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Earlier this school year, Andrew Kozlowksy noticed one of his students out in the hallway, dancing. What was she up to?

Making a TikTok, the student told him.

After serving as an impromptu background dancer in her video, Kozlowsky, a teacher at Quince Orchard High School in Gaithersburg, Md., did some research on the platform. Now, he鈥檚 started using it in his social studies class. He gave his students the option of making TikTok videos to demonstrate their understanding of the Missouri compromise of 1820, a key event in the lead-up to the American Civil War.

鈥淭hat can be kind of a dry issue,鈥� Kozlowsky admitted. But TikTok helped bring it to life. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a chance for them to be creative. It鈥檚 a fun way for students to show what they know.鈥�

Kozlowsky is an early adopter to bringing the latest social media craze into the classroom. TikTok is a short-form video application, similar to the now-defunct Vine video platform.

The platform appeals to a wide-variety of ages. But, as many educators can tell you, it鈥檚 a hit with tweens and teens.

TikTok is 鈥渟ort of its own language and it鈥檚 the language that teenagers speak,鈥� said Jennifer Berg Gaither, the school librarian at Baltimore City College, a public magnet high school in the city. 鈥淚t鈥檚 incredibly popular with them.鈥�

Like Kozlowsky, she鈥檚 enthusiastic about TikTok鈥檚 potential as a teaching and engagement tool.

But, even as experts encourage the trend, they warn that the platform has the potential to become a big classroom distraction. And, like Snapchat and Instagram, it could become yet another forum for bullying. Add to that ubiquitous student data privacy considerations, giving educators good reason to proceed cautiously with the use of this relatively new social media platform.

Student Engagement

Still, teachers see the possibilities of TikTok.

Earlier this school year, Kathryn Byars, a social studies teacher at Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Eastvale, Calif., gave her students the option of making TikToks to compare and contrast different historical trade routes, and to share inventions from the Industrial Revolution. She sees it as an alternative to other video platforms.

She thinks with the right structure, including limited time on the platform and specific assignments, it can be a way for students to channel something they already love into a learning tool. 鈥淚nstead of fighting it, I鈥檓 finding ways to engage with it in my classroom.鈥�

Other teachers have created their own TikToks, including Berg Gaither, who is the extended essay coordinator for the school鈥檚 International Baccalaureate program. She helps kids find materials for a 4,000 word research paper requirement, the kind of assignment usually given to college students. She鈥檚 used the platform to try to make that daunting process seem more manageable for students, creating, for instance, a TikTok that explains how to do academic citations.

Her colleague, Edwin Perez, a Spanish teacher at Baltimore City College, said he first gave students the option of using TikTok to show what they learned during a visit to the Guggenheim Museum in New York City, and to point out examples of French and Spanish language use in signage around the city. He鈥檚 now planning to use the platform to allow his students to create short, scripted videos in Spanish.

Discipline Headache?

TikTok comes with its fair share of potential problems. Educators should be mindful that it could become a bullying tool, said Christine Elgersma, a senior editor for parent education at Common Sense Media, a San Francisco-based nonprofit that studies the impact of technology on children and young people.

On TikTok, you can 鈥渄uet鈥� with another person, meaning react to another person鈥檚 TikTok, Elgersma said. That will display as something like a split screen, she explained. And it can be used for bullying purposes. 鈥淧eople will make fun of someone else鈥檚 video,鈥� she said. Users can turn off those features before someone takes advantage of them. Elgersma said, which might cut down on the bullying temptation.

What鈥檚 more, there are also whole compilations of TikTok 鈥渃ringe鈥� videos on YouTube that could be posted without the original author鈥檚 consent, she said. 鈥淵ou might not know that your TikTok has been shared widely and perhaps people are laughing at you, or making fun of you on other platforms. Obviously, in middle or high school, that can become a source of drama.鈥� Students could get targeted and their TikTok accounts could get spammed with kids making fun of them, she suggested.

Teachers aren鈥檛 immune from potential ridicule, either. Elgersma has seen some educators unknowingly play bit parts in student TikTok videos. 鈥淚 have seen teachers being, I think, unwittingly filmed and become a part of a TikTok video,鈥� she said.

And like other social media, TikTok has the potential to be distracting. 鈥淜ids are definitely using this app at school,鈥� she said.

But Elizabeth Thomas, Kozlowsky鈥檚 principal, said that, so far, TikTok hasn鈥檛 become a classroom management headache.

鈥淚 think there are other social media platforms that have been extremely difficult to manage,鈥� Thomas said. 鈥淏ut I would not say TikTok has gotten there.鈥�

鈥榁ery Troubling鈥�

And then there are serious student data privacy considerations.

鈥淪chools should avoid TikTok like the plague,鈥� said Brad Shear, a parent and lawyer specializing in privacy and security, who sometimes consults with school districts. Shear doesn鈥檛 think that teachers should compel their students to sign up for any social media accounts, including TikTok, in part because it鈥檚 unclear what the companies who run these platforms ultimately do with the personal data they collect.

And he鈥檚 concerned that a funny鈥攂ut slightly inappropriate鈥攙ideo could come back to haunt a student in the college admissions process, or with future employers. Shear is also especially worried about TikTok, as opposed to other social media platforms, because it is owned by a Chinese company, ByteDance. Former TikTok employees have accused the Chinese government of censoring TikTok posts, including political content, the Washington Post has reported. And it鈥檚 not clear if the Chinese government will ultimately get access to the personal data of TikTok users, including students, Shear said.

鈥淚 find it very troubling when our schools are encouraging our kids to use TikTok,鈥� he said. 鈥淎t the end of the day, these companies cannot be trusted鈥� with student data, particularly with the looming prospect of interference by the Chinese government.

Byars said she鈥檚 aware of those concerns and has cautioned her students that it鈥檚 unclear what social media companies will do with their data. She and Kozlowsky said they would never require a student to use TikTok to complete an assignment鈥攊t鈥檚 always going to be one of several options for showing their work.

Perez has a similar strategy. And he lets students who don鈥檛 want to sign up for an app鈥攐r don鈥檛 have a cellphone鈥攚ork with a classmate who has an account.

鈥楾ruly Scary Things鈥�

Another thing that bothers Elgersma: Younger children on TikTok will sometimes 鈥渢ry to emulate older kids and teens.鈥� They might lip-sync to songs with mature or inappropriate lyrics, dance in provocative ways, or appear scantily clad.

Teachers, particularly elementary and middle school teachers, might want to consider addressing those behaviors and TikTok as part of digital citizenship lessons, she said. Teachers should present students with positive role models on the app and give them ideas about 鈥渉ow you can have fun with an app like TikTok without having to make a video that鈥檚 like, a girl in a bikini dancing to an R. Kelly song. There are ways to use it that are age-appropriate.鈥�

Berg Gaither realized how tough that can be when she made a TikTok video as a bonding experience with her students. They wanted to try out their own version of one of the songs and dances that she said 鈥渕illions鈥� of people had already posted on the platform. It wasn鈥檛 easy, though, to find one with school-appropriate lyrics.

鈥淭he struggle is real trying to find a P.G. song that didn鈥檛 have the n-word or the f-word,鈥� Berg Gaither said. 鈥淚t was very, very hard.鈥� And, just like any other social media app that鈥檚 being used by kids, teens, and older adults, teachers should be aware that, with TikTok, 鈥渢here are risks associated, especially [for] vulnerable kids,鈥� Elgersma said. Some adults will look at the videos, comment on students鈥� bodies, or offer them money or other incentives to meet in person. Students, she said, need to be taught how to deflect that kind of attention.

TikTok, too, has its dark corners, including adults-only hashtags, which might flag highly sexualized content, or self-harm videos.

鈥淭here are some truly negative things and some truly scary things, and some truly creepy people on these platforms too,鈥� Elgersma said. 鈥淚f you鈥檙e going to use it in class, you also have to teach kids how to use it safely outside of class,鈥� including how to make an account private.

Byars talks to her students about those issues. And she encourages them not to post the TikToks they do for her class, and instead put the videos on another platform to be graded so that their 鈥渋mages and faces鈥� aren鈥檛 going out into the social media sphere.

But she acknowledged that many students will still have public TikTok accounts, despite her cautions.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 know if the best way to challenge that in the classroom is to say 鈥榥ever use these things.鈥� Kids are going to use them anyway,鈥� she said. 鈥淪o how do we start engaging in the conversations about the dangers of it if we鈥檙e not willing to tell them, 鈥榯here are some positives to this thing that you鈥檙e using and that you鈥檙e spending all this time on as well?鈥欌��