{"id":7480,"date":"2026-08-21T14:31:24","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T21:31:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hmc.edu\/cis\/?p=7480"},"modified":"2026-08-21T14:33:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T21:33:08","slug":"headshotflip-learning-every-name-in-the-room","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hmc.edu\/cis\/2026\/08\/21\/headshotflip-learning-every-name-in-the-room\/","title":{"rendered":"HeadshotFlip: Learning Every Name in the Room"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

HeadshotFlip<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Learning student names is one of the simplest, most powerful things an instructor can do to build community in a classroom \u2014 and one of the hardest to do well at scale. For years, the HMC community used a flipcard-style solution CIS provided: an Anki deck. It worked, but it was a static file that had to be regenerated, redistributed, and re-imported every term, and it could only ever be one thing \u2014 flipcards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the Spring ’26 semester, the ARCS team set out to build something better. A flipcard system was good, but what if we could offer different game types? What if students could tell us how to say their names, in their own voices? What if the whole thing lived right inside Canvas, always in sync with the roster, with nothing to download or install?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The result is HeadshotFlip, an LTI application for Canvas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Five Ways to Learn<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

When faculty click on the tool in Canvas, they’re greeted with a selection of game modes, arranged roughly from “browse” to “quiz”:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Class List<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The most basic view: profile pictures, student names, phonetic spellings, and a button to hear how each student’s name is pronounced. Great as a quick pre-class refresher or a reference while grading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Info Cards<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

A card for each student, with their picture, name, phonetic pronunciation, and a play button for audio. The same information as the Class List, in a more visual, browsable layout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Flashcard Mode<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The spiritual successor to the Anki deck. A traditional flashcard experience: see the photo, guess the name, flip the card to check yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Name Match<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Takes memorization a step further. You’re shown a profile picture and four names, and quizzed on which name matches the face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Face Match <\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Reverses the idea: you’re given a name and four profile pictures, and asked to pick the right face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As instructors work through the quiz modes, HeadshotFlip keeps track of which students they’ve marked as “known” \u2014 separately for each course they teach \u2014 so they can focus their practice on the names they haven’t mastered yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Students Own Their Names<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Ensuring that students are represented the way *they* want to be represented was a core design goal from the start. A tool for learning names is only as good as the names in it \u2014 and nobody knows how to say a student’s name better than the student.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

HeadshotFlip includes a student-facing profile page, delivered in their Canvas User section and as a Canvas assignment in a course as My Name Pronunciation, where each student can:<\/p>\n\n\n\n