What does innovation in education look like around the world? What is a great idea in education that hasn’t yet been tried? What amount of collaboration and support could help that idea come to life? And how might we help educators share ideas beyond school walls? These are some of the questions that led TED to create the new TED-Ed Innovative Educator program.

The TED-Ed Innovative Educator program is a year-long professional development program for dynamic educators who are dedicated to celebrating the ideas of students and teachers around the world.

It’s a global program that connects leaders within TED’s network of over 250,000 teachers. As TED’s on-the-ground education ambassadors and advocates, TED-Ed Innovative Educators engage in two months of digital training and 10 months of leadership and innovation projects.

Our goal is to spark thoughtful innovation in education around the world. TED-Ed Innovative Educators lead by example by helping people most of TED’s free tools for teachers and students — including TED-Ed Animated Lessons, TED-Ed Clubs and the TED-Ed Platform.

The TED-Ed Innovative Educator program launched in closed beta this summer with a founding cohort of 28 educators from 11 countries. [To see why TED is so inspired by educators who innovate, read this piece.]

The first TED-Ed Innovative Educators just completed eight weeks of training, exploring topics such as: digital learning tools, the power of video in education, and how to connect schools around the globe to discuss ideas worth spreading. During training, they explored assigned readings and videos. TED-Ed Innovative Educators also discussed leadership and innovation ideas with TED-Ed staff in online video calls, like this one:

Over the next 10 months, TED-Ed Innovative Educators will attend professional development workshops at TEDYouth, launch innovation projects in their schools — and serve as innovative leaders within TED’s global network of over 250,000 teachers. Stay tuned: we’ll be chronicling their leadership and innovation adventures all year.

Interested in becoming a TED-Ed Innovative Educator? Fill out the application here.

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