TedEd

Ted Talks Education

What is TEDEd?

TEDEd is a branch of the TED (Technology Entertainment Design) franchise most known for its annual conferences. TED believes that “ideas have the power to change attitudes, lives, and ultimately the world,” therefore, their mission is to spread great ideas. TEDEd was designed more specifically to spread great lessons that are created by their expert educators, as well as any educator who wishes to share their own lessons and ideas. What makes TEDEd unique is their collaboration with animators. Each TEDEd lesson is presented as a video of no more than ten minutes long, and is presented in the form a cartoon. Lessons are also complete with a few multiple-choice questions, additional resources to explore, and an open discussion forum. TEDEd also encourages the facilitation of TEDEd Clubs, which supports students in presenting their own ideas in short TED-inspired talks.

TPACK

TEDEd thoroughly covers all aspects of content knowledge as a web-based learning tool. A panel of expert educators create and/or review all lessons before being posted on the website. Additionally, each lesson presents material in a way that promotes student engagement and understanding. While TED is known for sharing their conference at no cost, TEDEd takes using technology for sharing great ideas one step further. They collaborate with screenwriters and animators to create videos students will enjoy viewing. As a teacher, any time I chose to show a video in class I have to ask myself if there is any added value to showing that video. In my own practice I found the TEDEd lessons to be good “hooks” for lessons of my own.

Heads Up:

• The quizzes attached to each lesson are open. You do not have watch the video to take the quiz

• Some of the topics are very specific. As a teacher, you would have to design your lesson around the video.

• Not all students find videos in general to be engaging.

• As a web-based tool, TEDEd requires a device and the internet for viewing.