Incorporating TikTok in higher education: Pedagogical perspectives from a corporal expression sport sciences course

ABSTRACT

Social media have revolutionised the way humans communicate and socialise. Education is also changing;social media are transforming educational environments, and online or blended learning are increasingly used. The COVID-19 pandemic has further accelerated this change. In this paper, we present an educational innovation where TikTok (a social media that is based on creating and sharing 15–60-s video, which has experienced a significant breakthrough during the COVID-19 pandemic) is used as a pedagogical tool. 65 Spanish sport science students participated in this study. A mixed research method was designed to analyse the effect of TikTok use on students. The SPSS 23.0 and NVivo12 software were employed to analyse the data, including the paired sample t-test. The main results indicate that the use of TikTok promotes student motivation, creates an engaging learning environment, and encourages the development of skills such as creativity and curiosity. Therefore, TikTok is recommended to be introduced as a teaching–learning tool in corporal expression courses of the sport science Bachelor's degree owing to its positive educational potential and because TikTok suits the expressive and creative content of the course through music and movement. © 2021 Elsevier Ltd