New Resource for Teaching with Videos: TED-Ed

TED has just released another educational tool: TED-Ed. Tailored most specifically for “flipped” classrooms (in which students watch educational videos outside of class and complete reinforcing activities in class), the tool is flexible enough to be put to other uses as well.

Teachers can select one of TED’s videos (currently there aren’t any world language videos) or any video on YouTube (target-language videos about there). TED’s videos come with follow-up questions moving towards more open-ended tasks; teachers can also create their own follow-up activities. A teacher-created lesson (video plus activities) will have a dedicated URL (web address), where students can log in. In this way a teacher can create a video-based lesson and track students’ progress and participation in it.

Here are descriptions by TED-Ed employees, with a helpful orientation video: http://tedchris.posterous.com/the-thinking-behind-the-new-open-platform-tha and http://thefischbowl.blogspot.com/2012/04/ted-ed-launches.html

Here are several reviews of the new service:
http://www.eschoolnews.com/2012/04/25/ted-launches-new-education-platform-with-customized-teaching-tools
http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2012/04/25/ted-talks-unveils-new-interactive-education-website-tonight
http://techcrunch.com/2012/04/24/ted-launches-new-ed-platform
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/04/the-digital-education-revolution-contd-meet-ted-eds-new-online-learning-platform/256318

Finally, here is the link to TED-Ed itself for you to explore: http://ed.ted.com