1. What is #WinAtSocial?
#WinAtSocial is a comprehensive, data-driven learning platform that empowers students to navigate their social world – including social media and technology – to fuel their health, happiness, and future success. Created by The Social Institute, #WinAtSocial enables schools to strengthen school culture and student well-being through snicker-tested lessons and real-time data. Students use devices (such as desktop computers, laptops, tablets, or smartphones) to run #WinAtSocial during the school day, and Facilitators (faculty or student leaders) facilitate the conversation. While students run #WinAtSocial Lessons at school, all families and staff receive follow-up discussion questions and real-time updated tools in the Family Toolkit.
2. What is The Social Institute?
The Social Institute is an educational company with the mission of empowering students nationwide to navigate well-being, current events, and social media and tech positively. Powered by a unique student-led, positive approach, The Social Institute offers a tech-friendly platform for schools, called #WinAtSocial, as well as consultation, assessment, and in-person presentations for students, families, and faculty. The organization was founded by Laura Tierney, a 4x Duke University All-American and social media strategist for leading brands, who got her first phone at age 13 and now collaborates with tens of thousands of students across the country each year.
3. What is the Family Toolkit?
The Family Toolkit is the parent and faculty portal of #WinAtSocial. Log in to the Family Toolkit to stay ahead of trending apps, privacy settings, and necessary conversations to have with your child(ren) about social media and technology. Material is updated regularly as new trends and apps emerge. All families, faculty, and facilitators create their school-sponsored Family Toolkit accounts by using your school’s unique Family Toolkit School Code. If you need instructions to create your account, please see the Managing Your Account.
4. How does our school know if we need #WinAtSocial?
95% of teens have access to a smartphone, and 45% say they are online ‘almost constantly’ (source: Pew Research, 2018). Whether or not your students are using technology or social media — at any age — you could benefit from proactively educating them to make positive, high-character choices. Offering proactive education that students respect and embrace can fuel your school’s mission and culture, while providing your students, families, and faculty with a common language and 21st-century life skills. Partnering with The Social Institute, a dedicated team that stays at the cutting-edge for you, also eliminates in-house curriculum development, additional headcount, and one-off speakers, providing your school with a sustainable strategy to save time and money and reduce faculty fatigue.
5. If our students don’t use social media yet, do we need #WinAtSocial?
Technology is woven into each student’s life — whether or not they have social media accounts or use their own device, a school’s device, a friend’s device, or a family device. Positive education about technology and social media ensures your students, families, and faculty are proactively equipped for the complex social situations that lie ahead.
#WinAtSocial currently offers lessons for grades 4 to 12. All lessons are developmentally appropriate and unique to each grade, inspired by students, and vetted and crafted by The Social Institute leadership team with consultation from our Research Advisory Committee.
6. What skills will students learn and strengthen?
#WinAtSocial addresses all the ways people socialize through technology: watching TikTok, posting to Instagram, texting, gaming, using our devices for homework, using school devices during the school day, and more. Rather than lecturing through “Don’ts” and scare tactics (and watching students roll their eyes and tune out), #WinAtSocial empowers students, families, and faculty to live up to the Seven Social Standards. These Seven Social Standards are the foundation of this comprehensive program, and they align with the evidence-based approach of The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) and the International Society for Technology and Education (ISTE).
7. Where we can find a budget to pay for positive social media education?
#WinAtSocial has a cross-departmental impact because it equips students, families, and faculty. Therefore, #WinAtSocial partner schools across the country often allocate budget from one or more of the following areas:
- Student education: Funded by technology, health and safety, one-time speakers, and/or social-emotional learning budgets.
- Parent education: Funded by the Parents Association and Communications.
- Faculty education: Funded by professional development budgets.
Schools have also utilized Title IV funds and grants focused on restorative practices, mental health, project-based learning, positive behavioral interventions & supports (PBIS) social-emotional learning (SEL), and digital citizenship to support #WinAtSocial funding.
8. How many lessons does #WinAtSocial provide?
You can customize #WinAtSocial to fit seamlessly into your schedule and/or educational framework. #WinAtSocial allows for unique monthly sessions (1-4x per month) for each grade throughout the year. With each of our Seven Social Standards providing 3 exercises per grade, schools can flex #WinAtSocial across one longer 60-minute session or have multiple shorter sessions. Lessons are unique to each grade level and integrates current events and trending topics, ensuring #WinAtSocial grows with the students and remains relevant. If you are a partner school, contact your Partner Success Team for resources and best practices to easily customize #WinAtSocial to fit your school schedule.
9. How long is a #WinAtSocial lesson?
You’re able to flex #WinAtSocial lessons to best fit your schedule. Use #WinAtSocial’s pause, fast forward, auto-play, or Save/Exit features to host a session that is between 15 minutes and 60 minutes in length. If your session runs longer than 60 minutes, contact The Social Institute at contact@thesocialinst.com and ask about scheduling consultation and lesson extension exercises to maximize time and learning.
10. Do you support students, families, and faculty?
Yes, The Social Institute educates students, faculty, and families through various resources: #WinAtSocial Trending Lessons, #WinAtSocial Lessons, the Family Toolkit, in-person school presentations, and professional development workshops. We believe in a team approach: while directly engaging students through a cutting-edge experience, we also empower their role models (families and faculty) who students watch and learn from every day.
11. Will we receive information about our school’s progress?
We work closely with our partners through onboarding, implementation, and ongoing collaboration to ensure students, families, and faculty can benefit from the expertise, technology, and services we provide. The Social Institute collects engagement data and survey assessments to provide real-time, interactive insights to school administration. Your School Captains, Facilitators, and Administration can also log in to #WinAtSocial and view anonymously aggregated school-wide and national survey data throughout the year.
12. How do I launch #WinAtSocial with my students, families, and faculty?
Visit the Resources tab on WinAtSocial.com to find customizable email templates, handouts, and materials to easily announce this important education to your school community. If you have additional questions, contact your school’s Partner Success Team or email contact@thesocialinst.com and our team will get back to you shortly.