SUMMARY:

In the complete version of this activity, students organise a seminar on the topic of Social Media and its influence on different aspects of modern life and society.

In groups, students complete two tasks:

plan and prepare their presentations (SESSION 1).

They will also be in charge of some organisational aspect of the seminar (SESSION 2).

The last session is devoted to the implementation of the seminar.

NOTE: If pressed for time, or if the necessary conditions for the seminar are not available, teachers may choose to concentrate on the contents of session one and have an internal round of presentations in class.

SESSION 1

The teacher asks the students if they are acquainted with PechaKucha (or TEDx) presentations.

The class discusses this modality. Some examples could be shown and discussed.

Suggested questions:

• Is it an interesting way to make the audience reflect on the chosen topic?
• What kind of message can be best transmitted in this format?

(5-10’).

The teacher helps the students to get organised in groups. Each group decides on a topic for their presentation, within the broad issue of Social Media and Modern Society.

NOTA: Topics can range from: safety in the net and in social media; bullying; latest apps; social media's influence on fashion, modern art, urban tribes…; adolescence and social media; education and social media or any other.

Teachers of different subjects (history, social studies, philosophy) can also opt to use topics to connect social media with an area of the syllabus.  (5’).

Students are asked to follow the PechaKucha format which implies selecting 20 pictures about a topic, each of which will be a slide of their presentation with no or minimum text. Each slide will stay on for 20 seconds before advancing to the next. That is, for each slide they have 20 seconds to explain the idea.

A TEDx format would also be acceptable.

It is advisable to watch tutorials in You Tube on how to create a PechaKucha or a TEdx presentation.

Suggestion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32WEzM3LFhw

Students decide on the tool or app they will use to organise their presentation (the video tutorial will give them some ideas). (10’).

Students are given time to research, design their presentation and practice it. (30’).

The session ends with a rehearsal run-through of all the presentations.

The teacher and classmates give feedback and suggestions for the next time they make the presentation.

(Duration: may vary according to the number of students. Approximately 40’ for 6 presentations).

End of Session 1

SESSION 2

Each group of students will be in charge of completing certain tasks to prepare the seminar:

For example:

• creating invitations for the other teachers and students in the school
• organising the agenda (the order in which the presentations will be delivered, allowing time for Q&A after each)
• booking the conference room or another suitable room
• deciding if there will be live streaming (*) and setting it up
• deciding if there will be different roles during the seminar, such as presenter, moderator, etc., and preparing for them

(*)Optional: Invite parents, or other institutions to attend the seminar online be means of streaming or teleconference.  (30’).

Optional: Also, the teacher asks each group to prepare a poster to promote their presentations and topic.

The teacher and students discuss as a class what information the poster should have.

They can use applications such as canva, fotor or any other app they might prefer to use.

Suggestion: Students create a QR code for the rest of the students to see their poster. All QR codes can be included in the invitation to the event. (30’).

Formative assessment.The session ends with the whole class sharing their progress in the tasks they were given. Are they prepared for the event? Do they feel confident?

They can also anticipate possible problems that may arise and strategies that can be implemented to solve them.

(10- 15’ – Fin de la session 2).

SESSION 3

The seminar takes place.

Optional: As an additional instance, the posters can be projected or printed and exhibited during the event and there can be a time for an informal poster session in which the audience can approach the authors and exchange some ideas about the topic.

(Duration: 45’+ 10’ optional. May vary according to the number of groups).