TikTok for learning through movement, dramatization, and music: Insights for higher education applications in sport sciences

Abstract

Social media has emerged as one of the most transformative digital phenomena that has reshaped education over the past two decades. New generations of students, often referred to as digital natives, increasingly utilise these platforms for socialization and interaction with their surrounding world. The pandemic prompted by the SARS-CoV-2 virus has further accelerated the adoption of online and hybrid teaching methodologies, wherein social media can assume a central role in creating dynamic teaching-learning environments. While the existing literature has highlighted the advantageous aspects of social media within the educational sphere, the landscape constantly evolves, witnessing the ongoing integration of new functionalities into existing platforms or the emergence of novel social media. TikTok serves as a prime illustration of this phenomenon, a social media platform centered on short videos complemented by music and its effects. Despite TikTok's burgeoning global user base, especially among younger people, its potential in the realm of higher education remains relatively unexplored. This pedagogical paper aims to address this gap in the literature by elucidating an experience involving TikTok within the context of sport sciences. Furthermore, it provides a series of guidelines and recommendations for university professors to incorporate TikTok into their instructional practices and delineates the potential applications of TikTok in various other contexts. These insights may serve as stepping stones for future investigation and educational undertakings.