1. Flipgrid

https://admin.flipgrid.com/signup

Flipgrid is a page of videos made by students, posting in response to a topic or question. It's interactive as students can comment on each other's videos and students are used to recording videos on Instagram and Snapchat, so there are no excuses! You can post videos with little stickers and respond to other videos and is a lot more fun than discussion threads! There is a captioning feature and if you have shy students, tell them they can record their voice off-camera and keep the video on their pet or favorite stuffed animal. Later, I'll bet the student emerges as they become more comfortable. : )

You can set the time limit but I usually stick with 90-seconds. Let's try it!

Instructions for you and students (feel free to copy):

Getting Started with Flipgrid

You will be using a tool called Flipgrid to complete some of the assignments in this class. Flipgrid is an asynchronous video discussion tool. It provides the important flexibility of an asynchronous (time-shifted) discussion forum, allowing you to participate at a time that works for your schedule, but enhances the discussion with the rich human presence of video. We will be able to hear the nuance in each others' voices and read the expressions on our faces as we share and discuss. Flipgrid has auto-captioning built in, too (this is an emerging technology that isn't perfect yet, but is getting there and improving quickly!).

To participate in our Flipgrid assignments, you will need the following:

a computer or Chromebook with a webcam OR a smartphone or tablet connected to the internet

How to participate using your mobile device.

Download the free Canvas Student app.
Open the app on your mobile device.
Select our course.
Select Assignments.
Select the name of the assignment in which you wish to participate.
Select the Submissions tab.
Click the "Launch External Tool."
When you are ready to record, click the green + icon.

To see these steps plus a few more, view the 3 1/2 minute video below.

How to participate from a computer with a webcam:

Please follow the steps illustrated in the 5-minute video below.

2) Padlet

https://padlet.com/auth/signup

Padlet allows students to put stickies directly onto a canvas page and offers a display of student notes arranged together, which helps in viewing student responses and see the feelings of a class as a whole. This is also a non-graded way to garner student opinions but a downside is you are limited to three padlets if you want the free version.

Here is an example from my Literature class:

Instructions on how to embed Padlet into a page like above:

https://padlet.com/support/embedding_canvas

3) Google Forms

https://www.google.com/forms/about/

You can use this for a quick way to gauge the student's opinion and collect responses. I like how it looks embedded into a page and it doesn't take you out of the Canvas page nor "count" toward an assignment that needs to be stressful (or graded). I think of it as a way to involve the student in the course rather than to assess them at every turn.

Example from my class in this Resource shell:

You can see how it functions in my example module: 2.2 From Last Week

Step by step guide in setting it up:

https://community.canvaslms.com/groups/k12/blog/2017/08/13/google-forms-in-canvas

4) Answer Garden

https://answergarden.ch/create/

This is another tool that I like for student participation within modules that is low-stakes/nongraded. Students can answer a question with a 1-3 word response and then click to the next page to see "a garden" of answers from their classmates.

Example:

Tutorial:

AnswerGarden: Interactive Student Prompts with Word Clouds

Embedding These Tools into Canvas Pages

I recommend that you click the movie reel/ Insert/Edit Media icon when building pages and use the embed option. This is better than a link in that it directly inserts the media into the page.

Accessibility Notes:

Flipgrid

Has a closed captioning feature but I'm not sure about reliability and you can't add your own (like YouTube). Nothing noted about screen readers:

https://help.flipgrid.com/hc/en-us/articles/115004848574-Flipgrid-and-Accessibility

Google Forms--accessible w screen readers

https://oit.colorado.edu/services/messaging-collaboration/gsuite/accessibility/forms

Answer Garden

Be sure to enter instructions in prompt question. Limit the word max to 1-3 so it's not a "messy garden."

Padlet

Text is readable but mobility challenges could limit a student from moving their "sticky" note to a category or a specific area on a page.

Always have send an email to inform students about the cool "extras" you are using and that you are ready to post for them or help them if they need assistance in contributing. DSPS office should be able to assist as well.

Side tips to share:

Embedding Videos in Canvas

Understanding how to embed videos in Canvas is an important skill for humanizing. There are two ways to embed videos in Canvas. Let's look at these two options.

Auto Embed

This option only works with videos hosted on YouTube.

Go to the video and copy the share link.
Return to a Canvas content page (or discussion reply) and click Edit.
Paste the video share link after your introduction.
Click Enter/Return on your keyboard.
Click Save.

What happens? This will automatically embed a mini version of the video. Two things can happen with this approach. When a student clicks on the image of the video, it plays in a larger player inside of Canvas. When students click on the title of the video, the video opens in YouTube in a new window.

This is what Auto-Embed looks like:

Thumbs Up for Rock and Roll! (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

Manual Embed

This option works with any video hosting service that provides embed code (3C Media Solutions, YouTube, Vimeo, etc.).

Follow the steps below or watch this video Go to the video and locate the video's embed code. Need help? Watch How to Find the Embed Code (Note: YouTube has updated the Share menu, so what you see will be slightly different. Unfortunately, we can no longer prevent suggested videos from displaying.)

Select Copy in the lower right corner to copy the embed code.
Return to your Canvas content page (or discussion post) and click Edit.
Select the Insert/Edit Media button to the right of the link icon on your tool bar, select the Embed tab, and paste your embed code. Click OK.
Save the page changes.

Learn more in manually embedding in thisCanvas Guide: How do I embed videos using the Rich Content Editor?

What happens? Manually embedding a video embeds a larger of your video in Canvas and, when clicked, the video plays inside of Canvas and the player size does not change. Students can still click the YouTube logo (lower right corner) to open the video in Canvas.

This is what Manual Embed looks like:

Which way is best?

That's up to you to decide! Keep in mind, the auto embed option only works for videos hosted on YouTube. We prefer to manually embed videos because of the size and ability to display a custom thumbnail image Links to an external site.(dimensions: 1280x720 pixels), which allows for the use of a graphic that can introduce the video or grab students' attention. Also, we like to reduce the likelihood that students will go out to YouTube because we know how distracting that environment can be!