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Flipsnack Edu: Creative Active Learning

Phoebe DiSalvo-Harms

Syracuse University

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Flipsnack Edu: Creative Active Learning

Introduction

Web 2.0 technologies are unique in that they “depend on user contributions and interactions as driving forces,” fostering the “social connectivity” and “collaborative environments” necessary for success for the 21st century learner (Hartshorne & Ajjan, 2009, p. 185).The many benefits of implementing this technology into an educational setting include “[enabling] active participation of students, [promoting] opportunities and environments for student publication and reflection, and [fostering] a collaborative and active community of learners” (Hartshorne & Ajjan, 2009, p. 184). Below, I outline two implementations of the tool Flipsnack Edu that I believe demonstrate the above benefits as well as support inquiry learning.

Activity 1: Tell Your Story

This activity is for 2nd graders in English. Flipsnack Edu acts as a medium for students to express themselves and their learning in a creative and personalized way. The ‘Tell Your Story” activity could be used in two different ways. One way would be for students to come to the library and explore the collection of stories and poems to pick their favorite. Then, using Flipsnack Edu, to practice their reading skills and comprehension, they would record a voice over of themselves reading the piece. Afterwards, they can fill in the flipping pages of their books with any type of image, including ones they draw themselves, to coordinate with and emphasize the words spoken, the emotion, and the content of the story. Topical academic language can be integrated by having students include an image at least for the rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution of the story but also through the phrasing of the assignment, such as “Complete a reading of your chosen story. Then decide on and arrange a few images that you think relate to your story.”

Alternatively, this activity could be a collaboration between the librarian and teacher to address a story or poem shared in class, a genre being explored, or a broader topic being discussed to reinforce it. In the latter cases, the librarian can locate resources relevant to the genre or topic being discussed for students to choose from. In the former case, the students could all do the activity on the same story and perhaps gain a sense of interpretation as they can all see how their classmates chose and attributed images to the story differently. In this situation students could also read and record the story as a round robin so that each student individually would have a line but they would work together to complete the entire story. Academic language in this case can be integrated in the same above manner or by incorporating genre-specific or topic-specific vocabulary depending on what was being covered in class.

The Common Core Standard addressed with the above activity is CC.2.SL.5 “Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas: Create audio recordings of stories or poems; add drawings or visual displays to stories or recounts of experiences when appropriate to clarify ideas, thoughts, and feelings” while the AASL Standard addressed is 4.1.8 “Use creative and artistic formats to express personal learning”.

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Activity Two: Report Your Findings

This activity is for 9th-10th graders in Science. Flipsnack Edu acts as a medium for students to organize and express their personal learning by relaying the results of a science lab they created and conducted under teacher guidance. For the “Report Your Findings” activity, student groups will come to the library and research a science subject of interest, based off of a list of choices received from their teacher. Specifically, the research will be aimed at learning about the typical characteristics or behaviors of the subject that can be tested in a lab. After researching, in collaboration with and under the guidance of their teacher, they will generate an experiment to test the subject and its typical behaviors. While they conduct their lab, generating a hypothesis and testing it, they will record their methods and results through photographing, video recording, sound recording, etc. depending on what is relevant to their experiment. When they have finished and drawn their conclusions, they will use Flipsnack Edu to present their subject, research, hypothesis, method, and results to the rest of the class through a multimedia flipping book presentation, including text and charts but also photos, videos, sounds, etc. The academic language integrated in this case would be subject specific, dependent on the type of science class and the subject chosen for investigation but could also be addressed through the phrasing of the assignment such as “With your colleagues, gather and compile multimedia data throughout the duration of your experiment to verify that your hypothesis is correct and your research accurate.”

The Common Core Standard addressed with the above activity is CC. 9-10 SL.4 “Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas: Present information, findings, and supporting evidence clearly, concisely, and logically such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization, development, substance, and style are appropriate to purpose, audience, and task” while the AASL Standard addressed is 4.1.6 “Organize personal knowledge in a way that can be called upon easily”.

Conclusion

As the above activities illustrate, the implementation of Web 2.0 technologies, specifically Flipsnack Edu, into curriculum gives students a medium through which to actively, creatively, and logically share their knowledge with others, fostering an atmosphere of collaboration in their learning. Students have the freedom to share and create knowledge in more flexible, adaptable, and creative formats and, because of the ease of use and access of these technologies, they can also contribute out of curiosity beyond the school environment. Research shows “an effective learning environment fosters collaboration among students and faculty; allows the student to create and share new knowledge; and supports the connection of different pieces of information” (Hartshorne & Ajjan, 2009, p. 194). Flipsnack Edu does this by giving students a polished and professional yet creative and fun medium through which to present their findings, while the multimedia aspect enables students to draw and solidify connections between many different types of sources. Additionally, as Flipsnack Edu is a type of publication that can be shared, students feel “more positive attitudes toward content areas, increased motivation

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levels, and increased…achievement” as they are given a chance to be proud and reflective about what they have created (Hartshorne & Ajjan, 2009, p. 185). Lastly, “the ability to relate to prior student experiences leads to positive interactions in active learning environments”; thus, since students interact with technology now more than ever, presenting curriculum through this technology and allowing them to create with it makes the activities more relevant, interesting, and meaningful to them and their personal experiences (Williams & Chinn, 2009, p. 172).

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References

Hartshorne, R., & Ajjan, H. (2009). Examining student decisions to adopt web 2.0 technologies:

Theory and empirical tests. Journal of Computing in Higher Education, 21(3), 183-198.

doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12528-009-9023-6

Williams, J., & Chinn, S. J. (2009). Using web 2.0 to support the active learning

experience. Journal of Information Systems Education, 20(2), 165-174. Retrieved from

http://search.proquest.com/docview/200162738?accountid=14214