Tik Tok in the Classroom

Tik Tok in the Classroom

Tik Tok has blown up as one of the most popular social medias during the 2020 Coronavirus Pandemic. It is a Chinese video-sharing social network owned by Byte Dance. The premise is for users to create short music, lip-sync, dance, comedy and talent videos of 3-60 seconds. Now, we have heard of teachers creating professional Twitter accounts to keep their students up to date with tasks, but how could Tik Tok be used in the classroom?

These short videos are the perfect length of time for students to share their understanding of a concept in under 60 seconds. Short and to the point, plus they can edit it after adding fun music and filters to the video. Not only can these allow students to show their knowledge about subjects quickly, it is allowing them to use their own language. Instead of writing a formal essay: This paper will discuss...and how it correlates with...To conclude… YAWN. Yes, this is obviously a practical skill to learn but Tik Tok spices up the learning game.

It has developed a unique language that has become very popular with tweens and teens (and 20-somethings). Personally, I have learned so much just from watching short Tik Tok videos about it. A current favourite is a creator who educates people on the female members of the Royal Families about their world. Tik Tok in the classroom can help create student engagement and meet them where they will want to learn. 

With any social media there are risks which should be cleared by your schools administration and work to make this a safe way for students to become engaged, One idea is to just use the app for the editing purposes and then save on the device and present it to the entire class through a video. As well as, students should be taught to not take every video's information as truth and encourage their own investigation into the topic to fact-check. 

As teachers, we should always strive to present material in a way that students not only learn from but enjoy. Creating short videos can hold students' attention span and force the students to be concise and share only the relevant  information. is meeting students where they are at and can be used to engage students in the content you are teaching.

Check out:  https://nasilemaktech.com/tiktok-teachers-day-tiktokclassroom/ (#TikTok Classroom)

Check out: https://ditchthattextbook.com/create-a-tiktok-style-experience-with-google-slides/ (Using Google Slides to create the TikTok experience)

Brought to you by:  Lauren@NU