Whether listening to TED talks online, through the NPR TED Radio Hour or being lucky enough to attend a TED talk in person, it is easy to see there is something special going on and the media artifacts produced far exceeds the average entertainment product. The power of a TED talk is often the ability of the speaker to make the seemingly inaccessible or boring things we encounter every day more accessible and compelling. Complicated topics like data mining, or neurobiology, or ‘disruptive leadership’, or infectious diseases, or even mobile programming suddenly seem, dare I say, fascinating. Somehow TED takes things we might never bother with in a newspaper or on a web page and makes them must see media. By finding experts who are passionate about their subject and who can communicate that passion, we can catch glimmers of why we should care about things that don’t seem all that potentially relevant to our own lives. And we learn something.

Beyond the power of TED Talks, via listening or watching, there is the special part of the TED website called TED ED which allows teachers an opportunity to create an online lesson and a classroom ‘flip’. Here you can build a lesson around a TED Talk, a TED Original or a You Tube video. TED ED is a place for self-expression in creating something, and for teaching and learning.

Check out some of the lessons created on TED ED Lessons or play some of the most watched lessons created. TED ED walks you through the process of using a video to create an online lesson or discussion. Or you can even upload your own video.