The continuing increase of coronavirus cases have made schools more technology-reliant, while educators seek ways to improve students’ focus on education. There are teachers who found a way to make Instagram app less of a distraction and more goal-oriented in ways that benefit both teachers and students.
As students are made to study on their own but given more time to use their gadgets, studying can be easily disrupted. Social media sites are just a few clicks away, while they are not strangers to procrastination in completing school work.
As a social media app used for photo and short video sharing, some teachers use Instagram in motivating distance learners. Letting students creatively showcase their daily work while in their home environment. As they do so, those who exert effort as shown in their posts can become candidates for recognition as Student of the Week, not to exalt the good ones but to make students feel that they belong to a class.
Some Creative Strategies in Enhancing the Distance Learning Experience of Students
Aside from showcasing photos on how they go about carrying on with their home works, the class should be encouraged to interact with each post by sharing positive thoughts or asking sensible questions when seeking to improve one’s work. In knowing they are not alone with the struggle to comprehend lessons on their own, students will experience less anxiety about their accomplishments if they get to see the works of others.
The outputs of the stronger students can serve as models from which they can find aspects they need to correct; or for slower learners to learn different approaches in completing a task or solving a problem.
On a weekly or monthly basis, the class can take a vote on whose work is the most creative, or whose photos and/or videos provided the most help to the class. Teachers on the other hand, can evaluate whose work showed improvement to merit special recognition.
How Instagram’s Tools Can Aid in Educating Home-Based Learners
Since Instagram is a photo/video sharing app that focuses on stimulating the users’ visual senses, it can also be used in improving the spatial intelligence of home-based learners. This area of intelligence is where the brain interprets the visual information it accepts, to which visual skills are used in perceiving differences in sizes, shapes, colors or distance.
Posting photo or video content in Instagram can also improve the ability of students to communicate with others, particularly with their teachers and classmates. Once a post elicits interactions by way of suggestions, constructive comments or compliments, students will have to respond as a way to practice communication skills. In the same way, teachers can also post their own content and reply to their student-followers who gave feedback.
Teachers can also help students improve their logical mathematical intelligence by posting pictures of problems or puzzles that engage their students to think logically. This area of intelligence focuses on the person’s skill to detect patterns and analyze problems in a logical manner. A fun example of this exercise is to create a puzzle out of various cropped pieces of an image that students can complete in the shortest time possible
Now it is also important for educators to know if the class Instagram account is actually having a positive impact on their home-based learners. While scores and equivalent grade achievements are standard indicators on which to base improvements, teachers do not have actual bases on gauging student participation One way to determine this is to use an online analytics tool if the instagram posts are actually getting real and active engagements.
Providers of analytic tools like sharemyinsights offer their technology free of charge if for basic analysis of user engagement. Through the results of the analysis, teachers will have an idea, as to which types of posts elicit more responses. This can give insight about their students and broader understanding of what their students need as support and further motivation.
