TEDED: Why Use it in Your Classroom?

TED ED is a web-based learning tool that uses a flipped classroom instructional style. TED ED is essentially an archive of short educational videos, based on a multitude of subjects, where students and teachers can interact with the material in four foundational ways: Watch. Think. Dig Deeper. Discuss.

What makes TED ED standout as an educational platform is the high level of production value. The information presented in every TED ED video is vetted and created by professional teams consisting of animators, writers, and educators. This creates a sense of academic authority and consistency.

Integrating TEDED into the Classroom
When integrating a technology into a learning environment, it is important to ensure that it enhances the experience. The great thing about TEDED lessons are the customizable plans. Educators can use the video as a foundational element and use quizzes comment tools to test students on more specific content they have explored in their classroom. The added benefit of TEDED is that educators and students have the ability to access this information outside of class, allowing conversations to extend outside of dedicated class time. Peers and educators can continue to interact with the material in a meaningful way and collaborate in an online community. 

Educational Theories
What makes TEDED so easy to integrate into the classroom is its multi-faceted use of learning theories and concepts. The tool effectively uses the ARCS method to ensure students are motivated and engaged in their learning. The casual and often humorous tones of the videos help capture and retain attention thereby maintaining a student's motivation during the process. Additionally, the customization allows the educator to focus on areas of the content that are more relevant to their students which helps motivate learning as suggested by the ARCS model of motivational design (Keller 2010). 

The platform also effectively utilizes the cognitive load and elaboration theories to aid in the successful and seamless integration into a curriculum. The videos are short, usually only six to seven minutes long, therefore not demanding excessive cognitive load. The learning process is broken into smaller digestible categories and decreases extraneous load (David 2014). Lastly, the platform is arranged to build on the previous step. The process starts by simply watching the video which is followed by answering questions about the content then reflecting upon the information and extending it further (Reigeluth 1980).  

Conclusions
TEDED is easily implemented into a classroom. It requires limited technological tools and is easy for the educator to customize and manipulate in order to enhance previous learning. The way the platform is presented allows students to interact with the material at their own pace and doesn't present high risk stakes, therefore making the process feel safe. The tool can be used by individual students or collaboratively in groups depending on how the educator sees fit. Regardless of how the educator chooses to use TEDED in the classroom, it is an innovative tool that requires very little extraneous effort to interact with and yet adds so much depth to the learning experience.

References

David, L. (2014) "Cognitive Load Theory of Multimedia Learning (Sweller). Learning Theories, Retrieved from https://www.learning-theories.com/cognitive-load-theory-of-multimedia-learning-sweller.html 

Keller, J. M. (2010). Motivational design for learning and performance: The ARCS model of motivational design. Boston, MA: Springer. 

Reigeluth, C., Merrill, M. D., Wilson, B., & Spiller, R. (1980). The elaboration theory of instruction: A model for sequencing and synthesizing instruction. Instructional Science, 9(3).

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