I had used Flippity a bit a few years ago to create flashcards before discovering Quizlet (and even wrote a post about it!). It required some legwork on google sheets. I knew Flippity was an entirely free resource. So a few weeks ago while I was searching for a “picker” app to randomly choose students, I landed on Flippity.net and clicked “Skip the Spreadsheet”. Wow, was I amazed at all the possibilities I could use it for!

Flippity is not an app. It is a web tool that you can access from any device. It typically converts google sheets into different “activities” and for the classroom. Not only are there a long list of activities, I no longer needed to find a picker app, of which most needed an in-app purchase to use for more than one class. All I needed to do here was to type in my students names one time, and a wealth of classroom tools appeared. I was now able to put students randomly into groups of 2-5. This is obviously helpful for projects or games. A lot of the time, my students prefer the iPad to choose groups as opposed to them choosing the groups themselves.

Here’s a quick tip to save your classlists: Bookmark each page and rename it as the class. That way you won’t have to retype the class list each time. Works like a charm. Each class will be there as soon as you choose the bookmark. For specialists like myself who have multiple classes, this is a lifesaver. I’ve now typed in all 15 of my classes for future use.

Here are some activity ideas for this great feature:

1. Replace the popsicle stick pick when asking questions. The tool can choose individual students to answer using a spinwheel or “Single Name”

2. Form project or game groups within seconds

3. Create a seating chart

4. Create a gift exchange at Christmas

5. Use the spinner to see which student will do their presentation next:

If you have a projector, project Flippity onto your whiteboard for everyone to see. If not, show the iPad as you spin/choose the next person/group.

Make sure to use my tip to bookmark each class. Let me know if you’ve tried Flippity yet and how you can use it in your classroom! I’ve just talked about the “skip the spreadsheet” feature, but do spend some time exploring some of their regular features as well. Check out their FAQ here.