I'm "Flipping" Mad!

(n.d.)Update (11 June 2024) - "Unboxing" EdTech video added to explore Padlet's (n.d., a) new Flip Importer tool.

​It looks like one of my favourite EdTech tools is about to disappear. Well, not completely... but changes that have recently announced mean that I'll no longer be able to use the features of Flip (formerly FlipGrid) (Microsoft, 2024) the way that I have been.

​Microsoft (2024, June) has announced that it will be retiring the Flip website and mobile app. Many of the features of Flip will instead now be integrated into it's Teams for Education (n.d.) platform. Microsoft says the move will allow educators to "easily share video assignments and messages with students and receive video responses using the Flip camera," and that the change will "[save] educators time having to onboard to Flip outside of the Microsoft 365 ecosystem."

• As of July 1, 2024, you will no longer be able to create and share new Flip boards.
• As of September 30, 2024, the Flip website and app will disappear -- along with all of your content (including videos recorded by your students!).
• You can download any content you want to keep from your Flip boards until September 30, 2024.

​Unfortunately, this change will come at a cost to some of my instructional design practices. My preference has been to embed interactive activities directly into my courses (such as on content pages in the Brightspace (D2L, 2024), Canvas (Instructure, 2024), or Moodle (n.d.) learning management systems). I do this because it means my students can seamlessly interact with course content and these rich activities, without having to navigate outside of the course (and then find their way back to where they left off!). Going forward, I would need to ensure that I have a "team" set up with all of my students enrolled in it in Microsoft Teams -- something that I can only do IF my organization uses Office 365. For some of my courses (and for many other educators), this is not the case!

​Padlet to the Rescue!

​In order to continue with my preferred seamless instructional design practices, I have started shifting my Flip-based activities over to Padlet (n.d., b) walls. Like Flip, Padlet will let you share video content by either:

• Linking to online content (such as YouTube videos).
• Uploading pre-recorded videos directly to the Padlet wall.
• Recording videos directly in Padlet when creating new posts on a wall.

​The benefit is that Padlet walls can still be embedded directly into a web page or a content page in your course. The drawback is that Padlet does not have all of the features that Flip did, such as auto-generated captions and the ability to use an avatar instead of your recorded image.

​Here are some examples of Padlet walls that I have set up to replace Flip-based activities in my recent open access eBooks Everyday Instructional Design (Power, 2023) and The ALT Text (Power, 2024). Both contain some sample posts, as well as demonstrations from Padlet (2024, March 6) on how to record video directly in your posts:

• Welcome to the Course - Demo Version: https://padlet.com/robpower74/welcome-to-the-course-demo-version-yz3qs96t5eflu18q
• Responding to the Case Studies: https://padlet.com/robpower74/responding-to-the-case-studies-33dy2reust69vsly

"Unboxing" EdTech: Flipping to Padlet

​In this video I "unbox" Padlet's (n.d., a) new Flip Importer Tool. That tool claims to make it easy to transfer your existing Flip content over to a Padlet wall... but Flip will only let you export content that you created (you cannot export videos posted by your students). My conclusion is that it is probably easier to manually recreate your previous Flip-based activities with new Padlet walls, rather than using the Flip Importer Tool.

​References

D2L (2024). Brightspace: So Much More Than a Learning Management System. https://www.d2l.com/brightspace/ 

Instructure (2024). You. The Power of Canvas by Instructure. https://www.instructure.com/canvas  

Microsoft (n.d.). Empower students and educators with Microsoft Teams for schools. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/education/products/teams

Microsoft (2024). Flip. https://info.flip.com/

Microsoft (2024, June). Flip June 2024 Email. [PDF file]. https://static.flip.com/email-assets/Flip-June2024-email.pdf

Moodle (n.d.). https://moodle.org 

Padlet (n.d., a). Import from Flip to Padlet. [Web page]. https://padlet.com/flip-importer

Padlet (n.d., b). Padlet: Who we are, our policies, and links to useful information about Padlet. https://padlet.com/about

Padlet (2024, March 6). Record and upload a video. [Video]. https://youtu.be/5Q_rzb9qTAw

Power, R. (2023). Everyday Instructional Design: A Practical Resource for Educators and Instructional Designers. Power Learning Solutions. ISBN: 978-1-9993825-8-2. https://pressbooks.pub/everydayid/

Power, R. (Ed.). (2024). The ALT Text: Accessible Learning with Technology. Power Learning Solutions. ISBN 978-1-7390190-2-0. https://pressbooks.pub/thealttext/pressbooks.pub/thealttext/

Power, R. (2024, June 11). Unboxing EdTech: Flipping to Padlet. [Video]. https://youtu.be/ELGf39Azvf0