Open AccessTikTok: An Emergent Opportunity for Teaching and Learning Science Communication Online
Author(s) -
Abigail G. B. Radin,
Caitlin J. Light
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
journal of microbiology and biology education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.301
H-Index - 7
eISSN - 1935-7885
pISSN - 1935-7877
DOI - 10.1128/jmbe.00236-21
Subject(s) - popularity , social media , science communication , social distance , covid-19 , computer science , multimedia , world wide web , mathematics education , science education , psychology , medicine , social psychology , disease , pathology , infectious disease (medical specialty)
Increasing use of social media during the COVID-19 pandemic practice of social distancing has emphasized the value and power of effective science communication through social media. As such, it has become equally important to teach and learn how to use social media accurately and effectively for science communication. In response, we developed an activity to use the social media platform TikTok to both model and build effective 21st century science communication skills. TikTok is a short-form video sharing platform whose popularity sharply increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. By using the short, focused video style of TikTok, we modeled effective social media science communication practices to teach basic science concepts and laboratory techniques. At the end of the semester, students were then challenged to create their own informative and engaging TikToks about their team's research projects to practice effective science communication. Here we share our approach and several TikTok best practices for effective and engaging science communication teaching and learning, along with example videos created during this process.