6 TED Talks about Virtual Education You Should Watch Now

The quick switch to distance learning has had many educators feeling as if they’re back to their first year of teaching. Luckily, the idea of learning online is nothing new. There are people who have done it effectively for years. Sometimes, the best way to start feeling comfortable is to learn from those experts. TED Talks are an easy way to take in a fresh perspective, and hopefully you have a little bit of downtime you can dedicate to some professional development. We’ve compiled a list of great TED Talks about online education that we hope will give you some inspiration and motivation as you plan for success.

Beyond Zooms: The Future of Virtual Learning

After nine months zoom learning for school and zoom conferencing for work while social distancing, zoom fatigue has set in. Virtual reality offers a more creative alternative to conferencing online. A seventh grade student at Ecole Bilingue, Berkeley, California, USA. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community.

Schools without Classrooms: The Potential of Online Education and How to Fulfill It

Cave people didn't teach their children how to hunt mammoths in a classroom, so why are classrooms necessary to education today? George Greenbury explores the future of education and ways we can use online education to address global educational inequalities. Check out his ideas around adapting online education to be more engaging and social ensures a future where online learning can provide high quality education for all.

Bring on the Learning Revolution

In this TED Talk from 2010, Sir Ken Robinson makes the case for a radical shift from standardized schools to personalized learning. In post-COVID-19 learning, when state tests have been cancelled, and each student’s learning levels are more drastic than ever, his ideas are ahead of their time.

Let’s Use Video to Reinvent Education

Salman Khan of Khan Academy held this TED Talk in 2011. The beginning discusses his creation of Khan Academy, the initial feedback, how educators are using the videos to flip the classroom, and why it’s working with students across the globe.

The Child-Driven Education

One of the biggest challenges for teachers of elementary aged students is, how do we do online education and teaching to these young kids? In a series of real-life experiments from New Delhi to South Africa to Italy, education scientist Sugata Mitra gave kids self-supervised access to the web and saw results that could revolutionize how we think about teaching.

Designing for Simplicity

MIT Media Lab’s John Maeda understands that technology is intimidating and scary for most people. With the popularity of books like the “for dummies” series, he recognizes the call to pair down to the basics. In his 2007 TED Talk, he explains the how, why, and success behind simplicity.

Edmentum works hard to provide research-based and engaging solutions to support teaching and learning. Take a look at some of our best resources hand-picked to help drive student success you as you build or refine your school's hybrid and virtual learning program in our Hybrid & Virtual Learning Success Kit.

This post was originally published June 2020 by Haley Peterson and has been updated.