TED+Talks

 TEDTalks is a daily podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, and TEDTalks cover those topics as well as science, business, development, and the arts. F eatured speakers have included Jane Goodall on chimpanzees, Philippe Starck on design, Jill Bolte Taylor on observing her own stroke, Nicholas Negroponte on One Laptop per Child, Bill Gates on malaria and mosquitoes, Pattie Maes on the “Sixth Sense” wearable tech, and “Lost” producer JJ Abrams on the allure of mystery. The following TED videos are particularly inspirational to me in my teaching. I hope you enjoy them!

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The first time I watched this video, shown during a High School of Business curriculum training, I thought, great, this lady wants me to throw out all of my formal assessments. Then, I watched it again. And again. Now, several months later, I am exhilarated about the possibilities! To create an environment where students can learn from their mistakes, stumble through a task without fear of reprisal, or get a project right the third time...that's a safe environment that fosters trust and motivates students to work harder. Diana Laufenberg gets it. Now, after multiple viewings of this video, I get it. Most students want to learn. They just want to learn without fear of the wrong answer. It's my job as a teacher, a facilitator of learning, to provide them the opportunity to learn.

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In order to create an environment where students can learn through mistakes, there has to be something on which the students make mistakes. That's where Project Based Learning (PBL) works! PBL moves the instruction from teacher to student by giving the students ownership over their studies. The students work through a project, task or challenge using a guiding or essential question, while developing 21st century skills such as communication, team work, and critical thinking. Kiran Bir Sethi talks about the 'i can' button, where learning is embedded in real world context, which is the root of all PBL. This instructional strategy has to be a critical component when teaching business and technology.

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Wow. There's no other word to describe the creative mind of Pranav Mistry. He is one of the leading technology inventors of our time, and had me at the Rubik's Cube. Then, the sale of his brilliance was complete when he played Pong on the subway. Be still my beating heart! The technology showcased in this video is inspiring to techies of all ages, and certainly to high school students that are curious about the technological possibilities out there. However, the most amazing, and inspiring, aspect of Pranav Mistry is not his creative genius. It is his willingness to make this technology open-source - to share with the world the codes and specs needed to create this technology. Some may say that is foolish, and a small part of my inner business owner cringes, but that is what makes this so incredible. He is willing to give away what others would probably kill to protect. That is amazing.

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Since the last video referenced the subject of open sourcing, this video seemed relevant. Richard Baraniuk, a Rice University professor, speaks about his online educational system, called Connexions. This system has been designed to share educational information in an open format through Creative Commons Licensing, the licensing under which this wiki is covered. The most interesting aspect of this speech is that the presenter is a professor. Traditionally, professors have gotten a bad reputation as the reason behind costly textbooks. Often, professors write the textbooks, and typically tenure is based on the amount of published works by a professor, so they must be to blame for the ridiculously high costs associated with textbooks. Professor Baraniuk shows us that not all professors are created equal. He and his colleagues behind Connexions are committed to changing the landscape of education and educational publishing. Since my school is on the forefront of the fight to bring e-readers in the classroom, this subject is near and dear to my heart. Surprisingly, the biggest obstacle has not been cost, but lack of published works. The publishing companies that sell the textbooks that our teachers are familiar with do not have those books in e-reader format. Our administrative team that is spearheading this initiative has been forced to look for other sources to use, which has pushed back the initial role out to students. Hopefully, the textbook and resource issue will be resolved soon, and our students will be able to use e-readers in the near future.