Instagram, Flipagram, and Screencasts-Tools to Increase Student Engagement and Improve Technology Instruction

 March 12, 2017

Instagram at school? Why yes, yes indeed!

I'm going to admit it, I've never been one to share images on Instagram. I've had an account for years and when I had to use my account to explore this topic, I was chagrined to find I have only about 60 photos posted to it. I can honestly say I've never given a thought to using it in the classroom, perhaps because I teach 3rd grade. I certainly am beginning to see that it has a definite use as a proof of learning tool in the classroom and in a school library.

Ideas to use Instagram in the school library:

• Create a school library account for students and parents alike to follow.
• Post pictures of library events such as guest readers and author visits to your account.
• Students can post their MakerSpaces creations to the school account.
• School activities like book clubs or poetry jams. 
• Feature a reader of the week.
• Share book reviews 
• Create memes about a book or book character using photos of themselves.

If you want to add text to the photos, there's are many free options available on the Apple App Store or in Google Play for Android. I used one called Font from Apple's App Store for this photo. I love the font and I did this all from my phone. I had to rotate the picture by pinching and turning, which explains why it looks unlevel. You'd have to play around with the apps you think work best or make a few choices available on the device.

Now you wouldn't want to allow students unfettered access to your Instagram account. Just let them use the library devices to take photos of the activity and then you can upload the photos yourself (you wouldn't want to allow students to upload directly to the school account😱!!)

Flipagram-Make those photos into instant slide shows.

Now this is a tool I can definitely see a use for in the classroom. I remember using Animoto a few years back and it seemed like a lot of work for a 15 second video, even if it was free. Flipagram makes it easy to create slide shows using your devices existing photos as well as live videos that can be shared. But the best part? Adding your own music of course! I used these pictures of my students with their baby pictures and added Happy by Pharell to make it more fun. It was SO easy and free too! This would be a wonderful digital storytelling tool to use in the library.

https://flipagram.com/f/15OUH6EujDL/embed

Screencasts

Have you ever wondered how people make those computer tutorial videos? I always have and never realized how easy it is! I made a screen cast using Jing, which is also a great tool for saving screen shots. I shared an infographic I made last week in Canva, so this week I thought I'd make a little instructional screen cast about how to use Canva. There are other tools, like ScreenCast-Omatic, which I know is also very popular.

Using screencasts to present instruction is a standard form of instruction for online content. But it can also be a useful tool to share instructions for students. I use Google Classroom for my 3rd grade students and if I'd known how easy make a screencast actually was, I'd have made them for my 3rd graders long ago. I think I would have saved myself a lot of frustration when it comes to giving instructions about technology!

Here's my screencast about how to find the online resources on the Arlington ISD website.

I hope you have some fun incorporating these tools into your library and classroom instruction!

References

Hudson, H. (2014, August 7). 10 Surprising Ways to Use Instagram in the Classroom - WeAreTeachers. Retrieved from https://www.weareteachers.com/10-surprising-ways-to-use-instagram-in-the-classroom-2/

Moore, A. (2012, June 7). Using Instagram in the classroom. Retrieved from https://prezi.com/fvbrbbznr7ee/using-instagram-in-the-classroom/