Should TED talks be teaching us something?

Teaching the Future Radiologist: TED-Inspired Radiology Didactics

TED (acronym for technology, entertainment and design) conferences are an astonishingly successful modern-day platform for "ideas worth spreading". These continue to engage, enlighten and entertain an ever-expanding audience base. TED speakers highlight simple yet relevant ideas, often challenging entrenched perspectives and proposing hitherto unexplored solutions. In this perspective, the authors propose modeling some aspects of Radiology didactics along certain fundamental principles of TED and outline techniques to accomplish this. We overview how this shift can engage diverse learners and enhance retention of key information. We include evidence on such pedagogical techniques boosting learners' working memory and providing strategies for creative problem solving. Finally, we caution educators against criticisms of the TED format, including prioritizing style over content, "dumbing down" information to make it fit a prescribed format and sometimes offering insufficient scientific rigor.

TED Talk: An Innovative Assignment to Learn Research and Evidence-Based Practice Concepts

BACKGROUND

Evidence-based practice (EBP) is key to improve outcomes and requires health care professionals to appraise research findings. Interpreting statistical findings can be daunting for nursing students.

PURPOSE

The purpose of this study was to evaluate student perception and satisfaction with a TED Talk assignment as an approach to understand concepts used to appraise evidence.

METHODS

A descriptive design was used to survey students about their experience creating and delivering a TED Talk to their peers in an EBP course.

RESULTS

The assignment helped students engage in learning research/EBP concepts, and they rated the assignment moderately helpful to understand components to appraise evidence. The majority of students were neutral toward or disagreed the TED Talk assignment was a satisfactory experience. Almost 60% of the students recommended the assignment be retained in the course.

CONCLUSIONS

The TED Talk assignment was not a universally satisfactory experience. Differences in faculty approach in the course sections may have influenced the findings.

Introducing TED Talks as a Pedagogical Resource in Sport Management Education through YouTube and LinkedIn

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the educational sector, pushing it towards teaching–learning methodologies where the online aspect takes on special importance. In this sense, social media are tools that facilitate the creation of meaningful and sustainable learning environments. This study shares an educational experience where TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) Talks are introduced as a pedagogical resource through YouTube and LinkedIn in a sport management course. A total of five TED Talks are viewed and discussed by the students in order to develop their professional profile, assisted by a set of initial questions posed by faculty. To assess the impact of the experience, a new scale is created and then validated. The analyses performed reflected the unidimensional nature of this scale, explaining the 64.36% of the variance, and presenting good psychometric properties (α = 0.95). Furthermore, the results obtained reflect the educational potential of TED Talks in the context of sport management, with increases in the averages of all the items from the scale, with significant (p < 0.05) increases in six of them. Both the new validated instrument and the shared pedagogical proposal can be valuable to guide and evaluate future educational experiences which introduce TED Talks as a pedagogical resource in sport management education.

Creating and Presenting an Effective Lecture

Lectures are a key tool for large group teaching in continuing professional development and continuing medical education within the health care professions. However, many practitioners who deliver lectures have not had the time or opportunity to participate in formal training on how to give an effective presentation. In this article, we will provide a comprehensive guide for creating and presenting an effective lecture. We will discuss evidence-based principles of effective teaching, slide organization and design, active learning, and public speaking.

Public comment sentiment on educational videos: Understanding the effects of presenter gender, video format, threading, and moderation on YouTube TED talk comments

Scholars, educators, and students are increasingly encouraged to participate in online spaces. While the current literature highlights the potential positive outcomes of such participation, little research exists on the sentiment that these individuals may face online and on the factors that may lead some people to face different types of sentiment than others. To investigate these issues, we examined the strength of positive and negative sentiment expressed in response to TEDx and TED-Ed talks posted on YouTube (n = 655), the effect of several variables on comment and reply sentiment (n = 774,939), and the projected effects that sentiment-based moderation would have had on posted content. We found that most comments and replies were neutral in nature and some topics were more likely than others to elicit positive or negative sentiment. Videos of male presenters showed greater neutrality, while videos of female presenters saw significantly greater positive and negative polarity in replies. Animations neutralized both the negativity and positivity of replies at a very high rate. Gender and video format influenced the sentiment of replies and not just the initial comments that were directed toward the video. Finally, we found that using sentiment as a way to moderate offensive content would have a significant effect on non-offensive content. These findings have far-reaching implications for social media platforms and for those who encourage or prepare students and scholars to participate online.

Use of condensed videos in a flipped classroom for pharmaceutical calculations: Student perceptions and academic performance

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

The flipped teaching method was implemented through a series of multiple condensed videos for pharmaceutical calculations with student perceptions and academic performance assessed post-intervention.

EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITY AND SETTING

Student perceptions from the intervention group were assessed via an online survey. Pharmaceutical exam scores of the intervention group were compared to the control group. The intervention group spent a greater amount of class time on active learning.

FINDINGS

The majority of students (68.2%) thought that the flipped teaching method was more effective to learn pharmaceutical calculations than the traditional method. The mean exam scores of the intervention group were not significantly different than the control group (80.5 ± 15.8% vs 77.8 ± 16.8%; p = 0.253).

DISCUSSION

Previous studies on the flipped teaching method have shown mixed results in regards to student perceptions and exam scores, where either student satisfaction increased or exam scores improved, but rarely both.

SUMMARY

The flipped teaching method was rated favorably by a majority of students. The flipped teaching method resulted in similar outcomes in pharmaceutical calculations exam scores, and it appears to be an acceptable and effective option to deliver pharmaceutical calculations in a Doctor of Pharmacy program.

Making Primary Literature Come Alive in the Classroom

By the time young scholars graduate college, they are expected to be prepared for their career. The knowledge that they have gained during their undergraduate education is assumed to prepare them for their future occupation. Understanding primary academic literature is absolutely imperative for scientists who are expected to be able to read, understand, explain, and incorporate literature into their work. Unfortunately, many new graduates are only exposed to traditional learning methods such as textbook readings, lectures, or slide shows about primary literature. It is important that while in college, students learn about the rich content of the literature that serves as the foundation for their respective fields. We review methods for integrating primary literature into the classroom and separate them into three components including (1) introduction to the literature, (2) enhancement of literacy and comprehension, (3) and humanizing the literature. These methods of teaching and learning are far more captivating than simply memorizing facts for a test. The brilliance of these methods is that they can be completed within one class time or throughout a semester. The goal is to help students become comfortable with literature, which does not have to be restricted by any time frame. It is our hope that this review of existing tools and ideas provided will help set students up for success in their field. They allow students to practice knowing and using primary literature while requiring students to be active participants in scientific discovery related to their future occupation.

A Pharmacy Elective Course on Creative Thinking, Innovation, and TED Talks

Objective. To implement and assess an elective course designed to enhance student creative thinking and presentation skills. Design. A two-credit elective course was developed that incorporated creative-thinking exercises, article discussions pertaining to creativity, TED Talk (TED Conferences, New York, NY) analyses, and presentation design and delivery exercises. Assessment. Assessment instruments included pre- and post-course Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT). A scoring rubric was developed and used to evaluate a final mock TED Talk presented to faculty and students. Course evaluations were also used to assess student experiences in the course. Students' TTCT verbal creativity scores increased significantly (p<0.05) during the course and their mock TED Talk mean scores (135±6.4) out of 150 were rated highly. Conclusion. The outcomes from this elective course confirmed that pharmacy students could develop and present an original "idea worth sharing" using the TED Talk format.