Abstract:

In my paper, I will discuss how I use TED talks to flip my blended and face to face classes. I have been teaching Management and Marketing using TED talks for more than five years. In the beginning, I used to assign the talks as homework, and then have the students write or post about them. When I began to flip my classes, I made the decision to work with TED talks to enrich the classes beyond what I might give the students if I followed the usual pattern of videotaping myself. In order to do this successfully, I had to select not only outstanding talks from TED, but I had to show students how the talks related to some aspect of the class material. I also had to devise discussion sheets and other class worksheets for the students to use, if the assignment went beyond an individual student post.

Beyond this goal, at the University where I teach, St. John's in New York, one of our major initiatives is to globalize our curricula for all our students. We do this by offering an extensive study abroad program to those student show can participate. Secondly, we globalize by incorporating global information in our courses. It was this second goal that helped to influence my choices of TED talks.

If you are not familiar with TED, the letters stand for Technology, Entertainment and Design. Many world renowned experts in their respective fields are invited to "talk" to live audiences for 20 minutes or less on an area or topic in which they are knowledgeable. Speakers comes form everywhere, developed and less developed countries, many disciplines, fields and occupations.

Here, I plan to discuss how I researched on TED and the related TED sites to find the best talks. I will also discuss the talks I have chosen to use; I will describe how I use them, in what courses, and the various methods I use to relate the talk to course topics. Finally, I will provide an overview of the talk sheets I prepare for class which act as guides for class group discussions of the talks.

It is my hope that my article will provide readers with a "how to" orientation and some descriptions of specific TED talks that may encourage my colleagues to use these in their classes. My experience with the students' response to TED and the talks there has been extremely positive with many thanking me each semester for having introduced them to TED!

Keywords:

TED, flipped, global, student engagement, TED talks.