The beginning of the semester has come and gone, and we are full steam ahead when it comes to what our classes will cover and ask our students to do.
As professors, we have to make sure our students know what the set deadlines are, what are the class readings, and what will be covered for each class.
Of course, there is a lot of planning and organizing that has to be taken into consideration – which means things are pretty much set in stone here for the semester.
For typical classes – this is true. However, if we are talking about a social media class – you ALWAYS have to be on board with what is happening and trending in the industry – and see how you can integrate this into your classes.
That’s the nature of the business – and one of the things I love about teaching social media! We are just in our second week – and it happened already. I decided there was something that 1) was trending that was to be addressed in class and 2) a tactic I needed to figure out how to apply and execute in my two social media classes.
What tactic am I talking about? I am talking about the new trend we are seeing on Instagram Stories related to the random filter generators. We see these now everywhere after the one featuring Disney characters went viral.
AR filters on IG are not necessarily new. Facebook last year announced anyone could create an Instagram filter and upload it on the platform. Very cool, right?
Now – the question is – how would you teach this?! That’s the question. Simple – to have to learn, test it out yourself, and execute.
What’s great is that you are able to download the software pretty easily (Spark AR) and they have a ton of guides and resources (always useful!). Plus – thank goodness for YouTube to have walkthroughs on how to do this effectively (yay!). This is a great one I found from Catalyst (make sure to bookmark).
What is important to keep in mind here is that these new features are great to showcase and use for the moment, but there has to be a strategy and rationale for why you want to use these if you were to propose them for a client or brand.
What’s why I have created this brief activity on creating Instagram random filters for my two social media classes at the University of Louisville based on the class discussions we had in class this week.
In summary, this is what happens in social media. You can make all types of plans for what you want to practice and teach, but it is important to take time to learn, apply new skills, and creatively brainstorm ways to tie in new relevant trends that could be beneficial for class activities and assignments.
Hope you all are having a great day!
Best Wishes,
