TED Playlists: a librarian’s friend

In searching for great examples of presentations for our seniors, I happened upon the TED Playlists.

They’re not really new, but they’re new to me. And these curated collections of TED Talks are a treasure!

Some are curated by TED, others are guest curated by thought and cultural leaders like Dan Pink, Sir Ken Robinson, and Bono.

Whether you scan the full archive, the featured playlists, the most viewed, the guest curated, the newest stuff, or surprise me (for talks that are jaw-dropping, persuasive, courageous, ingenious, fascinating, inspiring, beautiful, and funny), be warned. You’re about to be drawn down a whole bunch of rabbit holes.

Note: TED Surprise Me offers the option of choosing a talk by how much time you have available.

As a librarian, this is a serious time saver for when that subject area teacher runs in looking for the perfect short introduction to, or inspiration for . . .

For that senior speech project, our solution was TED Under 20, talks by inspiring teens.

Somehow, seeing their peers present, made our backchannel conversation about presentation strategies even more powerful and relevant.

You may also consider checking out:

• TED Talks Education to kick off a professional development session
• TED for Kids
• TED in 3 Minutes for brief introductions to instructional activities.
• Tech Breakthroughs
• GROSS! (On poop, dead duck sex, sanitary napkins, eating bugs, and much, much more conversation not meant for the dinner table.)

If you are logged into your TED account and run out of time before the end of a playlist, you may resume where you left off next time you visit.  You’re gonna need more time.

Filed under: playlists, speeches, technology, TED