Flipgrid has published a list of Do’s and Don’ts for getting started using Flipgrid in your classroom. Do’s Do read Flipgrid’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Use Do follow your school policies around using the application and sharing with other schools Do clean up the student content when you no longer need it or if you leave your school mid-year. Do be sure to collect consent forms from all students before onboarding them on the platform, completed by parents/guardians. Do comply with any student requests to take down Flipgrid content. Do let students know that the tool is for educational purposes only. Don’ts Don’t share student information outside the classroom or the school. Don’t use Flipgrid to request students to buy things (for example, don’t encourage them to use Amazon to buy a book or download a paid app).

While doing some professional development recently on Flipgrid I was asked a couple of questions that I wanted to share here on EdTech Shorts. Can a student hide or delete a video? There are a few ways that a video can be hidden or deleted. If a student included their e-mail address when they submitted their response they will have gotten a confirmation e-mail. In that e-mail is a link to deactivate the video, giving them the ability to hide it from the grid, but the video is still available for the grid owner/educator. A grid owner/educator can go in and hide or delete a video from the grid as well. They simply access the Flipgrid Admin dashboard (https://admin.flipgrid.com), click on the Grid, then the Topic, and using the Actions dropdown they can choose to hide or delete an individual video that has been added to the topic. Can students upload a custom video? Flipgrid does provide some great tools that allow students to record video, pause while doing so, add stickers to selfies, and flip the camera to share the world around them. But yes, students have the ability to upload a custom video rather than record one in the native interface. To do so, students will: Access the topic their response will be posted to. Rather than click on the red record button they will click on the cog wheel next to it. Next they will click on Upload Video and select the video they wish to use. They will then follow the prompts and their custom video will upload in place of a recorded one. Flipgrid currently supports MP4, MOV, and WEBM video formats but has an upload file size limit of 250mb.

Not all students are 100% comfortable in front of the camera. Using Flipgrid can be hard for them. On this episode I am sharing tips for helping students who may be a bit camera shy (shared from Flipgrid’s own help pages (https://help.flipgrid.com/hc/en-us/articles/115003079854-Camera-Shy-Tips-for-all-Students). Use the moderation settings Cover the camera Use props to make them more comfortable Work in groups to allow collaboration Appsmash with other tools to produce custom videos to upload to Flipgrid Flip the camera on a model device to share something else while recording their voice Allow them to post with only their initials Create a Flipgrid recording booth

Flipgrid provides you with a great platform for students to practice digital citizenship and netiquette (net etiquette) in a protected, controlled environment. Melissa Dills (Twitter) created this amazing guide for students to help them follow Flipgrid Netiquette.   Looking for video response and @Flipgrid netiquette for students. Couldn't find much so I created this... Feel free to change for your needs : ) https://t.co/hrLTZsGITc #FlipgridFever #DigitalCitizenship #edtech pic.twitter.com/t4Xvd88Y26 — Melissa Dills (@DillsMelissa1) February 7, 2018

I know I just announced a summer hiatus, but this news was too much not to put out an episode.

Flipgrid has recently announced some big news. They were acquired by Microsoft as a part of the technology giants move to regain market share in education.

In announcing this acquisition, they also announced that Flipgrid has become FREE for all educators. If you were an educator who had subscribed you will be receiving a prorated refund from Microsoft of the unused portion of your subscription. This means that you know have access to unlimited grids and all the features that were previously available only to Flipgrid Classroom subscribers. This could be a game changer for a lot of classrooms. If you haven’t signed up for Flipgrid yet, head over to Flipgrid.com and do so today and get started using it with your students when we return in the fall (and if you’re a WV Educator, you can sign-in using your Office 365 account).

EdTech Shorts has finished up Season 1 with 23 episodes. We will return in August after the conclusion of the Summer Break for schools. Have a great summer and join the show when we return to get some more quick and simple edtech tips to improve your game as an educator.

A large number of schools and districts rely on Microsoft Windows as their operating system or choice. This has led to a move to update devices to Windows 10. On this episode I share some shortcut keys for Windows 10. If you want to see a full list of the available shortcut keys in Windows 10 from Microsoft, visit https://edtechshorts.com/win10shorts.

A large number of schools and districts rely on Microsoft Windows as their operating system or choice. This has led to a move to update devices to Windows 10. On this episode I share some shortcut keys for Windows 10. If you want to see a full list of the available shortcut keys in Windows 10 from Microsoft, visit https://edtechshorts.com/win10shorts.

Much like Participate Chats, TweetDeck is a great alternative to the Twitter app or web interface for taking part in an #EdChat. By doing something as simple as adding a column to your TweetDeck, you can easily follow along a conversation based around a specific hashtag, or other criteria.

If you’re interested in seeing a quick tutorial on TweetDeck by my friend Derek Oldfield, head over to https://edtechshorts.com/tweetdecktutor to be redirected to a YouTube video he put together a few years ago.

Much like Participate Chats, TweetDeck is a great alternative to the Twitter app or web interface for taking part in an #EdChat. By doing something as simple as adding a column to your TweetDeck, you can easily follow along a conversation based around a specific hashtag, or other criteria. If you’re interested in seeing a quick tutorial on TweetDeck by my friend Derek Oldfield, head over to https://edtechshorts.com/tweetdecktutor to be redirected to a YouTube video he put together a few years ago.