Using Social Media and Blogging in the Fashion History Classroom

For my contribution to the roundtable, I will be reflecting on how I have used social media (including Instagram and Twitter) and blogging in my course on U.S. fashion history. I will discuss how I have structured these social media and blogging assignments, and some of the benefits and challenges which I have encountered, from using such assignments in my course. Having students write in personal ways about what fashion means to them and how it has shaped their thinking about identity and self-expression helps make the broader issues which our class considers concrete and tangible for students, yet also raises challenging issues about race, class, gender identity, and body image which instructors need to handle sensitively.