At school with Instagram: An Action-Research Project in Italy and Portugal

According to a survey reported by DataReportal dated April 2023, Instagram ranks as the fourth most-used social media network among the world’s population, with more than 1.5 billion registered users. This ranking, preceded only by Facebook, YouTube, and WhatsApp, shows how the Meta company’s social network has influenced trends and convinced more and more people and professionals to take advantage of its internal features to communicate, entertain, and work. However, despite the wide membership of professors, science disseminators, and projects within Instagram, teaching and learning are still under-recognized as possible practices with social networking sites. Considering that most social networking platforms allow membership from the age of 13, the question arises as to how aware schools are of the teaching-learning techniques that can be applied in this context. To this end, the article proposes theories, methodologies and experiences for considering Instagram as a virtual learning environment in formal education, especially with the latest generation of students. In particular, after selecting studies that justify its choice, value and practice, this paper will illustrate the methodological model “Edu-social Algorithm”, developed through an international action-research with netnography that led 130 students and 77 teachers to connect on Instagram to study and teach together.