I was made aware of this new service/product by a colleague who asked if I could check it out and if possible, create one of my own. I hadn't heard about TED-Ed before and was intrigued as to whether or not it is something that should be used in the learning and teaching environment. After watching the TED Ed Website Tour video I wasn't too fussed about finding out what has already been produced but how I can create my own flip of a lesson.
So I registered (for free) and thought 'right, let's do this!'.
My first hurdle was trying to work out how to create a flip (I think that's what I'll call it from now on). It must have taken me about 10 minutes and I'm sure others might have worked out how to do it quicker but I assumed there would be a button labelled 'create' or 'flip'. I looked in 'my account' thinking it might be there but that would just send me to the main TED website. I also clicked on the 'Get involved' and thought, surely that's it. I filled out the 'Nominate an Educator' and nominated myself. I quickly realised after submitting the form that this wasn't going to enable me to flip a lesson and so I continued to explored further. Just when I was about to give up (and I'm sure most people would have given up by now) I searched for a one of our team's videos on YouTube using the YouTube tab. Eureka, That's It!!!! Once I found our YouTube video's I simply clicked on the thumbnail and clicked 'flip this video'.
Creating the actual flip was quick and easy. It took me only a few minutes to whip up the following flip: http://ed.ted.com/on/Hy3A7c5d
The only thing I couldn't figure out was how to create a quiz. In the tour video above it mentions you can insert a quiz, but I couldn't find how to do that. What I could do instead was create questions using the 'Think' section. Once published I notified some of my colleagues who went through my quick lesson and entered their own answers. This unfortunately brought up another little disappointment in that you cannot submit your answers unless registered. This is a big shame. I understand why TEDEd have only allowed registered users to submit answers but this restricts how these questions and quizzes can be used in teaching. I feel that as a creator there should be an option to enable or disable the ability for guests to submit answers. If this was possible teachers could use it in teaching, for students to work through the flip lesson and for the teacher to start of discussions in response to the answers submitted.
I have sent my feedback on all these issues and am awaiting a response from TEDEd.
Once you have published or if you have a draft version of a flip it is not obvious where to find your own lessons. My first thought was again in 'my account' but nope, no there. I found these under the 'Recent Activity' tab. I also discovered that once published you cannot edit your flip. again this is a shame, and results in having to re-create it if you need to make amendments.
As a service/product I can already think of so many ways in which this can be used in learning and teaching. I plan to create a number of lessons to help students learn how to create video, podcasts, screencasts for example. I am sure that this service/product will continue to be developed. Improving the issues I have raised would be a great start.
I would be interested to know if anyone else has created a flip yet and ways in which it can be used to enhance learning and teaching.
Chris
Chris
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