TED Teams with Wiley on Free Instructional Materials

  • By Dian Schaffhauser
  • 11/27/12

Instructors have a new free resource to help them integrate content from TED talks into their courses. TED has teamed up with publisher John Wiley & Sons to create PC- and iPad-based content that can be used to support lessons on happiness studies and statistics, with more on the way. TED is a non-profit organization that holds events drawing experts and presenters from multiple fields to share their work and thinking in a plethora of areas. Those "talks" are recorded and freely shared on the TED Web site.

TED Studies, as the new program is named, combines recorded TED video sessions on a given topic and adds essays and activities to round out each set of programs.

For example, the course, "Psychology: Understanding Happiness," features:

  • A five-page introductory essay available on the Wiley Web site in a PDF format as well as through iTunes U as an iPad file;
  • Seven videos culled from the TED archives; and
  • A summary essay and related activities. For example, one activity asks the student to develop a new online dating service based on the research he or she has just done on happiness, and another asks the student to lay out the benefits for creating a "national happiness index," and provides links to additional readings.

Additional topics planned for future release include:

  • Government and Politics: Cyber-Influence and Power;
  • Linguistics: Exploring the Evolution of Language;
  • Marine Biology: Deep Oceans;
  • Media & Journalism: Covering World News;
  • Religion: Understanding Islam; and
  • Urban Design: The Ecology of Cities.

"Our goal is to provide teachers with innovative, engaging resources that can be used to supplement curricula and bring lessons to life," said Logan Smalley, director of TED-Ed, TED's education-focused initiative. "TED-Ed is committed to lessons worth sharing, and we are thrilled to offer these 21 collections as a new resource--particularly with the perspectives of highly regarded teachers and innovators from Wiley's vast network."

Added Stephen Smith, Wiley's president and chief executive officer, "Combining the TEDTalks series for academia with Wiley's high-quality, customized educational materials and expertise creates a powerful new resource for effective, flexible, and personalized teaching and learning."

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

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