As most of you know, I’m the creator of something called a #Fliphunt.  The story of how #Fliphunt came to be has been told in this previous blog post.  It originated in spring of 2017 and the first real #Fliphunt debuted appropriately in Minnesota that summer.  Educators from around the country converged on Minneapolis, at Flipgrid HQ, to celebrate three days of Flipgrid-ness.  One of the events was called #StuVoiceCon and was held at the University of Minnesota.  On that day, Priscilla Heredia and I had been given just 15 minutes to do a presentation….and I had convinced her that it’d be cool to share about this #Fliphunt thing I had just created.  Until that day, it was pretty much just a concept.  In 15 minutes, we brought a room full of educators to their feet – this idea of using Flipgrid to do video-based scavenger hunts was fun, full of laughter, and sent people scrambling to try to do as many zany challenges as they could!  It was hysterical…and it took off beyond anything I could have ever imagined!  💥

Before I go any further, I REALLY want to talk about how I created the #Fliphunt especially for that event…for that place…for that crowd.  I created the #Fliphunt with my audience in mind, and every single challenge was crafted to be relevant in some way.  They were varied, they invited silliness, and there were lots of choices (probably too many choices, but I couldn’t stop myself!)  If you’re going to understand how to create a real #Fliphunt, looking at this list is honestly the perfect place to start.  It’s the original #Fliphunt list!

 

So let’s take a look at how this was created.  If you notice, every single item has to do with either Minnesota, Minneapolis, Flipgrid, or the Flipgrid team.  That was intentional.  That was my inspiration (my class…my subject area…my unit…)  Now, notice how each item has an underlined simple “title”.  Again, that was intentional.  I tried to make them all have quirky or catchy names that would inspire interest.  Lastly, and most importantly, look at the challenges – specifically the diversity of tasks.  Pretend you have a highlighter and go through and highlight the “action verbs” – the tasks that are to be accomplished.  There is a lot of movement, a lot of silliness, a lot of choice….and there was a lot of out-loud chuckling as people read through these options.  That was also intentional.  THAT is a #Fliphunt.

Fast forward 3+ years, and I am blown away by how this has become a global phenomenon!  It’s been fun to see that others love a good scavenger hunt as much as I do.  But…a #Fliphunt is not actually a scavenger hunt.

When I was a kid and even a teenager we had scavenger hunts.  That’s when I first fell in love with the idea.  It was a list – a checklist of things to be found.  Find a pinecone, an acorn, a bottle cap, a square button, a mood ring.

When I was in college I learned about photo scavenger hunts.  It was a list, but it worked best with either a Polaroid (yes, I’m that old) or a digital camera.  We didn’t collect OBJECTS, we took photos of funny or challenging situations:  take a photo of your team walking through a fast-food drive through, a human pyramid in front of the bleachers at school, doing bunny ears to a police officer, someone on your team making a snow angel in a sandbox… you get the idea.  Each of these was uniquely worthy of a PHOTOGRAPH.  These were great still photos that elicited a lot of laughter when we gathered back at the host’s house to find out who accumulated the most points and who would be the winner.

This is where a #Fliphunt absolutely NEEDS to be distinctly different.  The tasks must be VIDEO-WORTHY.  This is the most important part of this whole blog post…the challenges in a #Fliphunt need to be fun, have varied action verbs, inspire some silliness, involve choice, require movement, and absolutely be video-worthy.  Nobody wants to see a video of someone pointing to a pinecone or acorn.  Nobody wants to see a video of something that could have been a photo.  It takes the fun out a #Fliphunt, and so by definition, it’s not a #Fliphunt.

People with great intentions have done presentations, webinars, and workshops about #Fliphunts – many with great fidelity and awesome outcomes!  But, as with that age-old game “Whisper Down the Lane”, some of the true #Fliphunt-ness seems to have been watered down , miscommunicated, or misunderstood over time.  Last week I perused Flipgrid’s Discovery Library for legit examples of  quality #Fliphunts, and I found that some of the meaning has definitely been diluted.  There are many (mostly?) non-#Fliphunt examples in there, and I decided that it’s time for me to be more proactive in making sure everyone knows what a real #Fliphunt is.  Here are some examples of things you’ll want to avoid:

I saw too many things that are like object checklists – can you imagine how boring those videos would be?

  • Science:  3 seconds of a student saying “Here’s a beaker”, “I am now pointing to Jupiter in this solar system model”
  • Reading:  “This is me pointing to an example of a table of contents”,  “This is a text feature called a subtitle”…
  • Math: “This is a parallelogram”, “This is an example of symmetry that I found.”
  • Map Skills:  “We just saw a Utah license plate. This is me coloring it in.  I just saw an Arizona license plate. Watch me color this one now.”
  • Templates from well-meaning teachers:   Here is a template of a blank {subject area} #Fliphunt for you… just fill in objects or key words for students to find/define on camera.  ((( nooooo! ))))

I saw things that teachers wanted kids to do as videos, but they were basically web quests or just answering questions.  Is it formative assessment?  Yup!  Is it fun?  Maybe for a few kids.  Is it a #Fliphunt?  Nope…kids are sitting still in chairs!   If they didn’t get up and roam, wander, move, interact, or explore…it’s not a #Fliphunt.  If there’s nothing a bit silly – a bit adventurous…it’s not a #Fliphunt.  Read these sample teachers’ examples below to see what I mean:

  • Look at the map I’ve given you and tell three state capitals that you see.  Use Google to find out which has the biggest population.  What is it?
  • For 10 points, tell what you think the best part of this unit was. For 5 points,  tell which of these 3 Math problems will have the greatest total and why do you think so?  For 20 points, tell 3 things you think others should know about this unit.
  • Show a passage that has a metaphor. and read it aloud; tell what page it is on.   Show  and read a sentence that demonstrates foreshadowing.

I know this blog post is getting long, but I really want to protect the integrity of #Fliphunts and drive this point home, and I’m hoping that those of you who read it will help me with this.  Here’s another example of a fun one I did with the staff of my elementary schools.  This was a week-long #Fliphunt designed to build staff morale, encourage teamwork, and get teachers to explore Flipgrid a bit deeper with the help of a partner.  Teacher teams had a blast and got pretty competitive in their hysterical videos!

Again, look at the amount of choices, the diversity of tasks, the action verbs, the amount of silly options (and some ‘safer’ options), and the fact that each one was going to make for a great video!

If you’ve known me for awhile, you know that I love to share this very first example of a curriculum-based #Fliphunt I developed for a unit I taught about the skeletal system.  I’ve helped teachers do the same thing with almost any content, subject area, and age group.  Once you get the hang of it, you can apply this to anything you teach and make is REALLY relevant & fun!  Oh, and yes – when done well and with true #Fliphunt integrity, this absolutely serves as a formative assessment – but your students will never really know that!

Alright, so today I came up with this graphic – the whole point of this post – to help me  (and all of you) define and clarify what a #Fliphunt is/is not:

Fliphunt chart

This week I was actually an attendee at a webinar in which the presenter demonstrated a Fliphunt that truly was NOT a #Fliphunt…and I cringed!  There were about 30 people who saw a really poor example and left with the wrong impression. and I was so sad that it was misrepresented and misunderstood.  I didn’t say a word of course, but after seeing so many incorrect examples in the Disco Library and then seeing this presentation that was an innocent misrepresentation, I decided that it’s my fault for not being more proactive in defining what a REAL #Fliphunt needs to be.  I’m asking for your help to spread the word, share this blog post, and steer other educators toward the fun that #Fliphunts are meant to be!

Here are a few things that will help you right away:

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( ***If you do a generic search online for #Fliphunts, make sure that was written by me  because some other well-intentioned educators have attempted to define, explain, or replicate #Fliphunts, but may have been the recipients of incorrect information.  As I went through the internet tonight, it pained me to see that I am actually about the 5th or 6th search result that appears, and that some of the examples in other search results are not true #Fliphunts.  The name of my original blog was Integration Innovation...be sure to look for it.  I’m grateful for the enthusiasm, but want all of you to make sure that you have correct information.)  From now on, all of my blog posts (past and present) are housed at Kerszi.com.