Flipgrid Flips the Script

(Originally published July 2018)

My favorite video response service has unlocked ALL features for educators for FREE!

My Tech Coach partner @DanaWeber615 and I have created a few resources to get you going.  They are posted as Google Docs so they can constantly evolve - just like you do!

• Ideas & Inspiration: Not sure what to use Flipgrid for? How 'bout... EVERYTHING! Here's a list of our favorite uses that integrate well with what you are already doing in your classroom.
• Tips for First-Timers: Here are 10 Tips for a successful first Flipgrid experience, based on our implementations in K-8 classrooms!
• Scaffolding for Shy Students: Contrary to popular belief, not all students are immediately excited to post videos of themselves online. If you've got shy or hesitant Flipgridders (or if you are one yourself!), here are some tips to scaffold students.

I knew a change was coming.

The intense (and pretty expensive-looking) marketing campaign. The roll out of  Certified Educator and  Ambassador programs (which I fully love and support, by the way!). The announcement that a big change would be announced in August.  After getting teachers across the district excited about Flipgrid and all its potential...  using it in classrooms, staff meetings, new teacher trainings, and the summer enrichment program...  finding great ideas for use in classrooms from ELA to ELL to PE....  I made a bold prediction about one of my favorite apps to my partner Tech Coach:

"Flipgrid is going paid this summer."

I was so sure.  Just weeks earlier, my beloved Padlet announced they were restricting the number of boards users can create for free, and adding several tiers of paid account types for their platform.  This came shortly after they suddenly added a buffet of new options - embedded video, audio, drawing, and many more formats - that turned it into a tool that could literally do anything. I had just started supporting teachers in Pad-casting, Digital Lit Circles, and Book Studies via Padlet, when WHAM - they went paid. So I was convinced that Flipgrid was building up to releasing an awesome new array of options - that would all require a teacher, school, or district paid account. I can truly say I'm happy I was wrong.

While many Ed-Tech services 'went paid' in the past school year,
Flipgrid flipped the script by going Free in 2018. But will it last?  

If there was one common Ed-Tech trend in 2017-18, it was digital tools "going paid."  For most services this meant switching to a "Freemium" model: offering limited use for free, but charging for the good stuff - managing a roster, unlimited lessons, collaboration options -  the things that make it a fully functional tool for a teaching team.   First it was Thinglink removing the ability to manage student accounts for free. Or course there's the aforementioned Padlet.  Book Creator even managed to launch their Chrome web app and start charging for premium  features within this year.  And let's not forget our sad farewell to the past decade's best backchannel chat,  TodaysMeet.

The explosion of 1:1 devices and Web 2.0 services in the past 10 years is starting to remind me a lot of the dot com boom in the early 2000s...

While schools have scrambled to roll out devices and reliable internet connections, EdTech startups have churned out amazing free services that many teachers have come to depend on. But just like those dotcom companies quickly learned, at some point you have to monetize your service. As hard as it is to tell a teacher, "Sorry, this isn't free to you anymore," it's also understandable that a business needs to at least be able to pay the bills if it wants to stick around.

And that's why I'm still a little leary about how Free "Free" will be in the long run.

Don't judge me Flipgrid, I've been hurt before (ahem, Padlet). But I am not convinced that all the features will be free forever.  I can't even imagine the cost of the server space needed for the millions of videos that are sure to be posted in this school year alone, let alone the other costs of hosting, managing, and marketing the service.  Of course, a behemoth like Microsoft can float the costs for much longer than an independent startup could - they are even refunding teachers who paid to upgrade before the announcement! But as Google continues gobbling up a larger share of the education device and software market, how does Microsoft plan to leverage Flipgrid into a profitable stake in EdTech ? With that said...

I still stand by my prediction that Flipgrid will evantually go paid - or at least 'Freemium' - but exactly when and how it will look is unclear.

For now, let's enjoy the free ride while it lasts and give our students voice, choice, and 4C skill development.  The previously 'premium' features you can now enjoy include:

• Unlimited Grids
• More choices of response times (30 seconds up to 5 minutes)
• Custom Feedback based on a rubric
• Co-Pilots (more than one teacher managing a grid)