As part of Team Ted-Ed, I spent this week participating in our selected 8 lessons from the Thinking and Learning section. At the start of this course, I was still unsure on what topic I would choose to focus on. Throughout participating in this weeks videos and reflection, I have decided to choose to focus on the effectiveness of the technology.
The different lessons we choose were all based around different Ted Talks, or Ted Animations. They all followed the same lesson format:WATCH, THINK, THINK DEEPER, and DISCUSS. The WATCH section contained the videos that not only varied in style but also in length from a few minutes to 12 minutes. The THINK section contained question posed by the creator or others who adapted the original lesson. The questions were either multiple choice, with the option of video hints when needed, or written responses. The THINK DEEPER section included additional resources and information to continue to build on the topic. This section was very different amongst the lessons. Some of them included only included other similar Ted-Ed lessons, while other linked you to external blog post, and further online quizzes and resources. Lastly, there as the DISCUSS section. This is where there was both open discussion (where anyone could pose a question) and guided discussion led by the creator.
Considering my topic of the effectiveness of the technology, I am interested in considering the effectiveness of each of Ted-Ed’s steps as well as the steps as a whole. As Anderson (2008a) discusses, a good online learning experience should be similar to all quality learning experiences and “will be knowledge-, community-, assessment-, and learner-centered” (p. 68). Asking what is the purpose of each step, and what would need to be done for it to be effective? For example, what is the effectiveness of creating open discussions and collaborations within the DISCUSS section? As a teacher who currently works in a self-paced, continuous enrollment, online school, discussions and collaborations amongst students is difficult to achieve. Anderson (2008b) describes this as being a “lonely way to learn” (p. 222), and discusses how important social presence is to the learners’ educational experience. There is potential of adding more social presence into my own classroom by utilizing Ted-Ed’s establish discussion forums, if they are successful.
Moving forward, please feel free to share your thoughts on the effectiveness of Ted-Ed Lessons on engaging learning. Are you someone who prefers the traditional Ted style lectures, or the animations? Why? If it is not being graded, would you answer multiple choice questions and/or written questions? Even though all frameworks contribute to learning, which one are you most drawn to when learning new content: knowledge- centred, learner-centred, community-centred, or assessment-centred?
Thanks,
Amanda
References
Anderson, T. (2008a). Chapter 2: Towards a theory of online learning. In T. Anderson (Ed.), The theory and practice of online learning (2nd ed., pp. 45-74). Edmonton, AB: AU Press.
Anderson, T. (2008b). Chapter 9: Social Software to Support Distance Education Learners. In T. Anderson (Ed.), The theory and practice of online learning (2nd ed., pp. 221-244). Edmonton, AB: AU Press.
Hi Amanda, you’re asking some good questions about the structure of Ted-Ed lessons. You may want to define how you plan to use the term “effectiveness” in your research, as well as how you can determine how effective something is.
Hi Amanda, TED Ed is new to me, however TED Talks have been an obsession of mine for years. I use the talks all the time when instructing and I have enjoyed the lecture style talks because I find them interesting and engaging. Turning an awesome lecture from TED talks into a customized lesson for my students gets me extremely excited. Would I answer multiple questions based on what I just learned during the watching of a video? Sure I would, especially if it is not graded. My framework of choice for learning is community-centred and learner-centred. I enjoy learning within a group and from each other, but I am also very self-directed and don’t mind going down my own path of learning. I am looking forward to reading more about your research as this course unfolds.
Hi Anita,
Sorry it has taken me so long to reply to your comment. I am with you on that obsession of Ted Talks, I have watched my fair sure. Thank you for answering my questions. I am interested in how video based learning, which is an independent event for the most part, can be made more interactive. Ted-Ed demonstrates one way of doing it, and I am curious how I could build on it and do so even more effectively.
Hi Amanda,
I too am a fan of TED talks but did not realize there was a dedicated learning section to build lessons around their videos. Although I am a big fan of the knowledge I gain from these videos, I find that the details and facts drift quickly out of mind when I can not discuss them and apply them fairly soon after watching. Just scrolling down the list of videos on your link, I realized I had watched several of the videos listed but could not recall any key facts that I had learned as a result. So, in saying this, I suppose I am heavily reliant on the social/community aspects of learning online to support my time and effort in transfer knowledge more effectively. Either face to face or online discussions are effective in helping with this retention.
I would definitely engage in answering questions if given the choice, to help confirm my understanding. Yet, I would prefer to discuss and reflect instead.
Have fun researching!
Christy
Hi Christy,
I am sorry it has taken me so long to reply, but thank you for taking the time and responding to my blog post. It is interesting that you brought up the recall just here. I just finished reading an article that was discussing multimedia based lessons, like video, our brain becomes more emotionally involved over being logically involved (Reiss, 2008). I am sure this will have some impact on recall and retention. Your answers align with one of my major questions regarding Ted-Ed, saying that you will answer questions to help confirm your understanding. Ted-Ed does not give answers or feedback on their written answers, so there is no confirmation of your knowledge. I personally found that frustrating and stopped putting in as much effort after figuring that out. Thank you again for your answers,
Amanda
Reference
Reiss, D. (2008). Video-based multimedia designs: A research study testing learning effectiveness. Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology / La revue canadienne de l’apprentissage et de la technologie, 33(3). doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.21432/T2FG64