One of my favorite parts of being a teacher is collaborating with my colleagues. This post idea is brought to you by Ally Johnson and Jamie Street from Issaquah Middle School.
When looking for help, you are the first person a student is going to contact for a class related issue. That might come through as message in Canvas or an email from a student or parent. They are in panic and trying to explain, often in detail, the problem. It doesn’t always help. If you are at all like me, I like a visual (picture) or even better to meet one-on-one and see it in action. But that is not always an option. So what about Flipgrid?
Flipgrid allows students to record their screen. They can create a quick video to explain the problem and you can then SEE what mean. It can cut through a lot of back and forth emails trying to resolve the issue. You can even download the video and forward it to your tech team if needed.
So, how should you set this up? First, consider having Flipgrid linked to Canvas. This is not a necessity, but it does keep everyone in one space and place to get started.
Next, create a topic for your course or group such as “Student Help Desk.” Leave this an open topic and most importantly, make it so that you are notified immediately via email when a student posts to this topic. While this may not be your norm, it will be necessary for this particular topic.
You should also make this topic moderated so that other students are not able to view the video responses (this is now the default for a new topic). Consider how much time you want to give them as well.
Share the topic with your students, or even consider making a special link to it on your Canvas home page (or Clever home page for our elementary teachers). Then explain it to your students…if you need help, use this flipgrid to create a video and show them how they can record their screen.
If you want to check it out in action, try the Ed Tech one I made. For questions, please contact your Ed Tech lead or TOSA.
For more on Flipgrid or other apps, check our past BNP posts.
