Every year in the Spring I take my Grade 12 Art students on a gallery trip to New York. We have an opportunity to visit MoMA, the MET, the Guggenheim and the Frick gallery (besides catching a baseball game and doing some shopping). A few years ago I encouraged students to take pictures while in the galleries and post them using a specific hashtag. This first step at incorporating social media was successful but without a few hiccups. Students needed to be reminded that a hashtag will link their photo to a larger conversation and as such they need to be aware of what they are posting. On the positive side, parents were able to see what their sons were doing while on the trip and to comment on their photos (Instagram was by far the most popular social media app used).
This year I have started to develop a social media assignment around our New York trip. The purpose is still to take photos of works of art in the galleries we visit, but I would like students to post and begin a digital conversation with other patrons about the art in the gallery and what their experiences and reactions to the pieces are. This is typical of many gallery shows that use a hashtag to start a trending conversation. I would like to emulate this at a student level.
As Bates notes, social media tools are ‘extremely useful for developing key skills in the digital age’ and as such should become part of the educational sphere. While teachers must teach caution and discretion when using social media as well as a separation between private and educational uses of social media, it does our students a disservice if we do not educate them about these platforms. Students need the structure and support of a classroom setting to learn skills to become independent learners, and the guidance from someone they can trust.
Bates, T. (2014). Pedagogical differences between media: Social media. In Teaching in digital age. Retrieved from http://opentextbc.ca/teachinginadigitalage/chapter/9-5-5-social-media/ (Chapter 7, point 6)