TED ED: Lessons worth sharing!

TED, the well-known non-profit organization that has generated a great deal of interest through its video ‘talks’ “Ideas Worth Sharing” has turned its attention to the educational world in an exciting new way. Aligning very closely with the key tenets that Multiliteracies researchers have been talking about for some time, the new tools that TED has launched allow teachers and students to share and collaborate and redefine lessons focused around video content.

Their new site, TEDED: Lessons Worth Sharing contains video that aligns in some way with subject area content. Teachers and students are encouraged -as with the Salty Chip- to customize the lessons that support the video lesson – or create a new video lesson themselves. The idea is based on the concept raised by folks in the Kahn Academy and MIT OPENCOURSE WARE of ‘flipped teaching: “This refers to a method of instruction where classroom-based teaching time and traditional “homework” time are reversed (flipped). A teacher provides video lessons to be reviewed outside of class, which in turn gives teachers more time in class to focus on higher-order learning skills” (TEDED).

This resource was built in part from a $1.25 million dollar commitment from Kohl’s Department Stores. While we don’t have access to such resources, it would be fun to try this in whatever way possible at the Faculty of Education this year!