Sunday, April 23, 2017

Video in the classrom: Flipgrid vs Seesaw

Several years ago, I flipped my classroom so that kids watch my lectures via video at home at night.  I've stuck to the flipped classroom because I believe in the power of video.   So, I have also been interested in getting my students to make their own videos.   I've experimented with software like Explain Everything and Showme, but I've been reading about Seesaw and Flipgrid and so, today I tried them both.

Here is a video that I made- as though I was a student- using Flipgrid and my smartphone:
https://flipgrid.com/82451d

Here is a video that I made- as though I was a student- using Seesaw and my smartphone:
https://app.seesaw.me/pages/shared_item?item_id=item.ccd3a629-d249-4765-b44b-93eadb288e74&share_token=ZcIZ51oBQo2bUW4mvdMnWg&mode=share

If you compare the two videos, you'll notice that the Seesaw video was fuzzier.  The Flipgrid app gave me the ability to use the flashlight feature on my phone to brighten up the image and the app also allowed me to touch the screen and reset the focus.   The Seesaw app did not seem to have these features.  Also, you'll notice that when I get the "share" link from each app, the Flipgrid app provides a much shorter, easier to read link.  This will make a big difference when I'm trying to share videos with students via Twitter, remind.com or even by writing on the whiteboard.

Of course there are many more features that Seesaw has in their web application and so this is not meant to be an overall comparison of the two products.  But for this one application, quick sharing of student videos, I'm liking what Flipgrid has to offer.