Though TikTok is mostly know for catchy songs and dancing, in this series of blog posts, I want to look at TikTok as a learning environment. This should not be misunderstood as an argument that TikTok is always and in every instance a learning environment. Instead I’m using a lens of learning and development to look at TikTok and how this digital platform might shape learning and behaviour.

On Monday the 2nd of December 2019 Dutch news outlets, such as Trouw and NOS, had shocking headlines: according to research by Qompas Dutch students’ (12-18) interest in school courses is decreasing as well as their grades. Though not a research result, the director of Qompas, Boris Eustatia, suggests a possible cause: that education can no longer keep up with the fast world of smartphones in which young people live.

Most teachers will probably have used (or at least: heard of) Kahoot, the digital quiz application that can be accessed by students using their smartphones. Kahoot is frequently used to kill the remainder of class-time while all at the same time doing something that is both ‘useful’ and ‘fun’. Kahoot is an interesting phenomenon. On…