SRL wants to meet students where they are online -- whether that’s TikTok or Instagram. Used both as a reporting tool and a promotional tool, social media can be integral for student journalists. Use this guide to help find your classroom’s voice online.
Once student-produced stories are completed, where do they go? Who watches and engages with them? Posting student work on social media is almost as important as producing the work itself. Here are some of the reasons using social media in the classroom is important:
SRL uses Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube in very different ways. Each platform serves a specific purpose so it’s important to be intentional about what you post on each. Hint: Students apply critical thinking skills when creating youth media and planning social media content. Below are the specific ways SRL uses each social media platform. If you’re just starting out, ask yourself: Which platforms are you considering and what type of content do you want to post, and why? What is your goal? To gain followers? Inform your community? Share announcements?
Tip: Always tag Student Reporting Labs when posting student work. We want to see what you’re working on and help amplify it to our audience!
Themes to Consider for Your Social Media:
Students leverage technology to take an active role in choosing, achieving, and demonstrating competency in their learning goals, informed by the learning sciences. (ISTE)
Students recognize the rights, responsibilities and opportunities of living, learning and working in an interconnected digital world, and they act and model in ways that are safe, legal and ethical. (ISTE)
Students communicate clearly and express themselves creatively for a variety of purposes using the platforms, tools, styles, formats and digital media appropriate to their goals. (ISTE)
Social Media
Lessons
Beginner
Intermediate
Advanced
Camera
Mobile Phone
Internet
Notebook
Variable