The well-worn cliché of feeling like a kid in a candy store happens to be the only thing that came to my mind when I first got acquainted with TED Ed. If anything, this feeling only intensifies when digging deeper. And the best thing is you don’t have to be particularly savvy when it comes to the wonders of IT in education to enjoy the benefits of this amazingly simple tool.

The point of departure is those legions of Youtube videos all teachers know are sometimes able to illustrate the point so much better – and faster – than the written or spoken word. Personally, I have never done anything more creative than show them and try to strike up a discussion, a tricky process that may or may not succeed. At worst, it can be like fumbling around in the dark, not finding anything tangible to enhance my students’ historical education. Therefore, it pleased me no end to discover that it is very easy to take this one step further and dress those videos up with proper assignments on line.

What to do?

Continue reading on Historiana Labs.

Historiana Labs is a place to exchange information related to the use of digital technologies for the advancement of history education. Here insights will be shared by people working on the development of Historiana as well as information on (new) tools made by others with suggestions on how to use these to promote historical thinking through active learning. Contributions to Historiana Labs are welcomed, please contact the Historiana team at labs@historiana.eu.