Table 10.
“Please share with us anything that is important for us to know about how and why you use Instagram that has not been addressed in previous items (optional item).” (n=121).
| Code | Definition | Example | Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| Receiving affirmation | Participant identifies Instagram as a source of useful affective support or inspiration. | “I enjoy being part of a community that is uplifting and also inspiring.” | 32 |
| Networking/collaboration | Participant comments on ways in which Instagram supports community building, networking, or collaboration. | “I also use Instagram to build positive relationships with other like-minded educators and create a network of support for each other personally and professionally.” | 30 |
| Receiving ideas | Participant identifies Instagram as a source of useful advice or ideas related to teaching. | “I’ve learned so many great teaching strategies, classroom transformation ideas, creative crafts for the kids and so much more.” | 26 |
| Critique | Participant points out problems or challenges associated with educators’ Instagram use. | “Teaching is a tough job, and it’s stressful and confidence-crushing to see other teachers appear perfect 100% of the time when it is not true!” | 20 |
| Combating isolation | Participant notes how Instagram helps combat professional isolation associated with their school setting. | “As a specialist, a teacher can be isolated within their own school. Instagram provides an opportunity to collaborate and network with colleagues in a similar role (in my case, teaching Art)” | 19 |
| Communication with students | Participant describes use of Instagram to communicate with students. | “It’s a great way to connect your students to your classroom when they aren’t in your room each day of the school week.” | 14 |
| Teacherpreneur | Participant indicates that they use Instagram for purposes of teacherpreneurship. | “My Instagram use started off as a fun hobby for me, but has transitioned into a way of advertising my Teachers Pay Teacher store.” | 13 |
| Comparison | Participant compares and/or contrasts their professional use of Instagram to other social media. | “On Instagram there are a lot of ‘fashionista teachers’ who post selfies but it has NOTHING to do with teaching kids. I’ve learned so much more as a professional from using twitter than IG.” | 11 |
| Giving ideas | Participant indicates that they use Instagram to give advice or offer ideas related to teaching to other educators. | “I spend the majority of my time on Instagram answering questions via direct messages. I am able to help other educators in this way.” | 11 |
| Communication with families | Participant describes use of Instagram to communicate with families. | “It’s mainly used to communicate with the parents what we did in the classroom.” | 10 |
| Documentation | Participant describes use of Instagram to document their own work. | “Document my journey as a teacher- like a digital scrapbook.” | 7 |
| Giving affirmation | Participant indicates that they use Instagram to give affective support or to inspire other educators. | “I am a veteran teacher and I want to help new teachers since I felt very alone when I first started.” | 3 |
| As teaching/learning activity, curriculum | Participant describes use of Instagram itself as part of teaching and learning activities, and/or as a source of curricular materials. | “I encourage my students (all ELLs) to post photos and captions of them involved in English acquisition -- reading, using vocab, etc.” | 2 |
Note: Responses to this item could receive multiple codes.