The researchers in this study prefaced the conversation by discussing the amount of people enrolled in some type of online instruction before the pandemic in 2017. 3.1 million college students were fully online out of the 6.6 million college students who were taking courses with online components. On the contrary, 13.1 million students were taking face-to-face classes instead. It was also found that out of all students in undergraduate school in 2019, only 10% were entirely online. Disadvantages of online courses that most people perceive are as follows: learning methods that could be less effective, minimal personal interaction, cheating is difficult to monitor, some courses cannot be taught online as effectively as in-person, and communication skills are not addressed as much. The researchers decided to investigate about the effectiveness of using video discussions in courses that have online components. They state that Flipgrid has many activities it can be used for, such as presentations, discussions, field-based activities, and reflections.
Flipgrid has shown to help increase engagement and community building in the online environment. Flipgrid can help students to learn technical skills (such a video recording and uploading), communication skills, and presentation skills. In addition, usage of this video discussion website resulted in student confidence being increased in a writing course in a study done by McLain in 2018. Language skills can be improved through the use of Flipgrid. Some of these skills are as follows: student confidence, collaboration, pronunciation, and speaking. Connectedness was shown to increase in another study using Flipgrid from 2018 by Bartlett. Students also said that they felt it was “beneficial to their learning” (Carlson et. al., 2020). Of the ten classes and 227 students, 163 filled out the questionnaire sent by the researchers. 21% of the respondents said that something they liked about their online course was that they got to use Flipgrid. Only six students that responded specifically said that they did not like Flipgrid being used in the course.
Carlson, C.D., Keiper, M.C., Lupinek, J.M., & White, A. (22 Oct 2020). Student perceptions on the benefits of Flipgrid in a HyFlex learning environment. Retrieved on 6 June 2021. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08832323.2020.1832431?scroll=top&needAccess=true
Nicole,
The statistics above were shocking to me! It’s hard to believe that pre-pandemic, there were already 3.1 students online. For some reason, it’s just difficult for me to remember that people ACTUALLY learned online before COVID. It’s also interesting to me that Flipgrid was used in a collegiate context. Although I have never used Flipgrid, I just think that it is for k-12 students. From the research you used, 21% seems like a low number for students that enjoyed using the platform? Have you used it at all in the elementary classroom? If so, do your students enjoy it?
Yes, I completely feel the same way! I thought that there were many people taking fully online programs in the US based on the commercials and some colleges offering fully online degrees but I never thought that many were fully online! I was very intrigued with the collegiate use, also! I know I wouldn’t like to be on video for my whole college class back in the day (haha). I have not used it with my kids yet but we do have it predownloaded onto our iPads. I thought it was for higher level math based on the title having “grid” in it (LOL) so I never looked into it more until I learned about it in this class.
Nicole,
Honestly, I felt the same way before taking online courses for my Master’s Degree. Many of the reasons you wrote were why I was so worried about learning online. I really thought I would do better with in a traditional classroom. But I’ve learned that if the courses are run well, that I learn just as well online as I do in the classroom. And I can fit online learning into my schedule! Flipgrid is another great tool to help with making learning online easier for the students. It helps with confidence and that, at least for me, is the most important aspect of learning online. I want to be comfortable with learning and Flipgrid would help with that. As schools move to more online learning, Flipgrid can become essential to many online classes.