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From TikTok to Teamwork: Creative Ways to Integrate Social Media as a Learning Tool in the Classroom
					
 Jul 10, 2025 
 1:30PM to 3:30PM

									

				

					Event Categories   In Person,   Session 2, and   Workshop
				

			


	

	

		

			

				

					

						

														

															

						

						

	

		


	Date/Time

	Date(s) - 10/07/2025
1:30 pm - 3:30 pm







Led by Lara Cardoso and Ross Minichiello


University of Guelph Humber




 


Social media and online platforms are powerful tools for interdisciplinary teaching and learning. This workshop will explore strategies to integrate social media in the classroom to foster engagement, collaboration, and critical thinking.


Participants will examine case studies (Lemieux 2024; Rein 2023) of successful social media integration across disciplines. The workshop will highlight the pedagogical benefits of social media platforms such as Instagram and TikTok, demonstrating how they can be leveraged for real-time discussions and project-based learning. Using Machado’s (2024) Social Media Entry Model, educators will learn to design assignments and classroom sessions that develop digital literacy and embrace social media as a teaching and learning tool.


The workshop will also introduce best practices for using online content platforms as a tool for peer collaboration. Participants will explore how platforms such as Padlet can enable students to co-create content and share insights beyond traditional classroom boundaries.


Attendees will gain practical skills for implementing social media-based learning strategies in their classrooms. By the end of the session, educators will leave with a variety of approaches to leverage social media and online platforms as teaching and learning tools to enhance students’ classroom experience.


 




 


Lara Cardoso (she/her) is a sessional lecturer in the Media and Communications department at the University of Guelph-Humber and a social media team lead at BIC Canada. Her teaching and industry expertise spans social media, content, influencer, brand, and retail marketing. She serves as an advisor to Humber’s Digital Communications program and has held previous social media marketing roles at Inkbox, DivaCup, and Rogers Communications. She holds a BA from the University of Toronto (2014) and an MA from the London College of Communication (2016). She lives in Cambridge with her Portuguese water dog, Jo.


 


Ross Minichiello, MA, is a sessional lecturer at the University Guelph-Humber and a researcher exploring the paradigms of user behaviour on social media. His teaching specializations are in social media strategies, data analytics and the attention economy. His research aims to explore the effects of misinformation and aberrant behaviour on social media audiences and the consequences of our increasingly digital lives. He has previously managed communications in non-profit and social advocacy spaces. He holds a BA from Humber College in Digital Communications and a MA in Media Production from Toronto Metropolitan University.