Habi Hour S2 Episode 11: Learning with Tiktok

Overview

18 June 2021 | 15 min and 13s

TikTok is one of the most popular social media platforms in the world. With most of our learners as a captive audience, educators have turned to the app to create learning content and connect with their learners. In this episode of Habi Hour, we chat with Alyssa, a school teacher, and Patrick, an instructional designer, on the impact of TikTok on learning and creativity, and explore ways that we can harness the app for our teaching practice.

Transcript

ALYSSA: If ever na lang po that I would be sharing it in the public, I will focus more on the current issues. So medyo ano siya, medyo hot topic siya pero yeah. I will see to it naman that I will do my research before I present it to the public.

PATRICK: Actually this a series I’m already planning pero I would talk about instructional design / learning experience design, and kung ano yung mga natutunan ko doon para matulungan ‘yung mga students na kinakabahan para sa college.

[Habi Hour Intro Music]

JOVI: That was Alyssa, a school teacher, and Patrick, an instructional designer, talking about the kind of learning experience they would want to present in a 60-second clip on TikTok.

TikTok is one of the biggest and fastest-growing social media platforms out there. Naalala niyo no’ng simula ng pandemic na marami sa atin ang sumubok mag-TikTok? Today, many of our Gen Z learners are hooked on the app and spending even more time there to consume and even generate their own content, and even educators are starting to get on board. In this episode of Habi Hour, magkukuwentuhan tayo tunkgol sa TikTok, and how we might use it for learning.

[Habi Hour Intro Spiel]

Introductions and Check In

JOVI: Hi, I’m Jovi, a learning experience designer with Habi Education Lab and your host for this episode. Kasama ko ngayon si Patrick, isang instructional designer and former Habi LXD, and si Alyssa, a school teacher.

PATRICK: Hello! Ako si Patrick. I’m an instructional designer and… ayun I do TikTok. [laughs] Feel free to follow me on TikTok. It’s @patricknaui lang naman. Expect different kinds of content. I talk about college tips. I talk about nostalgia. I even talked about AlDub a couple of days ago.

ALYSSA: Hello po. I’m Alyssa. Currently I’m pursuing my passion in music by posting my ukulele covers both on YouTube and TikTok. It’s vacation, that’s why I have a lot of time right now to do that.

JOVI: Let’s start with our usual check in! What kind of TikTok content do you enjoy? Ako, I personally enjoy the food and cooking side of TikTok, and seeing how people are sharing their food culture across the world, and how creative they can actually get with a very short video clip. How about you?

ALYSSA: I use my TikTok for personal, and actually it’s a stan account.

JOVI: A stan is slang for an obsessive fan of a celebrity or group. 

ALYSSA: So aside from fan videos, I like learn on TikTok, #learnonTikTok and #EduTok the most. This is the hashtag for professionals who would share their expertise on certain discussion. Any professionals could share whatever they would like to share to educate on TikTok.

PATRICK: Ako, na-enjoy ko ‘yung content na educational in a way. There’s this tip na natutunan ko from TikTok na a way to release heat from your car daw is to open the passenger side window, tapos nando’n ka sa kabilang side, tapos gagawin mong parang fan yung driver side na pinto tapos lalabas daw yung hot air. Triny ko siya. Gumana naman. Marami akong nakikitang gano’ng klaseng contents sa TikTok na very educational. Tapos parang ‘yun na yung na-enjoy ko na content.

Kuwentuhan

JOVI: ‘Yun ang nakakatuwa about TikTok as a social media platform. Unexpectedly, maraming learning or educational content from creators on the app, ranging from formal or academic subjects to even life hacks and life skills. We asked Alyssa, a teacher, on how she uses TikTok in her class.

ALYSSA: I actually encourage my students to use TikTok kapag may mga projects, may mga homework which would require them to do some editing. I’m a teacher of English po kasi, so it’s somewhat helpful in reading, in teaching literature. They could simply sum up lessons or they could simply sum up stories in 15-second to 60-second video clips, and that would make them more creative.

Last November, we had this English fest and ito yung kasagsagan ng kasikatan ng  POV on TikTok. So what we did in our program was we asked the students to choose a literary character from an English area. For example, sa Grade 9 they have to choose a literary character from British English literature. So puwedeng coming from a Edgar Allan Poe story, or a William Shakespeare poem, so it could be any of the two. Ngayon po I asked them to make their own make their own POV using what they learned from the story pretending that they are the character in the story, and they would use a one-minute clip to portray a certain part of the story. It was actually successful kasi lumabas talaga ‘yung galing ng mga bata when it comes to creativity. I did not do it. I mean, ako as a teacher I did not use my account to use TikTok, pero ‘yung mga estudyante, even without me showing it to them or even without me doing the activity itself, nagawa nila. They were able to achieve it kasi it can easily be followed using ‘yung ibang mga videos na uploaded na sa TikTok.

JOVI: Nice. Napaka enjoyable nga niya na medium talaga, ano? Curious ako, Ma’am Alyssa. Paano ‘yung parang assessment process niyo for it? Or paano niyo na-assess ‘yung learning ng student through it?

ALYSSA: We still prepare like ‘yung preparation. We asked them to accomplish a pre-assessment forms. Sino ‘yung character? What are the captions that you’re going to include? And then, what are the materials that you’re going to need? We ask them to answer a form first. And then after that, we give them a deadline. We give them a schedule on when they will do the process of acting, and ‘yung target date for them to finish the editing. Then after that we see to it na we were able to achieve ‘yung na-set na objectives, which were given to them naman ahead, kung ano ba ‘yung objective ng activity na ‘yun, which is for them to express themselves, and for them to showcase how they understood what they understood in the lesson.

PATRICK: I think to add to Ma’am Alyssa’s point, I think lalabas talaga ‘yung depth ng knowledge ng student about a specific character kapag nagpagawa na ng POV on that character. And I think lalabas na rin do’n ‘yung creativity ng student na, “Paano ko ie-express itong story nitong character na ‘to through this medium that I have which is TikTok?”

JOVI: From Alyssa’s story, we can already see the potential of TikTok when it comes to learning. Throughout this episode, may mga iba pang tips kaming maibabahagi on learning with TikTok.

And Alyssa’s story brings us to our first tip: Plan the learning experience well to achieve your learning objectives.

JOVI: We ask Patrick if there are other possibilities of using TikTok for learning.

PATRICK: Definitely, kasi I think this larger audience that I am afforded, nagkakaroon ng opportunity for me to talk about things that I know that I’m passionate about. Before, I didn’t have that platform pero now. I do. I think sobrang awesome niya, kasi mas malaki ‘yung audience so mas marami makakarining ng kuwento mo. And in terms of using TikTok as a platform for instructional design, I think sobrang cool na parang dine-democratize ng TikTok ‘yung paggawa ng videos. Noong panahon ng YouTube, it’s very, very difficult to produce videos kasi mayroong certain level na  expectations when it comes to production value. So you need to have specific equipment. You need to have a team to write your script. You need to have lighting and things like that. Pero ngayon with TikTok, with just your phone, you can create impactful content that can reach millions of people. ‘Yung democratization of that creative process, that’s very very helpful. And feel ko magagamit siya ng instructional designers moving forward. I think there are more and more features being added to this app na makakatulong pagdating sa creative process. And dahil mas madali na ‘yung paggawa ng content, mas marami na rin instructional designers na makakagawa ng high quality videos even though naka-phone lang sila.

JOVI: Ang ganda nung sinabi ni Patrick: TikTok as a platform that democratizes the creative process or even the content production process. 

JOVI: We asked Alyssa if TikTok enables learners to be self-starters and be more creative.

ALYSSA: Yes po definitely. Actually na-observe ko ito sa, sa majority of the youth nowadays who are into TikTok. Makikita mo na bigla silang sumasayaw, kumakanta, nagpe-play ng instruments, especially noong nagsimula ‘yung pandemic. Before, sa classroom hindi nila yun masyadong ginagawa, but they can express more of themselves using TikTok, kasi nga it’s just a short video platform, but it could engage a lot of people. And the discoverability is better than YouTube. And we know na this generation loves fast, authentic, shareable content. I think not only to my students, I think it’s applicable to all generations eh. TikTok became like an avenue for the people to be creative kahit walang teacher prompting them to do this task.

JOVI: And that’s Tip #2: Harness the learner’s passions, interests, and creativity to maximize learning.

JOVI TikTok, as with any new or non-traditional tool for learning, will always encounter barriers to adoption. Which brings us to Tip #3: Expect some resistance to adoption, but focus on the positive outcomes. 

Kung naiisip niyo nang gamitin o i-promote ang TikTok for learning in your school, we may pick up something from Alyssa’s and Patrick’s experiences.

ALYSSA: When I suggested to use the POV, siyempre mayroon po tayong mga colleagues na they are really not into technology. So they were thinking, “What’s this POV on TikTok?” And then I showed them the examples, tapos mayroon na rin kasing naga-appear sa TV about POV. Then they tried to engage or they tried looking into it. At some point they enjoyed it so they started with dancing. Hanggang sa na-hook na sila totally sa TikTok. 

PATRICK: To add to maam Alyssa’s story. I also find teachers who post content on TikTok. I followed this teacher a couple of days ago. Ginagamit niya yung platform niya to talk about math, and ang dami niyang examples na pinopost sa TikTok. Because of that, parang kahit ako na hindi na nag-aaral ng math right now, sobrang natututo rin ako kapag bina-browse or kapag lumalabas siya sa “For You” page ko. Nakikita kong maraming teachers na tumatalon dito sa TikTok as a platform dahil nakikita nila yung value, lalo na’t sobrang dali ng paggawa ng content.

JOVI: Bumabalik tayo sa nabanggit ni Patrick kanina, on TikTok democratizing that content creation process, and spreading the content you make to a wider audience. And there are many benefits to that for educators and learners alike, whether they are content consumers or content creators.

And that brings us to Tip #4: Be familiar with what the app can do, and how you can best use it for learning.

PATRICK: I think one of the most valuable features na meron si TikTok to combat things like misinformation is yung stitching feature so there’s this option sa TikTok, [wherein if] you want to cite a specific video that you saw, you can stitch it, and then you can talk about that video if you want to. And these past few weeks I’ve noticed that there are more people doing stitching to combat misinformation. I remember seeing this fitness video, tapos there was this another fitness coach that disproved the things na sinasabi ng isa pang video, and doon lumabas yung value ng pagsi-stitch kasi, dahil sinagot nitong other person yung  misinformation na yun and nag-cite siya ng sources, sobrang nakatulong siya to combat that kind of misinformation. And I think, if educators start using the app, I highly encourage everyone to combat misinformation that way.

ALYSSA: Its a good ano nga eh, it can be a good debate. Debate platform din, although it’s going to be informal, it can fire up good, a good debate.

PATRICK: Always ask your students to do their own research. Meaning, even though, let’s say for example you find a video on TikTok that is correct, factually correct, may nag-cite ng sources and things like that, it’s always best to encourage students to do their own research. Kasi, we don’t want them relying on one source of information. We want them to be critical about all of the information that they’re processing. And we need to allow them to think about, “Okay, this might not be true. So let’s research.” And maganda rin na alam nila kung ano ba dapat yung tamang pagrere-search about specific topics, paano nila malalabanan ‘yung misinformation

ALYSSA: I agree with Sir Patrick also, ‘yung fake news awareness, it’s really relevant not only in TikTok but in all social media platforms.

JOVI: Medyo wild frontier ang social media, at maraming benefits and also dangers ang pag-explore nito especially if we allow our impressionable learners to explore it. 

If you’re going to use TikTok, or any kind of social media platform for learning, remember the 5 tips we shared:

• Plan the learning experience well to achieve your learning objectives.
• Harness the learner’s passions, interests and creativity to maximize learning.
• Expect some resistance to adoption, but focus on the positive outcomes.
• Be familiar with what the app can do, and how you can best use it for learning.
• Prepare your learners to research and verify .

Using TikTok can become a learning opportunity for us educators to take advantage of, especially in cultivating 21st century skills and literacies such as creativity, critical thinking, and information and media literacy. 

You can definitely use Tiktok to increase student participation and engagement as a way to present bite-sized lessons, or even just as  fun brain-break to lighten the cognitive load. Siguradong hindi nito mapapalitan ang mga tried-and-tested learning activities and experiences nakasanayan natin, pero maganda na rin makita at masubukan kung paano nito mae-enrich ang ating learning at teaching practices.

Ikaw, Teach, anong gusto mong matutunan ngayon? May lesson ka bang gustong gawing engaging o mas madaling maintindihan? I-check natin. Baka nasa TikTok o iba pang social media platforms ang hinahanap natin na inspirasyon!

[Habi Hour Outro Music]