These Tools are Flipping Awesome!

Almost a year ago I wrote a post about Flippity Flashcards.  I had just completed a two day course on Google Apps for Education at a local college and I introduced Flippity Flashcards in the class.  It was far and away the favorite tool we used during those two days.

Flippity Flashcards is a great way to make flashcards using a Google Sheets template.  Steve Fortna created the template that is available for free at flippity.net.  Once you have the template, you type in the text you want on the flashcards (images and videos are also possibilities) into the spreadsheet.  Then go to the file menu and drag down to Publish to the Web.  Copy and paste a link to see your flashcards magically appear.  Many teachers were initially apprehensive about spreadsheets, but everyone thought the flashcards were easy to create and they loved the results.

Today and tomorrow I am teaching the same Google Apps class at the same college.  Today I showed Flippity Flashcards to the class and saw the same type of response as last year. I already thought the flashcards were perfect, but now the cards can be colored (or color-coded) and the text can be colored too.  The template has been updated to the newest version of Sheets too. 

While I was at the flippity website, I checked out three other templates now available there.  They are every bit as cool.

Template #1:  The Quiz Show

Grab the template.  Remove the old questions and answers and type in your own.  Publish to the web (just like the flashcards).  Copy and paste your link.  Click on your quiz show link.  The Quiz Show lists five categories with point values from 100 to 500.  You can have no teams or as many six (create more or less with a click of a button).  The Quiz Show will keep score and greys out the questions as you use them.  It has a very clean look and is easy to create and use.

Template #2: Certificate of Completion

Grab the template.  Remove old questions and answers and type in your own.  Publish to the web.  Copy and paste your link.  Click on your new link to take a quick quiz.  After the quiz, a certificate is automatically generated.  How cool is that?

Template #3: Progress Bar Generator

I wasn't sure at first glance what this one was, but now that I've tried it, I really like it.  Picture the elementary school poster of a canned food "thermometer" that gets colored in each day during the food drive.  This template creates a progress bar like that for your students to visualize their growth toward a target.  

Grab the template.  Remove old names and numbers and type in new ones.  Publish to the web.  Copy and paste your link.  Click on your new link to see a visual of the progress of your students.  I made one for my children so they could see their progress toward their summer learning goals.  I am not entirely sure how I would use the progress bar indicator in my high school classroom, but I am glad I know it's available when I think of a way!

Once you use one of these spreadsheet templates, the others are also very easy to use.  There are instructions and examples at flippity.net.  These would be great tools to use with students to review content and practice spreadsheet skills.  If you haven't checked them out, these are definitely worth your time.