“A free and remarkable library of lessons worth sharing.” That’s the promise of the TED-Ed. And, like the site itself, the promise is an interactive, cooperative one that enables teachers worldwide to “use engaging videos to create customized lessons.”
You may have watched TED talks online. A non-profit organization dedicated to “Ideas Worth Spreading,” TED stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design. Until now, though, TED has been more of a static resource of virtual lectures by intelligent, creative, and remarkable people who most of us would wait in line to see in person.
TED-Ed isgeared toward teachers and gives educators the opportunity to interact with the content—to use and customize beautifully designed video lessons, TED talks and any other online video as springboards for classroom discussion. Oh, and it’s all for free.
TED-Ed offers nearly 100 free lessons. Created by educators and designed by renowned animators, they cover everything from string theory to music as language.
Each lesson is much more than just a great, short video. A “Quick Quiz” feature offers a multiple-choice test with real-time responses; a “Think” section provides open-ended questions, and a “Dig Deeper” section provides additional resources. And student engagement can be tracked online.
TED-Ed doesn’t stop there. Teachers can also use the online world to create new video lessons with any online video. Teachers can take advantage of the more than 900 TED talks online. They can riff on a YouTube video: one teacher used a parody of Gotye’s music video for Some Study That I Used to Know—a lesson encouraging students to get more out of school. Educators can even make their own videos and use TED-Ed’s platform to create an interactive lesson.
Flipped Lessons
It gets better: Teachers can “flip” existing lessons, customizing them to suit their needs. Each lesson comes with optional supplementary materials and the opportunity for educators to add their own information. Titles, introductions, and instructions can all be changed. Questions can be deleted from the Quick Quiz or added to the Think section. Educators can add their own resources to Dig Deeper. And once teachers have “flipped” a lesson, they can publish it to a unique URL, where they can measure the progress of individual students—and even inspire other educators. They can even nominate their creation to appear in TED-Ed’s online gallery of Best Flips.
Flipping is an important concept in this free online library. As the site explains, flipping refers not only to the fact that teachers can contextualize the lessons for their students, but also that they can “propel/catapult/slingshot the video lesson to a wider audience.”
Flipping also refers to a new idea in teaching. The Flip Teaching method is simply changing out the typical order of classroom work. Students watch video lectures at home (and remember, teachers can use TED-Ed to make sure students actually did watch), and then complete “homework” during school hours, when the teacher is there to assist. Salman Kahn, who’s pioneering this type of teaching, explains the concept and the power of interactive video in this fascinating TED talk:
The folks at TED-Ed are careful to say that flip teaching may not be a panacea for all of the problems facing today’s educators. But because it shows exciting potential, they’re making it easy for teachers to try it out for themselves. Let us know if you flip for TED-Ed.
Image source: TED-Ed
What are schools that have implemented 1-to-1 learning initiatives now experiencing? Evidence suggests they are outperforming peers, and even saving money. Consider the results these schools have achieved after prioritizing expanded student access to computers.
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