This week I collected data on the presentation of material. On TikTok, educational materials (not-necessarily academic, but in contrast to memes, dancing or artistic videos) are usually presented in 3 ways: 1) talking to the camera in a mostly casual way (in a bathroom mirror, sitting at a desk, etc), 2) talking to the camera with occasional visuals (brief cut away to a study which as a highlight or two, “holding up” a photo or reference material” or 3) voice over animated video, drawings or similar. Based on my observations, videos seem to do better when they include someone’s face and TikTok aesthetic seems to value the idea of “casual chats” and direct communication with the audience.
I also began searching for background research studies about TikTok and education on TikTok. Because this platform is relatively new (created in 2016, and rising in popularity during the 2020 pandemic), limited research exists on this platform. Research includes comparisons between TikTok in the United States versus its Chinese counterpart. I also found studies about teaching science via TikTok (“Making Every Second Count”: Utilizing TikTok and Systems Thinking to Facilitate Scientific Public Engagement and Contextualization of Chemistry at Home (https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acs.jchemed.0c00511# ) which analyzes an account that has videos with simple chemistry and science experiments. They highlight the importance of breaking down concepts into simple language and using visuals, captions and voice over to help explain what is going on. They find that “TikTok can be used to effectively engage, educate, and enthuse the general public about chemistry. By using the creativity tools employed in TikTok, chemistry can be contextualized in a fun and engaging manner and demonstrated using everyday household items.” While we are obviously not teaching chemistry, I think this conclusion supports our idea that TikTok can be an engaging way to teach about sociology or other subjects.
Thinking about presenting materials in a way which is easy to understand, I look into educational psychology research on effective delivery methods.
Next steps will also include continuing to write scripts and maybe recording them.
Ky,
You and Katie have done excellent work exploring the artistic conventions of Tik Tok creation. You highlight in your discussion how these videos are not as spontaneous as they seem to be; rather, these are also elaborate performances that require little room for error, given the brevity of these Tik Toks. As I mentioned during our last meeting, don’t feel any pressure to make eight or ten; you want a representative sample to think about how these are created and how they can be used to enhance the sociological imagination. I look forward to your presentation tomorrow.