Education: TED Talks in the Realm of a Changing System

1. Education: TED Talks in the Realm of a Changing System Courtney Banker CMC 200 6 May 2013 Dr. Ted Gournelos

2. The Big Five • Topic: enthusiasm and lifelong learning in education • Focus: TED Talks as educational tools • Methods: in-depth interviews and discourse analysis • Targets of Analysis: 4 public high school teachers, 20 newspaper/magazine articles • Goals: justify the cultivation of lifelong learners as the purpose of education and determine the validity of TED Talks in making this purpose a reality

3. Quotes • “In discussing the purpose versus the reality of education, and the role of teachers and technology in the classroom, this article will justify “lifelong learning” as the purpose of education and question how to develop an enthusiasm for learning” (Banker 2013, 3). • “TED may be elitist, but it seems to be doing something right—its one billion views attest to that. Arguments of elitism and criticisms of the price tag of attendance are irrelevant to the teachers mentioned above using Talks in the classroom, because to them, TED is feeding the enthusiasm for lifelong learning by feeding a “hunger for experience, for growth, for personal cultivation” (Gross as cited in Banker 2013, 20). • “Perhaps people become addicted to TED Talks because of a hunger for inspiration to learn more and to change the world, a hunger that finds few sources of satisfaction. If this is the case, then we need to revaluate the way we teach students to be sure that inspiration, and in turn, enthusiasm, prevails over memorization and regurgitation in the way we approach education. In the meantime, for inspiration, teachers, students, and lifelong learners can turn to TED” (Banker 2013, 20).

4. What this means? • TED inspires people, and it is this inspiration that makes them appealing and fuels lifelong learning. • Although more studies need to be done (to hear the student perspective on TED Talks and education, and to analyze TED Talks themselves), TED puts the theory of education into practice, therefore we should tentatively encourage TED Talks in the realm of education.