and is it manageable?”

Well, we say “Yes!” to Flipgrid being both when used correctly and we want to give some ideas how you can effectively use Flipgrid in the classroom, and then link it into your HyperDoc lessons. The reason being that great HyperDocs are created and taught with purposeful lesson design and pedagogy and Flipgrid being so versatile by allowing for video feedback and increased student voice within your digital lesson design.

While HyperDocs can take many forms (slides, maps, drawing, forms etc), we will be referring to the sections from the basic HyperDoc template for our examples. The basic HyperDoc template has seven parts that students go through as you complete the lesson. This template was created by Sarah Landis to help others get started and gives an excellent description of each part.

There are tons of ways you can incorporate Flipgrid into your HyperDocs, here are just a few ideas for getting started. Note: You can go to “file” then “make a copy” of any of these templates or examples to use with your own class.

Engage

Use Flipgrid to engage students at the beginning of a lesson by including a video, image, quote, or another inspirational hook in your topic for students to respond to.

• Idea 💡  KWL chart gets a video REMIX. Have student respond to a topic sharing what they know. Then have them reply to themselves and classmates sharing what they want to know. After the lesson or unit have students come back to their own video and respond to themselves with what they have learned. Woo! A FlipGrid KWL

• Example HyperDoc

Explore

Students explore a topic through a collection of resources (articles, videos, infographics, text excerpts, etc.) in the HyperDoc.

• Idea 💡 Bring in experts and take your students beyond the four walls of your classroom! Flipgrid hosts an amazing opportunity with their Flipgrid Explorer Series. They have done two so far and more are planned! Use the expert videos in the Explorer series for your students to learn about new and exciting animals, places and careers. HyperDocs are a perfect accompaniment to this series as you create your digital lessons around these topics and extend the learning in your own classroom.
• Example HyperDoc
• Idea 💡 So Flipgrid’s explore series doesn’t fit into your curriculum? Then create your own! Teachers can do this by creating a ‘virtual field trip’. Go to a place (we’re thinking state parks, historical sites, museums, etc)  that is of value to your lessons and record short videos of the sites to bring the content to your classroom.  Add the videos to a Flipgrid for your students to explore and respond to. Even better collaborate with other teachers across your district, state or even in other countries to create an explorer series for many different classes to connect through.

Apply and Share:

Create an assignment for students to apply what they learn by using web tools to create, collaborate, and/or connect beyond the classroom.  Then collect student work to provide feedback, and/or include a section for students to share work with an authentic audience.

• Idea 💡 Have students use storytelling web tools to apply their learning. Then appsmash with Flipgrid and get them to share with the class and beyond! Students show what they know using video or digital storytelling in a different app then upload to Flipgrid to share.
• Add in any part of or all of this  Flipgrid appsmash choice board to your HyperDoc and have students apply then share their learning!
• Idea 💡 You don’t need to appsmash. Students can simply connect with other students across the school, state, country or world! Before, during and/or after a unit have students connect with each other to share what they learned.

Reflect:

Give students an opportunity for digital reflection on their learning journey using Flipgrid to guide students through their learning progression and set new goals.

• Idea 💡 Have students reflect back on the lesson or unit and share what they have learned. This is a powerful way for students to be thoughtful about their learning process.
• Example HyperDoc
• Also see the KWL example for Engage above.

This quote from Matt Miller reminds us that we must be intentional in our teaching and integration of technology no matter what tools we decide to use in our lessons. “The bottom line is that pedagogy must drive technology. The mindset that fuels digital learning is good teaching trumps good tools.”

Catch the Flipgrid Fever! 15+ Ways To Use Flipgrid in Your Class

If you haven't heard of Flipgrid yet then you will soon be seeing it everywhere. I had my first experience with Flipgrid on March 2nd in a #Ditchbook chat. I was hesitant to try it out and almost skipped the chat because I wasn't sure about trying to learn how to use yet another tool at 7pm on a Thursday night. However, Matt Miller and my Ditchbook pals Sandy Otto and Craig Klement assured me it was easy peasy and I decided to try it out. Boy am I sure glad I did! 

Flipgrid is a FREE video response platform where educators can have online video discussions with students or other educators. Teachers can provide feedback to students AND better yet students can provide feedback to one another. With Flipgrid you get unlimited grids, topics, responses, and replies to responses. You can definitely do a TON with the free version so check that out first and if you decide to take it further then you can look into getting a classroom account. Check out more info on the differences and how to get started here.

Here are a few videos to get you started! https://t.co/eEMxAIDCdg Otherwise check out #flipgridfever for 1000s of ideas 👍🏽 https://t.co/2gDnLp5jgo

— Flipgrid (@flipgrid) April 20, 2017

My first few experiences with Flipgrid were in an educational chat setting where a group of educators from all over the country shared ideas and inspired one another online. I have become so excited about using it with students and other educators that I have become a Flipgrid Ambassador. But don't take my word for it, check it out and try it yourself!

It really IS as easy as 1-2-3 to get started using Flipgrid with your class.
1. Create a discussion board and share the link with your class. (With the classroom account you can embed fully functional Flipgrid cards or a grid in Google Classroom, Haiku, Blackboard, Canvas, Schoology along many other sites or in an LMS)
2. Students record their video (Flipgrid can be used on ANY device)
3. You and your students reply to one another and take the discussions further.

So how can you use the Flipgrid with your class? Here are 15 ideas for using this video platform in your classroom. 

1.  Reading response goes digital. After your class reads an article, chapter or book have them respond to a question about their reading. Take the conversation further by having students comment on each other's responses.
2. End of year (semester) reflection. What better way to say goodbye than to have your students record a video reflecting on their learning over the course of your class? (I'm pretty sure many of these would require a box of tissues for those tear-jerker posts!)
3. Advice to next year's class.  How cool is it to have a Flipgrid of advice videos from your current students to show next year's class? Check out this End of Year Reflection HyperDoc and link a Flipgrid in the share section.
4. Debate a topic! Add a Flipgrid to the share section of this "Great Debate" HyperDoc by Rayna Freedman to get your students debating.
5. Show what you know! Choice and voice are so important for getting students to share their knowledge with us. What better way to do that then to add Flipgrid as an option in a Show What You Know BINGO board?
6. Reflect on a lesson or unit. Seems simple but having your students reflect on a lesson is great feedback for us as teachers. How did it go? What changes would you make? What was your favorite part? Take a look at their responses for planning next year.
7. 30-second book talk challenge. Have your students share about their favorite book in 30 seconds or less. Check out this example.
8. Exit tickets get a makeover. Post the question "What did you learn today?" or better yet ask your students "What did you create today?" for the students to answer before leaving class.
9. Number talks. Have students explain their thinking and critique the reasoning of others as they work through a math problem.
10. Brainstorming in the Engineering Design Process. Students can jump very quickly to planning or even building before they get out their ideas in a brainstorming session. Slow them down a bit and capture their thinking as they throw out their ideas on Flipgrid. Add a Flipgrid to the brainstorm portion of this Intro to Engineering Design Process HyperDoc.
11. Put a spin on student of the week. Have each student record a video sharing why that student of the week is special. Students will enjoy watching video messages from their classmates sharing why they are a valued member of their classroom community.
12. Reboot your standard biography report. My friend Sean Fahey had the fabulous idea to use Nadine Gilkison's amazing Biography Inquiry HyperDoc to teach students all about biographies. Finally, have students dress up as the person they are researching and record short presentation video.
13. Welcome back to school Flipgrid style. Have all staff record a welcome back message for your students at the beginning of the year. Ask a local (or national) celebrity to join in and give a shout out to your students.
14. Appreciation/Thank you card. After a field trip, on your admin's birthday or during Teacher or Classified Staff appreciation week have your class record their own video thank you cards.
15. Appsmash! OK, I'm kinda cheating here since this is really WAY more than one idea but it's just too good to leave out. I have had the opportunity to connect with an incredible educator and Flipgrid Ambassador, Jornea Erwin. In this episode of Flipgrid Unplugged Jornea shares SO many ideas for how to appsmash with Flipgrid to kick it up another notch. Once you have a few Flipgrids under your belt you REALLY need to check this out!

Inspiration 🎓🚀 Remember that time when @Savvy_Educator appsmashed @Flipgrid w/ more than 25 awesome #EdTech apps 🔥 https://t.co/L4lr0WvqQu pic.twitter.com/GAV7hFOh41

— Flipgrid (@flipgrid) April 20, 2017

Want to check out even MORE ideas for using Flipgrid inside and outside of the classroom?  These amazing posts by Sean Fahey and Jen Giffen are FULL of great ideas.

10 Ways to Enhance Math Lessons with @FlipGridhttps://t.co/xRgrrAEPqn#FlipGridFever #DitchBook #mathchat #elemmathchat #mtbos #INeLearn pic.twitter.com/KHfZCybpzU

— Sean Fahey (@SEANJFAHEY) June 11, 2017

Today's guest on our blog: @virtualgiff presents 10 ways to use Flipgrid OUTSIDE the classroom 💥 #FlipgridFever https://t.co/2pkikEIpbs pic.twitter.com/k1gY5iFsjg

— Flipgrid (@flipgrid) June 16, 2017

The opportunities to utilize this platform in your class are endless. The best way to get started? Try it out yourself! Share how YOU have used or will use Flipgrid with your students below!

Google Expeditions! Where Will They Take You?

HyperDocs + Google Forms: A guide to simple digital lesson design

One day my colleague, Ashley Sansoe an amazing and innovative teacher, asked me to come into her class to brainstorm ways to work digital math lessons into her combo class. She wanted one grade level to be doing something productive and meaningful on their Chromebooks while the other grade level was working with her. 

After brainstorming a few ideas we decided that creating HyperDocs in Google Forms would give us the most bang for our buck. (Shout-out to Claire Tsougarakis for bringing this idea up in one of our EdCamps and planting the seed for how powerful forms are for HyperDocs!)

Creating HyperDocs in Google Forms allows us to integrate the powerful lesson design of HyperDocs into one manageable place. The value of using a Google Form for these short one-day lessons is that it allows the teacher to see all of the work in one place (on a spreadsheet). With the ease of the integrated self-grading quiz feature students were provided instant feedback on the questions and can then go back to review, reflect and then retake the quiz! 

These lessons assume that the content has been taught in class and this is an extension of the lesson. This lesson could easily be used to flip your class and provide you with a preview of what your class already knows coming into the lesson. 

You could use this same format for an eLearning lesson plan with a deeper dive. Check out 50 elearning activities, templates and tutorials for more ideas.

Below is an example HyperDoc created with Google Forms for 3rd graders.

We wanted to incorporate the lesson design that makes HyperDocs so effective in our form so we included sections that we hope do that. Here is how we designed our HyperDocs and have included a template for you to copy and use to get started. Of course, as with any template, use what you want and change it to make it your own!

Review/Reteach

After the Name short answer question (which we highly recommend making required) we embedded videos that reteach and/or reinforce the lesson. Check out 30 Great YouTube Channels for Teachers for inspiration or record and upload your own! 

Recording your own video is a great way to bring the classroom to your students at home. One of the easiest ways to do this is with Screencastify. A very simple chrome extension that allows you to easily record, edit, and share videos by directly uploading to YouTube, sharing through Google Classroom or by downloading to your computer. Check out 24 ways to create great classroom video with Screencastify for more information and ideas.

Adding a YouTube video to forms is easy peasy!

Show What You Know!

This section offers students an opportunity to apply their knowledge in a standardized test format. You can create multiple-choice, checkboxes and multiple answer questions with the embedded quiz feature that will automatically give students a grade after they submit. They can view their score then review, reflect and retake their quiz. A few tips Ashley and I learned along the way are below =)

*Make these questions required and the others (except name) not required so that students can go back and easily retake this section of the assessment without needing to retype in their longer answers or resubmit links to activities. 

*Be sure the box for "Limit to 1 response" is unchecked so that they can take their quiz multiple times. You can also collect email addresses (just in case someone decides to put a funny name instead of their real one ;) and restrict responses to your G Suite domain users.

*Finally, uncheck the box that allows respondents to see "correct answers" under quiz settings so that students don't get the answer key when viewing their score!

Share Your Thinking

This one question section asks students to explain how they arrived at their answer. In math, this could be describing what method they used to solve the problem. In reading it could be justifying their answer with text evidence. One question that really goes deep and gives them the experience of explaining their thinking through typing on the computer. 

Apply Your Skills

Here you can add some sort of activity where the students are creating or manipulating something in order to show what they know. It could be an activity like in a Google Drawing or a quick creation of a Google slide that utilizes images to capture their thinking. Once finished students will click the share button then "get shareable link" to copy the URL to their creation.  They will paste the link into the form and once submitted the teacher will have all of the links to the students' work on the spreadsheet in one place.

Connect and Extend

Although not a part of the actual form, we include a link to a game or activity that reinforces the skill in a fun way under the form in Google classroom. ABCya! has some great ones to check out.

Information for the teacher. What do you see?

Whole-Class Summary:

When you click on responses in "edit" mode of your form you will see a summary of your whole class (or at least of those who submitted the form). If students took the quiz more than once you will see all of their results in this summary so take that into consideration when viewing the data. The information you get from the summary can give you valuable insight into what holes you may have as a class and inform your whole group instruction.

Individual Data:

You can view your student's' individual results either by clicking on "Individual" in the summary of the responses or you can create a spreadsheet. On a spreadsheet, you can view their "quiz" section answers and by sorting by name you can see how many times the took the quiz to get their desired score. All of their long answer questions are in one column and the links to their drawings are in another. You can give students feedback on their work through private comments in Google Classroom or on their "Apply" activity such as a Google Drawing. Verbal, face to face, feedback works too!

Ready to Get Started?

Ready to create your own HyperDoc in Google Forms? Make a copy of this template or go to forms.google.com and select "Blank Quiz" to get started! You can assign your form through Google Classroom or create the link and share it with students directly or through your LMS.  

Want to share your lesson with others?

Once you are finished you can share your form by creating a forced copy link so that others can use it too. 

To create a link that will make a forced copy follow the steps below: (thanks Sean Fahey for showing me how to do this!

• Click on the three dots in the upper right-hand corner and go to "add collaborators" 

• Then change the sharing settings to "Anyone with link can edit"

• Finally, change the end of the URL from "edit" to "copy"

HyperDocs were created by Lisa Highfill, Kelly Hilton, and Sarah Landis and they are such a game-changer! Check out my previous post HyperDocs! Need I Say More???, their incredible website HyperDocs.co and definitely get your hands on a copy of their book The HyperDoc Handbook today! 

Blended Learning: The What, Where, When, Why and How

Blended learning is a topic that I am becoming familiar with and love learning more about so when Ari Flewelling (@edtechari) offered to be the first guest moderator of #TOSAChat, choosing blended learning as her topic, I was very excited. As always #TOSAChat was a tornado of edu awesome ideas, resources, tips and tricks from blended learning experts and newbies alike! 

What

Susan Stewart (@TechCoachSusan) described blended learning well as "combining traditional instruction and online content/instruction". Blended learning can happen in different ways, S Kong (@SKong81) shared a useful infographic he created that describes the various blended learning models. Edutopia also has many useful articles, videos and links about blended learning instruction which you can see here. 

Where

There are lots of options to use when implementing blended learning but Schoology (shared by Ryan O'Donnell @creativeedtech) and Google Classroom (shared by Darin Anderson @coachdarin22) were both given the #TOSAChat stamp of approval as easy to use platforms for blended learning instruction. Schoology is a popular Learning Management System (LMS) while Google Classroom is a Google Drive Management System* and they can and are used separately or together to provide blended instruction. Alice Keeler (@alicekeeler) has an informative blog post on using Google Classroom with an LMS.

*Updated: According to Alice Keeler, Google Classroom is neither an LMS or a CMS. Read Alice's blog post on the subject.  

When

Blended learning can happen in any subject and in any grade level (yes EVEN kinder!) and a popular idea mentioned many times in #TOSAChat is to provide blended learning before, during and after professional development. The idea of flipping PD is not new, check out this April 2014 article from +EdSurge, "The Flipped Side of Professional Development" by Kristin Daniels (@kadaniels). However, the concept is new to many and Kristi Forsythe (@techyTwinMom) reminds us of the importance of modeling blended learning for other educators so that they can see what it looks like.  

Why

I agree with Scott Padway (@ScottPadway) on this one and will defer to the Blended Learning expert, Catlin Tucker (@Catlin_Tucker), who explains her journey into blended instruction in this YouTube video. She has a fantastic book, Blended Learning Grades 4-12 which you can buy on Corwin Press or Amazon.

How

My fabulous #TOSAChat blog challenge buddy Amanda Haughs (@MsHaughs) just recently posted "Thinking about blending instruction? Tips for getting started!" I especially love her advice to not "expect things to go perfectly the 1st time... or the 2nd, or the 3rd". 

As for resources Amanda recommends Edmodo, PBS Learning Media, Khan Academy and LearnZillion. Darin Anderson (@coachdarin22) gave a shout out to Versal which works well with Google Classroom. For assessment in a blended learning environment Ari Flewelling (@edtechari) and Susan Stewart recommended Google Forms, Ed Puzzle, Haiku Learning, Go Formative, Kahoot, Scoot Pad and Illuminate Education. 

MANY, MANY, MANY more resources were shared in #TOSAChat. Check out the full storify by Joe Young (@jyoung1219) here.

A big, HUGE thank you to our very first guest moderator, Ari Flewelling +Ari Flewelling, (@edtechari) for hosting a fabulous #TOSAChat! Ari Flewelling is a Tech Coach in SoCal, IA CUE President, former high school English Teacher, #BoiseStateGrad w/MA in EdTech & #GAFESummit Demo Slam Winner. So grateful to have such an incredible resource in our #TOSAChat PLN!

#TOSAChat was started by Ben Cogswell (@Cogswell_ben), Joe Young (@Jyoung1219), Kelly Martin (@kmartintahoe) and myself as a way for Teachers On Special Assignment to connect, share and grow together. Check out tosachat.weebly.com to view past chats storify links and upcoming questions. You can join us at 8PM PST on Monday nights.