罢颈办罢辞办鈥攖丑别 social media platform of dance videos and viral challenges鈥�might not seem like an obvious gold mine of high-quality professional development.
But many preservice teachers can鈥檛 wait to implement ideas found on the site in their future classrooms, according to research conducted by Stefanie McKoy, who recently received her doctorate in curriculum and instruction from the University of Arkansas.
That is the case even though some experts have sounded the alarm about the dangers of using TikTok, which is owned by Chinese company ByteDance. They say the platform presents big, potential data privacy problems and is often used to spread misinformation.
Through TikTok, preservice teachers can search for videos offering approaches specific to the subject and grade they teach鈥攕ay 3rd grade math. They can find ideas from colleagues around the country, and even the globe, allowing them to 鈥渃ollaborate with this whole world of teachers,鈥� McKoy explained.
The advantages of a TikTok video over an hour-long presentation in a teacher prep program or district professional development session were obvious to future educators, said McKoy, who conducted 15 semi-structured interviews of roughly an hour each with preservice teachers to inform her research.
鈥淲hat they liked about TikTok was that it was a short form video,鈥� she said. That allows preservice teachers to see a strategy in action, in a short, easily digestible format.
That鈥檚 a contrast from how preservice teachers usually learn in their preparation programs. For instance, a teacher educator might explain an approach for differentiating instruction and 鈥渃ould give examples all day, but until [preservice teachers] see it, they鈥檙e not going to really comprehend it,鈥� said McKoy, whose research is scheduled to be presented at the International Society for Technology in Education鈥檚 annual conference this week.
Plus, teachers often lament that the professional development they receive isn鈥檛 relevant to the content that they have to teach. This incoherence is frustrating for teachers and a problem for student achievement, say researchers at the RAND Corporation.
Preservice teachers appeared to give more credibility to videos shot in a classroom, even if there were no students in the background. And they were more likely to trust advice from videos that had higher 鈥減roduction quality behind them,鈥� McKoy said, including music, bright images, and words on the screen.
They especially liked videos made by 鈥測oung teachers like them,鈥� she added. In fact, they seemed most impressed when the educators featured 鈥渕irrored what they [themselves] looked like in appearance and even [clothing] style.鈥�
鈥楬ow do we know this is credible?鈥�
Preservice educators reported sharing the videos with friends or classmates from their program, often including their own takes on the showcased strategies. That鈥檚 hard to do with a traditional district PD session, McKoy said.
Many of the student teachers were reluctant to immediately implement the advice and practices they saw in the videos, in part because as student teachers, they didn鈥檛 want to contradict or criticize their mentor teacher鈥檚 style and practices. But they planned to put what they learned into action as soon as they had their own classrooms.
Teacher education programs have a role to play in helping preservice teachers turn a critical eye on what they find on social platforms to determine what is and is not useful, McKoy said.
鈥淚 think that teacher education programs need to use videos and use social media and talk about how do we know this is credible? How would we use this?鈥� she said. 鈥淚 think we can teach student teachers to be more purposeful about it.鈥�
But lessons on how to make the most of social media rarely happen in prep programs, McKoy said, in part because 鈥淚 think they鈥檙e scared of it. There鈥檚 limited research on whether what鈥檚 [presented on TikTok is] high quality, right?鈥�
That鈥檚 true of other PD too though, McKoy argued. 鈥淚 could go to a professional development session and listen to somebody talk, and it may not be good quality,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd then you waste several hours. [With TikTok] you could just watch a 32-second video and go 鈥榥ope鈥欌�� if it鈥檚 not useful.
鈥榊ou can鈥檛 be afraid of it鈥�
Videos popular with preservice teachers often offered tips on classroom organizing and behavior management, or explained how to make the most of educational technology.
Some of those videos showed how to set up a 鈥渃alm corner鈥� where students can get a minute of alone time; or use floor lamps and Christmas lights, rather than standard issue fluorescents, to create a cozier classroom atmosphere. Preservice teachers also liked videos explaining how to set up a token economy, where well-behaving students are rewarded with tickets or stickers they can exchange for prizes.
Less popular: Videos that showed negative consequences for poor behavior, like putting a student鈥檚 name on the board or taking a privilege away from a student or a class. Preservice teachers didn鈥檛 think those strategies matched what they were learning in their classes about handling behavior problems.
In fact, preservice educators generally tended to 鈥渁void negativity, because teachers 鈥榪uit talk鈥� is a huge thing鈥� on social media, McKoy said. 鈥淎nd so, if they saw something like that, they went past it.鈥�
Preservice teachers paid attention to both the video itself and the accompanying comments, which appeared to be from educators who had put a showcased strategy into action and could give more information about how it did or did not work.
For instance, teachers in training were intrigued by a tech tool that showed an image of bouncing balls, which became more active as a classroom got noisier. The teacher in the video touted the tech as an engaging way to remind kids to use their inside voices.
But some of the commenters begged to differ, McKoy鈥檚 subjects told her. They wrote that their students intentionally shouted to generate lively bouncing action or were so captivated by the balls on the screen that they ignored their classwork.
Another popular video showed a teacher who played the same song for her students every time they needed to line up, with the goal of getting everyone in line before the music stopped. In comments, some educators said the strategy was a big success. But others said their students turned lining up into a disruptive dance party.
Some states鈥攊ncluding Arkansas, where McKoy conducted her research鈥攈ave from being used on state-issued devices or internet connections. That wasn鈥檛 a problem for the preservice teachers, who just used their cellular data to view the videos.
The lesson for teacher prep programs and districts providing professional development: Embrace social media, McKoy said.
鈥淵ou can鈥檛 be afraid of it,鈥� McKoy said. 鈥淵ou鈥檝e got to learn how to help the next generation think critically about what they鈥檙e seeing on social media. And how they take what they see and implement it into the physical world.鈥�
