I’m not a Flip OG. I’m a Microsoft OG, and I learned about Flip shortly before Microsoft’s acquisition was announced in 2018. I remember meeting the amazing Joey Taralson at the Microsoft offices. Sonja Delafosse introduced us with glowing comments: “Just wait till you see what the team at Flip is going to do for education!” I attended my first Flipgrid Live that year in Chicago. Mike Tholfsen introduced me to Charlie Miller. That’s my origin story.
Since then I’ve been an active user. I’ve trained my own children’s teachers on Flip(grid), carried Flip recording pods around the world, used it with summer coding camps, and helped spread the goodness of a cross-platform, accessible, innovative tool. We use Flip for the Microsoft Certified Coach program, too. Participants submit intro videos prior to the start of a new cohort, so we can get to know them and greet them by name when we arrive in person. I also use Flip to record quick videos to send to people asking for technical support, and to my family when I’m traveling. It’s not nearly the same as the teachers who have been using Flip for a decade or who have impacted thousands of students. I know.
Sadly, I won’t be able to do any of those things anymore, and neither will you.
On June 3, Flip made the {surprising} announcement that they were ending the hosting and collaboration part of their platform. Flipsiders got an email early that morning. I had just arrived at a school to lead a training when I saw the note. Then came the news that the Flip camera will soon be integrated into Teams assignments. This is a massive shift in how students access the response tool, and completely changes its use cases.
Some of us will remember the day Office Mix went away. It was sad, but the functionality of Office Mix got wrapped into PowerPoint, Forms, and Stream so eventually we could do all the same things again. I don’t see that happening here. We’re going to have to find an alternative.
When I told my kids the news, my son asked what Flip had been charging. “Nothing,” I responded, “It’s always been free since it was purchased by Microsoft.” “But does it collect your user data to sell, then?” he asked. “No, it’s part of the Microsoft brand for education.” He looked at me sideways. “Then it was only a matter of time. It’s not producing income.” Wow.
There are several free, friendly video tools available for education. Microsoft already owns two more that are also free: Clipchamp (editing) and Stream (hosting). Clipchamp has been teasing out education availability for a while, and finally put a date on it today. We can also use editors outside of Microsoft, of course: Canva for Education (free), Affinity (free), WeVideo (freemium), Screencastify, Adobe for Education, the list is long. What we no longer have is a safe, secure, cross-platform, free environment for teachers and students to share content with a wide audience.
From what I can see, there have been four basic reactions to this news on social media. I’ll speak to each personality differently. You deserve your own voice.
To the grievers
Yes, it’s really hard. When you’ve seen a tool change lives (as so many educators have reported), it’s difficult news. The timing is awful – northern hemisphere schools have no time to plan for summer professional development or the fall back to school season. IT departments don’t have time to research, test, approve, implement, and budget for a new tool. Many teachers are already out on summer vacation and could not know this news until they return in late August. For southern hemisphere, they are in the middle of a school year! It’s okay to be sad. Great technology gets implemented because it’s useful AND it is emotionally compelling. Flip had both. Mourn the loss.
To the angry
I hear you. You trusted a product. You were told it would always be free, and that it wasn’t going anywhere. You were told it would remain its own brand, “instead of getting pushed into Teams.” Even after the acquisition, Flip still had single sign on for Google accounts! You trusted the product because it was more than a product to you. And now the Microsoft Machine has broken its promises and taken away opportunities for connection and collaboration for efficiency. It’s okay to be angry. It’s a big disappointment, and it’s anything but fair.
To the positive nostalgics
It’s great to remember the “good old days” with fondness and love for the community. Flip did a phenomenal job of cultivating community. Charlie, Joey, George, Adam, Jornea, Jess, Ann, Elizabeth, Fely, Andy, Yaritza, Scott, and more – all faces of a group who is passionate about education, kids, and learning. Send love and hope for a bright future with other innovations – because these things are more about the people than the tools. Pedagogy remains a focus with people who care about educators. Celebrate your memories, post photos, wear your SVA t-shirts with pride.
To the problem solvers
This is my personality, to be honest. Hit me with a problem, and I’m solution hunting immediately. I’ve seen some posts like “don’t hit me with a replacement tool,” and that’s because these people need to experience other emotions first. But it’s okay to be a problem solver too – just have grace for those who aren’t in the same headspace yet.
As a problem solver, I started thinking through the actual announcement. Flip camera inside Teams Assignments. What does that mean? Here’s what I think it means. It means that educators would create an assignment and use the handy add/+ buttons to include a video assignment as a submission option. Teams Assignments already has video recording in Stream built-in for educators to share assignment directions or other video-based resources. Adding a Flip camera-powered option is a natural step. That’s just my prediction – but it makes sense to me. It could appear in the Attach tab, like MakeCode, Whiteboard, and OneNote.
Also – you may not realize (because it’s SUPER new) that Teams Assignments are available inside many LMS, like Canvas, Blackboard, Schoology, D2L Brightspace, and Moodle. So you can access this functionality and any of the Learning Accelerators right within your LMS, if that’s turned on for you. Handy.
But that’s just the camera. And it’s an assignment, so other students wouldn’t be able to view or comment on the submissions. It’s a completely different flow than what we’ve come to expect from Flip groups and topics. It also doesn’t fit our needs to have cross-system, school-to-home, around-the-world interactions. What does?
Padlet came out quickly with a bold offer to import videos and match some of Flip’s features that don’t currently exist, and the platform already offers video uploads organized in boards. Wakelet just announced video upload to their paid accounts this week, so students would be able to upload video to collections, and react to each other. Microsoft Stream is a free, secure tool for internal video sharing, and it already includes all the inclusive tools we expect like transcripts, search, and chapters – plus video analytics. That is a solid option for inside a school or system, especially for older students.
None of these solutions are video editors. Educators will still have to find that perfect combination that existed in Flip: recording, editing, hosting, and social components all in one. Problem solvers, unite. Now is the time to get noisy and innovate.
Whichever personality you are, share your voice.
Students everywhere need you to continue being an advocate for what matters most. Cultivating great relationships, building amazing learning experiences, and maintaining a vibrant edtech community doesn’t change. Because that’s ultimately up to us.