The use of Instagram in high school extension: the experience of Project Empodere-se

Abstract

Empodere-se was a research and extension project focused on high school students that aimed to investigate and share knowledge related to gender equality and the empowerment of girls in the school environment. Initially, the extension activities provided for in the project would be carried out in person, however, due to the isolation measures imposed by COVID-19, adaptation to the remote format was necessary. After analysis, we chose to use the social network Instagram to share knowledge, since, in particular, the younger population has increasingly used this virtual environment to inform themselves, research, have fun, interact. The present report discusses this experience of using the social network Instagram in the development of the Empodere-se project, which, through a methodology that included analysis of usage and interaction data on the project page together with the focus group technique of team, allowed us to understand that the aforementioned social network can be an important tool in school extension and that, combined with formats already used, can allow new achievements to educational extension projects.