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Using Ted Talks as Course Content + Some Examples

What is a Ted Talk?

TED is a nonprofit devoted to spreading ideas, usually in the form of short, powerful talks (18 minutes or less). Links to an external site. TED began in 1984 as a conference where Technology, Entertainment and Design converged, and today covers almost all topics — from science to business to global issues — in more than 100 languages. Meanwhile, independently run TEDx events help share ideas in communities around the world.

Using Ted Talks as Content in Canvas

Ted talks are available on the Ted Talks website Links to an external site.but also on YouTube. The YouTube versions are easier to embed in Canvas for pages, assignments, discussions, quizzes, anywhere! The easiest way to embed a YouTube video is to:

  1. On the YouTube video page, select "share" and copy that link
  2. In Canvas, select the link icon (little chain) in the WYSIWYG bar (appears at the top in edit mode) and simply copy the share link into it. Canvas "knows" what it is and will display the video in the page.
  3. Save - all done!

Using Ted Talks in Assignments

Ted Talks cover all sorts of content and process. They make good discussion starters and extra context building content for a variety types of assignments. Usually talks are 9 to 18 minutes. Her are some examples:

  1. Use as prompt for an online discussion
  2. Use to contextualize content covered for a class, week, or section. For example, often participants, noted academics, and journalists give Ted Talks. In my COMM 179 course on Global Media and Resistance I use a talk by techno-sociologist Zeynep Tufekci to show the ease of social media can actually hurt social change in the long run.
  3. There are numerous talks that processes, such as critical thinking and problem solving exercises such as Tom Wujec's "Got a wicked problem? First, tell me how you make toast" or ways of approaching complex tasks like Rodney Mullen's "Pop an ollie and innovate!" where the godfather of street skating shares his love of the open skateboarding community and how the unique environments it plays in drive the creation of new tricks -- fostering prolific ingenuity purely for passion's sake and relating to hacking and other collective pursuits (see both below).

Also see: How teachers can best use TED Talks in class, from the perspective of a student Links to an external site.; Ted in the Classroom Links to an external site.; 50 Ted Talks Every Educator Should Check Out (2014 Edition) Links to an external site..

 

Tom Wujec: Got a wicked problem? First, tell me how you make toast

Link Links to an external site.Making toast doesn’t sound very complicated — until someone asks you to draw the process, step by step. Tom Wujec loves asking people and teams to draw how they make toast, because the process reveals unexpected truths about how we can solve our biggest, most complicated problems at work. Learn how to run this exercise yourself, and hear Wujec’s surprising insights from watching thousands of people draw toast.

http://www.drawtoast.com/ Links to an external site.

Rodney Mullen: Pop an ollie and innovate!

Link Links to an external site.The last thing Rodney Mullen, the godfather of street skating, wanted were competitive victories. In this exuberant talk he shares his love of the open skateboarding community and how the unique environments it plays in drive the creation of new tricks -- fostering prolific ingenuity purely for passion's sake.

 

Here is an example assignment discussion prompt:

COMM 144F Organizational Communication

Reading

Chapter 1, Communication and the Changing World of Work

TED Talk

Maya Penn, Meet a young entrepreneur, cartoonist, designer, activist … Links to an external site.

Link Links to an external site.

Discussion Assignment 

Application message: How does this TED Talk illuminate two concepts from Chapter 1? What insights have you gained into organizational communication based on the TED Talk and the chapter that you will apply in future organizational communication situations or that you could have applied in the past? (200 words minimum) Deadline: January 6 11:59pm. You must post your application message before you can reply to your classmates.

Comment messages: Comment on what at least two of your classmates wrote about. (100 words minimum)