What ingredients mix together to make great blended learning experiences? Expensive equipment? Tech-savvy faculty? Discover how blending Flipgrid into three different graduate nursing education courses has freely and easily increased student interaction while providing risk-free opportunities for digital communication practice.
Shifting instruction from a traditional face-to-face learning environment to a blended design can be a difficult and daunting task. How can a course deliver both the necessary content and authentic experiences at the same time? With so many technology tools existing today, how can anyone know which may be best? By incorporating a balance of instructional strategies with appropriate technology, the transition to a blended environment can be less stressful while increasing and enhancing student interactivity.
Over the course of several semesters, three different graduate nursing faculty and an instructional designer set out to redesign face-to-face courses into blended learning experiences. Students met at least one time a month in person with the remaining course learning time being asynchronous. Two of the goals of this transition were to increase student interactivity and to provide an authentic digital communication experience. As healthcare continues to expand into telehealth options, it is imperative that advanced nursing programs provide opportunities to practice collaboration skills in conjunction with video communication experiences. While there are multiple tools to achieve these goals, Flipgrid offered both ease of creation and use for faculty and students to make this transition into the blended learning environment.
Faculty and students utilized Flipgrid in 3 courses; Advanced Health Assessment, Health Policy, and Genetics & Embryology. Participants introduced themselves with their name, current role, at least one personal fact, and one to two goals/interests for the course. This low-risk, personalized opening activity provided the groundwork for other Flipgrid activities as well as supporting the foundation of a learning community.
Health Policy students selected a stance regarding the Affordable Care Act, shared their position with supporting research, and responded to other student perceptions. In Genetics and Embryology, students role-played as the nurse practitioner on call who had to deliver the news of a birth defect to the concerned parent(s). The Advanced Health Assessment used Flipgrid as a means of conducting a progressive, asynchronous case study. Each of these instances were designed to support enhanced learning experiences leading to better prepared nurse practitioners through a blended approach with Flipgrid. Engagement statistics and appropriate feedback will be shared from these integrated instances.
Participation
During the session, attendees will interact with each other through face-to-face discussions and real-time interactive survey questions. The discussions will focus on attendees’ current practices for blended learning and how the information presented may or may not be helpful in redesigning blended experiences moving forward. Interactive survey questions will be sprinkled throughout the session as a way for the face-to-face discussions to be merged into visual responses. As a interactive model example, attendees will have the option to continue interaction through a created and shared Flipgrid topic after the session has ended.
Session Goals
Attendees will leave the session with a general understanding of Flipgrid as it applies to higher education integration.
Attendees will take away several strategies for integration of Flipgrid or a similar application/program into their courses.
Attendees will be able to evaluate the potential applicability of shared blended strategies into their own instructional environments.