I’m always quite curious about learning content that I find online. And every time I find something new I seem to think the same thoughts and have the same questions: Is this considered instructionally sound by academics? Could this be a good model to emulate in corporate training? Who created the system? What were they trying to achieve? Do normal people even care?

I’ve been aware of TED-Ed for a while now, but only recently have I noticed an increase in TED-Ed content being shared heavily in my social media streams. The first encounter I had was simply to watch the video that was linked from twitter. The second encounter was to check out the “Create a Lesson” feature. And now I’m finally at the point where I want to know what others think. Is it pretty good? GREAT? Not based on sound learning principles? Or YES, OMG, it’s finally the holy grail of learning?

The following video from TED-Ed was very engaging for me. I enjoyed it. But did I learn anything by simply watching the video? Do we need more than just a video to truly learn and not simply be entertained? Check out the video and then let’s discuss.

So, what did you think? If you liked it and were compelled to watch the entire video, do you feel like you learned something? Did you check out the View Full Lesson Feature? If not, go there now: How Playing an Instrument Benefits Your Brain.

There are 4 sections within a lesson: Watch, Think, Dig Deeper, and Discuss.

• Watch simply plays the video content.
• Think is a multiple choice quizzing engine.
• Dig Deeper is additional text with links to other content related to the topic.
• Discuss is a simple forum style discussion board.

There is nothing too complex about this lesson building engine, but I still think it’s pretty cool for one main reason: Sharing customized lessons. Anyone can create a lesson based on the lesson they are viewing. You’ll notice in the image above that there is a Customize This Lesson button. Next to it you’ll see that there have been 185 customized lessons already created and shared based on this lesson. And this is what I find exciting and fascinating about TED-Ed.

There is a lot more that I love about TED-Ed, but will need to save it for another post. Tell me what you like about it. Have you created your own lesson yet? Do you think the content could be used in corporate training settings? I’d love to hear your thoughts.