School was invited to participate in an Instagram residency giving us access to an account with 14k+ followers for a week. We had complete freedom to use the account however we saw fit. We turned an Instagram residency into a performative experiment simulating what it might be like to utilize social media platforms as an interactive educational tool.
We started our work on this project by researching the technologies that were used to disseminate knowledge throughout the history of correspondence education. Historically, correspondence education is a method of providing education to nonresident students, who have received lessons and exercises via mail, internet, radio and television throughout history.
School University logo
To set the stage for our project, we created a film that set the historical context for our work. We’ve seen throughout history how technology has driven innovation and accessibility in educational pursuits. From the initiation of the correspondent schools in the 1850s, where students could take university classes through the mail, to the advent of the internet and online education, these innovations have incentivized and created opportunities for more people to receive an education on their own time, from anywhere.
We made 40 video “Lessons” for School University spanning 8 different subjects. The material was sourced from The Internet Archive and NY Public Library.
Each hour during “Class Time” (10-6pm EST) one “Lesson” video was published and the web app refreshed with a quiz that pertained to the content exhibited in the “Lesson” video.
School University took place during a 1-week long Instagram residency. Each hour we posted video lessons on Instagram and participants would have the remainder of that hour to answer the questions on a corresponding web app.
Students answered questions through the School University InstaSCAN™ interface after they reviewed the lesson content on Instagram. Once a question was answered they could not see the next question until the following hour.
At the end of the day “students” received a report card and their ranking. The students with the most correct answers and the most correct answer for the Bonus Question won $100.
We made a series of School University ads portraying people, young and old, getting their degrees on Instagram.
