“Instagram is the perfect platform for students to think about the relationship between tradition, practice, texts, objects, and images.”
This article is centered around using social media (in this case, Instagram) for a class as a form of ‘discussion post’ assignment. This breaks the norm from a usual discussion-type assignment found in college classes, no matter the subject. Professor Maldonado-Estrada employed this kind of assignment after the COVID-19 pandemic began, since most, if not all classes, were being conducted online. This was the perfect time for these kinds of assignments to start being utilized, since it was an easy way for students to connect with each other through means other than an online school discussion board. As the quote implies, this method was a great way for “students to think about the relationship between tradition, practice, texts, objects, and images.” Using Instagram posts, and other social media if a teacher so desires, can blend together all these elements of an assignment, for history especially. It gives students, and any viewers of this content, a fuller picture of the post.
“For this kind of assignment, fewer guidelines helped the students find their own voice and style.”
Throughout school, I’ve always benefited from having enough instructions from the teacher on any assignment, whether it was just basic homework or a big week-long project. It’s good to see the expectations of the assignment, and to have that laid out in front of me to refer to when I work on one. Professor Maldonado-Estrada’s approach for this assignment was to give less instructions to allow the students to “find their own voice and style.” I totally agree with this approach to an assignment like this because it really opens up the final product to the students’ true thoughts and perspectives on whatever the topic is. This makes me think: how would guidelines like these work on a larger assignment or project? Like I said before, I prefer to have set instructions and guidelines for any larger projects, though I think having fewer guidelines for a bigger assignment could yield pretty interesting results. One negative I see with this approach is that if the assignment or project is worth a large amount of the student’s final grade, they may want more direction so that they can fulfill all the criteria they need in order to secure a good grade.
“This made what could sometimes be awkward video chats run smoothly and much like an in-person class discussion would.”
This concept just feels like it’s too good to be true. Video calls in place of in-person classes during the pandemic were very awkward, and it was usually hard to focus on them. The in-person class dynamic feels much more natural; being able to respond to someone sitting right across from you is a lot more comfortable than unmuting yourself to talk to a screen full of your peers, maybe even some without their camera on so it’s just a black screen with their name. I would like to know how these video classes for Professor Maldonado-Estrada’s classes were able to run so smoothly. Perhaps the nature of the assignment has something to do with it – if students are more comfortable with the material, they may be more comfortable discussing it with their classmates over a video-call (Zoom has been most common, though Microsoft Teams has a high usage as well). I also wonder how well this would work for other assignments or classes, and also with different forms of social media being used in the classroom.
