Students are increasingly turning to social media platforms when they need to research topics for school.
One of those platforms is TikTok, a video-sharing platform popular with K-12 students of various ages. Kids ages 4 to 18 spend an average of 91 minutes per day watching TikTok videos, according to .
In fact, a general survey of TikTok users in the United States found that 1 in 4 use the platform for educational purposes, according to from online learning platform Study.com. And 69 percent of those who use TikTok for educational purposes said it has helped them complete their homework.
The Study.com analysis also examined what academic subjects had the most views on TikTok. English was first, followed by history, science, and math. Survey respondents who reported using TikTok for educational purposes said they used it most frequently for English classes.
Teachers who spoke with Education Week said they weren鈥檛 surprised that so many people use the platform for educational purposes.
鈥淚t鈥檚 the app where the majority of students are,鈥� said Chris Dier, a high school history teacher in New Orleans and the 2020 Louisiana Teacher of the Year. 鈥淪o it does make sense that a lot of them are getting their information from TikTok.鈥�
While TikTok could be used to better engage students in lessons, it鈥檚 also been a big distraction. A string of viral challenges on the platform have caused headaches for 糖心动漫vlog. And like with other social media platforms, TikTok could be a forum for bullying and misinformation, along with data privacy concerns. The platform is owned by Beijing, China-based tech company ByteDance.
Plus, many experts remain critical of using social media platforms鈥攕uch as Facebook, TikTok, and Twitter鈥攆or educational purposes. They say the platforms emphasize quick-hit learning, rather than deep discovery and analysis.
鈥淚t鈥檚 also important to distinguish the learning that might come from a TikTok video to that of a book or a longer article or even long-form video,鈥� said Christine Elgersma, senior editor of learning apps for Common Sense Media, in an email. 鈥淲e like short, and sometimes that works when it comes to homework: Kids might just want to know if they need a comma or how to cite a source.鈥�
鈥淏ut when it comes to critical thinking, forming opinions and values, or understanding key moments in history, surface learning just doesn鈥檛 do the subjects justice,鈥� she added. 鈥淚t may be able to provide one piece of a greater puzzle, but it isn鈥檛 suited to deeper thinking.鈥�
Students bring information to class from TikTok
Still, some teachers say they use TikTok to meet students where they are, and then engage them in deeper learning through other approaches.
During the pandemic, when Dier was teaching remotely, he was making lengthy content videos for students. That鈥檚 when his students told him to try out TikTok.
鈥淎t first, I thought 鈥業 definitely don鈥檛 want to join whatever this app is. It鈥檚 for kids.鈥欌�� Dier said. 鈥淏ut as I started teaching, I noticed that students were bringing in information from TikTok. I would ask them, 鈥榃here did you learn this information?鈥� They would say, 鈥極h, I heard about it on TikTok.鈥欌��
Eventually, Dier created and started sharing quick history lessons. 鈥淎s teachers, we鈥檙e supposed to meet students where they are, to engage and make our content come alive. What better way to do that than to utilize the app [where] students are already watching content?鈥� he said. (Dier鈥檚 TikTok account now has more than 146,000 followers.)
Claudine James, a middle school English/language arts teacher in Arkansas, also started a TikTok account after she realized her students weren鈥檛 watching the grammar and vocabulary video lessons she posted on YouTube.
During one stretch in the fall semester of 2020, she had more than 25 students absent due to COVID quarantine protocols, but her YouTube video lesson only had seven views.
When the students came back to class, James asked them why they didn鈥檛 watch the YouTube videos. Her students said they don鈥檛 watch videos on YouTube because they don鈥檛 spend time there.
鈥淪omeone said, 鈥榊ou should put them on TikTok. [Students will] be on there and they鈥檒l just happen to see [the videos],鈥欌�� James said.
Two years later, James said on grammar, spelling, and other English lessons have been helpful to her current and past students. 鈥淚鈥檒l have a past student send me a message like, 鈥業f you haven鈥檛 already, do a lesson on this, because I want you to explain it to me.鈥欌�� (James now has 4.5 million followers on TikTok.)
For better or worse, TikTok caters to kids鈥� shorter attention spans
When asked why they use TikTok for educational purposes, 60 percent of survey respondents said the app is easy to access, 57 percent said it鈥檚 easy to understand, 51 percent said there鈥檚 a lot of content, and 47 percent said it鈥檚 free, according to the Study.com survey.
TikTok 鈥減resented a new way to deliver information that corresponded with students鈥� attention spans,鈥� Dier said. 鈥淎ttention spans are getting shorter and shorter. And now there鈥檚 an app that allows you to create content that caters to the attention span of younger generations.鈥�
TikTok could also be used to share information that鈥檚 often left out of textbooks or the curriculum that students might have never heard of otherwise, Dier said. For instance, Dier put together an educational TikTok video after he uncovered historical records about a reconstruction-era massacre orchestrated by white residents against Black people in a Louisiana community in 1868, fueled by whites鈥� fears that Blacks had gained the right to vote.
But because anyone can post a TikTok video, misinformation can be a problem. The majority of TikTok users judged the trustworthiness of the content by its number of likes (55 percent) and views (53 percent), as well as the number of followers the creator had (51 percent), according to the Study.com survey. Less than half, 44 percent, said they fact-checked a video before deeming it credible.
鈥淸Misinformation] is an issue because I have heard students repeat things that they鈥檝e heard from TikTok that are definitely not true,鈥� Dier said. But when he corrects them, he said the students are 鈥渞eally receptive.鈥�
鈥淎s history teachers, we teach students how to analyze the source, how to contextualize information, how to corroborate information with other sources. So in many ways, this push to TikTok also highlights the importance of teaching these types of skills in the classroom that can transcend just what we learned in class,鈥� he added.
Elgersma echoed those sentiments.
鈥淟ikes and follows doesn鈥檛 mean a creator truly knows what they鈥檙e talking about, so it鈥檚 always best to fact-check and consult multiple sources,鈥� she said.
