I felt the madness a little early this year…and BOY, did I go all out! For the past few months, I’ve been taking more time for me, and it’s seriously reignited my creative spirit. I’m so happy when I’m more of a creator than a consumer, and it truly brings me joy to think of new ways to use edtech and share ’em with the world.
So I started a list of Flipgrid ideas back in February. I knew EXACTLY that I wanted to go BIG this year and share a whole bunch of fun ideas in way that had never been done before. Somehow, “a whole bunch” just needed to be 31, because that’s how many days there are in March, and my goal was to finish it by March 1. Sometimes I’d wake up at night and jot an idea down in the notes section of my phone. Sometimes I’d sketch out a few ideas on my lunchbreak. I took note of spontaneous ideas while I was out hiking or even watching TV. As my list of ideas grew, I decided just how I wanted to present these to the world – a one page “calendar” so that each day was “clickable” and would reveal a new idea! There was no question in my mind that Genially was the perfect tool for this.
I made the graphic itself in Microsoft Word. I’m comfortable using the tools there to design and layer graphics. I loved the way the black background made the 31 pink/orange/yellow gradient tiles really pop! I put the title of each of my 31 ideas on tiles, and respectfully added a little disclaimer at the bottom. By March 1st, Flipgrid had announced that they were having a contest, and I was pleased to see that it was called Flipgrid Madness instead of March Madness. I gave my project the same name because it’s absolutely a collection of ideas that can be used ANY month, any time. I took a screenshot of my final image and imported it into Genially. If you’ve never explored Genially, it is AAAAHHMAZING creation tool and can do all sorts of things (check out this webinar), but I know that it’s great for making vibrant, engaging, interactive images that are easy to create and easy to share. I found the PERFECT clickable icon to put onto each calendar day – a little plus in a bright green circle – almost just like the Flipgrid logo! In Genially, I can animate anything I add to a slide, image, or presentation, so I made every little green plus sign pulse like a heartbeat…..which is honestly a lil’ symbolic of how much heart I put into this thing! The next part was the biggest part….I needed every one of those little pulsing plus signs to link to something. I linked to some blog posts, some Twitter posts, and some images. I created several original Flipgrid Shorts videos with demos of how to use these ideas, and I linked them. For many of the days, I used Genially’s interactivity options to add a pop-up “ToolTip” or “Window” where I typed up specific directions, examples, and variations for each idea.
There were nights when I stayed up till the wee hours of the night finishing up a template or post, and some days when I was out of bed by 5am because I just couldn’t sleep until I got an idea typed out. I linked some of my previous ideas – like some of my #FlipgridAR things, the Fancy Framework ideas, and my #Fliphunt post, but I did a WHOLE LOT of new thinkin’ & creatin’! Check out some of my FAVORITE new ideas – like #Flipgrid4Family, Ohhhverlays, Follow the Bouncing __?, Game BoARd, and Spelling Test: Flipgrid-style. There are LOTS more that are my favorites, but I’m about to send you to the link so you can just check ’em all out for yourself! All in all, I spent well over 20 hours on this, and I did not get it done by March 1st. I did finally finish it on March 8th, however. It is definitely a work of 💚 and if you haven’t yet tried it yet, just click on the thumbnail below to start exploring the interactive Flipgrid Madness Genially!
I actually did decide to enter it in Flipgrid’s #FlipgridMadness contest this year, even though it was 31 ideas and not just one. It didn’t make the final cut, but it did make quite a splash online and with thousands of educators who have accessed it since I shared it on social media – and that’s the greatest WIN of all!
This was a fun project! Someone interviewed me last week and asked about what fuels creativity for me. I was quick to answer – it’s two things: straight-up passion, or it’s doing something that’s helpful for someone else. I have to be really excited about something and I just can’t stop myself from dreaming up new ways to use it, share it, make it better, and get others excited about it. That happens a lot for me with Flipgrid. Maybe it’s madness….I just call it fun!
As always, I just love to hear from you! Let me know what you think, and please ESPECIALLY let me know if you try any of these ideas. You can leave comments right here on the blog, or you can always reach me on Twitter as @kerszi, on Instagram at KersziDotCom, on LinkedIn as Kathi Kersznowski or through my website at Kerszi.com.
Leave A Comment