"Mom, look at the Flipagram Shauna made for me!" My 12 year old pressed play and shoved her phone in my face. Picture after picture gave me a glimpse into their "girls day out" at Ala Moana shopping center accompanied by a popular song of summer. The wheels in my brain started turning. How cool is this? Pictures and music compiled in mere minutes?
Why Flipagram is perfect for schools:
Flipagram is available for free on both Apple and Android mobile devices.
2. Easy to use:
No log in or accounts required! Grant Flipagram access to your camera roll & start creating!*
3. Makes learning visible:
Students can capture field trips, gather data, chronicle how to demonstrations step-by-step and more. Flipagram will capture the attention of busy parents and give them a glimpse into 'what their child learned today.'
4. Quick and Easy:
Learning moments become digital stories in minutes. Students select photos, add captions, choose music and save. Flipagrams save to the app's library and can be shared digitally (see below). As a librarian, I'm thinking of oodles of possible uses--new books, students caught reading, creating with our 3D printer, the research process.....
5. Aligns to standards:
Students learn to select, edit, manipulate, and organize visual media purposefully and creatively. Selecting the 'right' pictures and music encourages the students to consider audience and purpose. Depending on the question/purpose, a Flipagram could address all of ISTE's NETS for Students and many Common Core standards.
6. Allows Digital Sharing: Flipagrams can be shared via YouTube, social media (if accounts are established), email, text message or a link enabling students to communicate their learning. When I opened the link on my computer browser, I could copy the embed code.
7. Collaborative: A Flipagram posted on a students' website or blog could even invite global feedback from virtual peers. A link to a shared Google Doc might invite peers to post how to tweak a scribble bot or tinker with a simple machine they're building for the Cardboard Challenge.
8. Kid Friendly: My 10 year old created this Flipagram about her "AWESOME" summer in about 10 minutes. Most importantly, she did it by herself with very few prompts from mom. Students can choose which pictures and music are meaningful to them, so Flipagrams by different students could tell the story in very different ways.
So, think about replacing that essay "What I did this summer" with a multimedia digital story!
*I haven't tried Flipagram with students in a school setting. When I do, it will be after parents have granted permission for their children to create and share their learning digitally; lessons on digital citizenship; under adult supervision.