Friday Matinee: Text Comments in Flipgrid

Flipgrid is a great way to have a discussion whether you are in class or remote.  Create your question and let students answer and then reply to each other.  Flipgrid recently added text comments rather than just video, which is helpful for shy students.

Here's more on how they work: Introducing Text Comments

Haven't used Flipgrid before?  It was actually created for Dr. Miller's PhD students at the University of Minnesota.  Since then it has become one of the go to discussion apps for students from K-PhD!  Here's a post on remote learning with Flipgrid in higher education.

For more on Flipgrid, check out the information on our Remote Learning Resources page or check out their blog.

Want to know MORE about Flipgrid?  Take this FREE class with Holly Clark online.  You can do it at your own pace.

Friday Matinee: Creating a Backchannel With Google Docs

Having a discussion is an important part of a class but it can be difficult when you are teaching either totally online or using the hybrid model.  Fortunately there are digital tools that can be used for backchannel discussions, including a shared Google Doc that everyone in class has the right to edit.

Use this Google Doc that you can copy (FILE>MAKE A COPY) for classroom discussions.  I like this document rather than just using a Doc without any added guidelines because you can see not only who asked the question, but also who responded and what their response was.  It also keeps the questions and answers together for easy viewing.  Multiple people can also answer the same question.  

A suggestion is to have one student per week or class period who would be in charge of the backchannel document.  They would monitor the questions and answers, and bring up questions in class that might need clarification.

I would keep the original document as a master and then make a copy of it and rename it every time you use it.  All you need to do is change the title and date at the top.