Skill Building

Step One

Read the Lesson

Whether your content creation team is comprised exclusively of faculty and staff, primarily of students, or a combination of both, there are critical skills your content creators will need in order to execute a successful social media strategy.

Structuring a Safe Learning Environment

With the exception of marketing teachers and public relations professionals, it is highly likely none of your faculty and staff have received any direct training in social media marketing or even in content creation. So, although most of your content creation team will be well acquainted with the major social media platforms on a personal level, most will have lots to learn when it comes to creating polished, professional content for your school social media accounts. This presents everyone involved with lots of skill building opportunities!

When schools use Class Intercom for collaborative content creation, they empower users to develop these critical skills in a safe and constructive way. Class Intercom’s moderation functions and tiered user access permissions allow novice contributors to submit content for review and feedback before it is ever approved for publishing on any public-facing social media channel. This feedback loop allows for the kind of “failure” that helps students and staff learn in real-time while also developing a growth mindset.
Content creators become well-versed in copywriting, the basic principles of visual design, and the tools used to create eye-catching and consistent social media images. Depending on how involved they are in the process, your content creators may even learn the basics of branding and marketing strategy. Even if students are not currently allowed to create content per your school or district policy, the skills being developed by your educators and administrators add enormous value.

College & Career Readiness

With the ever-growing push for curriculum that drives college and career readiness (e.g. career and technical education (CTE)) creating opportunities for students to solve real-world business problems using real-world business tools is a critical piece of twenty-first century education. This might include such challenges as: building, maintaining, or evolving a brand or creating and executing a multi-channel digital marketing strategy. Solutions to these real and pressing problems include tools such as Class Intercom, Canva, Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop), and Google Workspace. Ideally, students are learning and developing these skills alongside and with the guidance of their teachers as they participate directly in your school’s social media programming. While teachers can certainly create learning opportunities based on their own content creation experiences, we know that the more authentic the learning experience, the deeper the learning impact. As recommended by ISTE Standards for Education Leaders, educators should “design authentic learning activities that align with content area standards and use digital tools and resources to maximize active, deep learning” (5b).

Beyond the Classroom

And yet, because most jobs our students will perform have not yet been created, learning about new and emerging channels, workflows, and technologies simply isn’t enough for their college and career preparation. Students must learn, understand, and put into practice skills that will serve them in all fields and professions – both known and yet-to-be-known. This includes “soft” skills like audience awareness, collaboration, communication, judgment, decision-making, and professionalism. When skills like these are taught only in the hypothetical, a student’s understanding of the concept can only be theoretical. It’s not until students are allowed to participate in authentic learning situations that their understanding and mastery of these skills can transcend the hypothetical and become practical. This is why Class Intercom is fundamentally structured to facilitate collaborative user experiences and real-world learning opportunities.