Materializing Social Media Youth Practices for Algorithmic Learning

Social media is a prevalent space for youth to create, share, and curate personally relevant content online. Social media has been considered for content-based learning (e.g., sharing educational videos), but remains under-explored as a practice-based learning environment (i.e., learning by interacting on social media). Taking a constructionist approach to learning, this qualitative study analyzed video data of a connected algorithmic learning workshop that asked youths to translate their social media practices into tangible flowcharts. Findings show that the tangible tools made it possible for youth to identify flow-control structures in their practice, validating to youth the complexity of their own practices and decision-making online as relevant for algorithmic learning. The study highlights how using tangible tools to represent digital practices can foster educational practices that leverage youth’s home practices with social media for algorithmic learning with possibilities for expanding computing cultures.