Educational Applications of Social Media

EDIT 663
Joseph DiBello
Instagram is the most used social media platform that the students of the high school I work in

use. They are constantly scrolling through instagram and for many of them, it has become habit

that when bored, they open up instagram. The goal of my class instagram will be to bring my

class into their daily digestion of content and share class announcements on a platform that

they will actually see.

Pre-Survey

How many followers/fans do you have?

I have 95 followers on my personal instagram account

How many people do you follow?

I follow 113 accounts on my personal instagram

How many times a day do you post?

I have posted twice in the past year

How often do you interact with others?

I comment and discuss with my peers once a week on average

What time of day do you post most often?

N/A

Are your posts focused?

No, just cool pictures

Do you think about your audience?

Yes, i post for my friends

Social Media Network Plan

Social Media Site: Instagram.com

URL and Username: https://www.instagram.com/physicswithdibello/

Participants: I will be using this account on my own

Time: The duration of the upcoming school year

Number of followers: 0

Goals: To set up and plan posting for a class instagram page

Expectations: To find a variety of instagram resources that align with physics curricula.

Posting Plan

Day of the week Type of Post

Monday What will we be learning this week?

Tuesday Terrible Driver Tuesday

Many of my students are 16 years old and I

like to analyze the physics behind cars to

hopefully build safer drivers

Wednesday Lab highlight from class

Thursday Reminder of Friday Assessment

Friday Fun fact for the weekend

Weekend Nothing
What are you going to be an expert on?

All things physics. I hope to extend my knowledge and curriculum to my students and

infuse my class into their daily lives.

What categories will your posts fall under?

Science as well as homework/assessment reminders.

How will you post?

I will post according to the schedule above using a smartphone

When will you post?

Posts will at first be posted in the afternoon as this is the most likely time for it to make it

into my students usage habits. I will poll my students throughout the year to see if there

is a better time to post

How will you deal with negative comments?

The audience will be my students only. Comments of skepticism will be answered, but

comments that are negative towards the class or other students will be removed.

How quickly will you respond?

I will monitor this instagram account using push notifications on my phone. This is

important due to the unfiltered and potentially anonymous nature of instagram. I will not

respond within 24 hours for any other comments or questions. Students will be informed

that email is still the best way to get in touch with me.

What are your expectations or goals?

My goal is to pervade my students daily lives with relevant content about the class or

curriculum.
 Post-Survey

How many followers/fans do you have?

Still zero currently

How many people do you follow?

Currently 15 science and engineering pages that are school appropriate.

How many times a day do you post?

So far none, but when the school year starts, i plan on following the posting schedule

above

How often do you interact with others?

I have not interacted with any followers yet

What time of day do you post most often?

N/A

Are your posts focused?

My posts will be very focused. I will be taking and creating media that is relevant to the

coursework in my physics class as the year progresses

Do you think about your audience?

I have given a great amount of thought regarding my audience. I will eventually make the

page private in order to not post any pictures of my school or students publicly. I will also

only post and share content related to the class.

 Reflection

I really like this idea for integrating instagram into my class routine. I will still be using

google classroom as my main communication tool but I think this is an easy way to add some

extra flavor to my class experience by utilizing a tool that many of my students are already

accustomed and comfortable with. I hope that I can also model good digital citizenship with this

project.

I do wish that I took this class during the school year as it would have been nice to have

a proper post-survey. However, I credit this class with making me think about the possibilities of

using instagram with my class this upcoming year. I think it will be a positive experience and I

am glad that I have planned out a posting schedule that will hopefully get the students engaged.

After using instagram for a while, a platform that I am not to familiar with, I am excited to

see how using supporting apps such as boomerang aas well as the instagram story feature may

work. I plan on surveying my students throughout the year in order to find out what formats on

instagram get the most traffic.