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Instagram just unveiled a competitor to TikTok – it’s called “Reels,” and seems to be pretty much the same as TikTok, except that its videos can only be fifteen seconds.

You can read more about it at The Washington Post article, Instagram’s new copycat video tool will have TikTok reeling.

Students in both my ELL and Theory of Knowledge classes have used Instagram videos (see The Best Resources For Learning To Use The Video Apps “Vine” & Instagram), but not TikTok – yet. I invited students in my remote teaching ELL class to create one but, though there was verbal intereste, no one took me up on it.

I’ve begun using Instagram more since remote teaching began as another way to connect to students, but I’ve just made run-of-the-mill silly videos to provide class information. Certainly, more and more Instagram is being used as a platform to educate.

Between Reels, regular Instagram video, and TikTok, I’m thinking this year might be the year to try using it more – both in teaching and in encouraging students to make short videos to express what they’ve learned.

Thoughts?