Flipgrid as a discussion-based educational technology has taken the K-12 world by storm, but beyond its stickers, filters, and fancy fonts, the tool has a lot to offer to higher education as well. One such use is as an audio visual dictionary or demonstration tool. Think of it as Audio/Visual flashcards for important terms and concepts in class. What is Flipgrid? Flipgrid is a free, Microsoft-owned and powered educational tool for creating video-based discussions in the classroom. Instructors create “Groups” similar to a message board for their classes which can include one or more “Topic” threads. Typically, Instructors supply a prompt and students respond to the prompt and to each other within a “Topic”. It’s an asynchronous video discussion. Flipgrid allows instructors to link from several applications to support their prompts and responses including: Microsoft products, Google, YouTube, Vimeo, Kahoot!, Adobe Spark and more. But the system’s built-in audio and video editor should n...

Millennials watch 11.3 hours of online video a week! With the average YouTube video at 4 minutes long, that means they are watching about 171 videos per week. Educators need to take note of this trend, and take some tips from the "TubeGurus" on how to create engaging videos for their courses. Our webinar on March 2, 2016 talked about a number of topics from the use of humor, to how to get started with ideas. We shared and discussed some of the best practices below, and applied them to videos for online and flipped courses.  Some of the best practices included: Shorter is Better Use the 5A's of Emotion Tell a Story Call (Students) to Action Create a "Viral" title As always, the best way to get started is to meet with an instructional designer, with your objectives and a few sketches on what you want to do.  Below is the summary video, slides and resources. Resources: Summary video PowerPoint slides Frame-by-Frame Template Video Idea L...