Can We Consider TikTok as an Alternative Learning Media?
TikTok, which was first released in 2016, returned to popularity in early 2020. According to reports from Datareportal, Hootsuite, We Are Social, until October 2020, around 689 million people in the world are using TikTok. Indonesia is one of the countries whose people are very enthusiastic about using it. TikTok, which main content is 100% a video, already has an official office in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Its content is very diverse, be it entertainment, daily life, comedy, music, or even new insight. Not only that, but school materials can also be found on TikTok. As you can see, in this video, several high school students in Indonesia made a video containing a German-language subject matter — das Nomen.
TikTok as an alternative learning media is also practiced by a creator named Alexis Loveras, 16 years old student from New York, USA. He’s uploaded more than a hundred videos picturing him explaining Maths and Science school’s subject matter. He also got quite a lot of views and has more than 700k followers.
Then it can be concluded that, by utilizing this application well, the delivery of school or lecture materials can be produced creatively by the creators. Not only the school’s subject matter can be found, but there are also some video contents on TikTok talking about knowledge and insight on starting a business, branding, establishing a startup company, and much more.
Through a mini-survey I did on my personal IG account, Wednesday (03/12/2020), several young Indonesians agree that now TikTok might be considered as an alternative learning media. They also told me the reason. “Most of the content on TikTok is a straight-to-the-point. We can immediately get complete info though it is in a short duration,” said Kirana Bethari, a Communication Science student of UPN “Veteran” Yogyakarta.
In line with Kirana, Saverovito Jethro, an employee of PLN Indonesia agrees that TikTok can be considered as an alternative learning media. He said that the content is so easy to wrap in a simple, attractive form.
Other proof
Quoting Detik, TikTok recently invited Indonesian teachers on (24/11/2020) to create interesting educational video content. This effort, maybe, is a positive response toward technological developments and changes in community behavior, especially the behavior of school students and university students during the COVID-19 times.
Distance learning (PJJ) incrementally opens up opportunities for the realization of this collaboration. “The adoption of technology in the world of education is a necessity, which was eventually driven by a pandemic,” said Chairman of the Indonesian Teachers’ Association (IGI) and the Indonesian Digital School Network (JSDI), Muhammad Ramli Rahim on (24/11/2020).
Indonesian TikTok users’ enthusiasm in utilizing it as an alternative learning media is also proven by the booming of videos hashtagged #SamaSamaBelajar. “Today, for example, if we check the hashtag #SamaSamaBelajar, it has seen more than 38 billion views. So this is not a temporary trend. It has even become the top 2 content,” said Angga Anugrah Putra, Head of User and Content Operations for TikTok Indonesia in a virtual media briefing, Tuesday (24/11/2020).
