Caroline DeVane - College of Social and Behavioral Sciences
Caroline DeVane, Instructor in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, started with a simple wish: to experiment with video as a modality to communicate key concepts and ideas about anthropology to the students enrolled in her courses.
Caroline wanted to move away from the post-COVID “rambling videos” that she resorted to as an emergency strategy for remote teaching. So, in 2023, Caroline enrolled in a short course about TikTok media production to learn how to create content best suited for her audience- her students. Caroline believes that TikTok, as a teaching tool, has the potential to make anthropology concepts engaging through short, scaffolded videos, which boost student interaction.
“I considered TikTok a democratization tool to support knowledge production and dissemination. The medium was not an academic gatekeeper. It reframed “expertise”, “peer review”, and “credibility” through audience engagement and algorithmic microcommunities.”- Caroline DeVane
Caroline experienced great success using TikTok while teaching Culture Through Film and Medical Anthropology online in 2023. She posted short videos that explained and synthesized research articles to her students. During this time, Caroline created evergreen videos that rounded up research articles, explained content, and peaked the interest of her students. Oftentimes, Caroline used her videos as pre-reading exercises to cue student attention to relevant and important areas inside of difficult readings. The “thumbnail lectures”, all less than 3 minutes in length, offered scaffolding of the content and motivated students to read full articles.
Caroline quickly noticed that students engaged with the posts through discussion, connections and relevancy to their lives. Furthermore, the posts reached viewers outside of her courses and UMass Amherst- some reaching 30,000-57,000 views! For example, Caroline posted this 2023 video about how culture and gendered language shape how society frames the role of the egg and sperm. Note that it has generated 890 bookmarks, 1157 shares, and 235 comments, demonstrating the potential impact of social media to disseminate academic content to wide audiences beyond the classroom.
Caroline extended how TikTok was used in her course by asking students to search the platform to see how academic content was being explained, interpreted, and used within the social media community to analyze how and for what purpose information disseminates.
Social Media as an Academic Tool: Research Snapshots
Different platforms serve different pedagogical purposes. For example:
- microblogging and Mastadon-style backchannels encourage real‑time discussion and quick reflection,
- blogs and wikis support longer reflective writing and collaborative knowledge construction, and
- video/social short‑form platforms are useful for student content creation and public communication (Tess, 2013; Manca & Ranieri, 2016).
Words of Caution from Caroline
Caroline cautions that TikTok destroys nuance in short form videos, making the platform challenging for difficult social content. Therefore, when using TikTok, messages must be clear and rehearsed.
Caroline’s credibility was questioned on the platform. She, herself, was sometimes harassed. She monitored post discussions closely and one time took an entire post down from the platform because the discussion became destructive and disrespectful. These cautionary tales must be integrated into the rationale, expectations, and work flow of faculty who choose to use any social media platform to disseminate academic content to students.
Finally, Caroline currently questions TikTok as an academic tool in the 2025 landscape. Caroline comments, “audience matters.” Her students seem to engage with the platform less and less, resulting in Caroline’s desire to identify a new or different tool that will capture her students’ attention and make content relatable.
Social Media Adopters at UMass
Caroline exemplifies innovative teaching by leveraging technology as a powerful tool for student engagement. Her approach is rooted in careful planning, thoughtful delivery, and reflective practice. Her pedagogy follows a continuous cycle of improvement that is transparent, intentional, and adaptive. Viewed through an anthropological lens, social media becomes a dynamic space where culture is created, shared, and negotiated; where identity is performed and kinship networks emerge. Caroline’s integration of TikTok into her Anthropology courses provides students with an authentic opportunity to experiment with digital platforms, deepen their understanding of course content, and critically analyze the platform’s influence on culture, identity, and social connections.
Interested in learning more about social media adopters at UMass? Read about Cynthia Barstow’s use of podcasts and Dr. Ann-Marie Sylvia’s integration of Instagram into their undergraduate courses.