MENOMONEE FALLS, Wis.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Kohl’s Department Stores (NYSE: KSS) and TED, the nonprofit organization devoted to “Ideas Worth Spreading,” today announced the “Lessons Worth Sharing” program that will award 18 educators across the country with the opportunity to have their most impactful and influential lesson featured as an animated video on TED’s global TED-Ed website. As the new school year approaches, Kohl’s wants to encourage students and school supporters to nominate their favorite educator on Kohl’s Facebook page in order to share their most inspiring lesson with kids worldwide. Now through August 24, visit www.facebook.com/kohls to nominate an educator with a “Lesson Worth Sharing,” get more information and view the Official Rules.
“Kohl’s is committed to kids’ education and we are excited to announce, as part of our ongoing partnership with TED, the ‘Lessons Worth Sharing’ program to celebrate and reward amazing educators,” said Julie Gardner, Kohl’s executive vice president and chief marketing officer. “As kids and parents start to think about the new school year, we are thrilled to offer their favorite educators the opportunity to have their greatest lessons reach and motivate learners across the world.”
Earlier this spring, TED launched TED-Ed with support from Kohl’s Cares®. TED-Ed includes a groundbreaking website [http://ed.ted.com] housed on TED.com that enables teachers, parents, and anyone who wants to spread a lesson the ability to create unique customized lesson plans around TED-Ed video content. TED-Ed seeks to inspire curiosity by harnessing the talent of the world's best teachers and visualizers with new tools that spark and facilitate learning. One new innovative tool featured on the site allows teachers to “flip” a video, edit it, and create a tailored lesson rendered on a new and private web page. The creator of the lesson can then distribute it and track individual students’ progress as they complete the assignment. The TED-Ed site was built in part with a more than $1 million contribution from Kohl’s Cares, and optimizes TED content for use in educational settings.
For the “Lessons Worth Sharing” program, Kohl’s Facebook fans - currently more than seven million strong- can nominate their favorite educator and Lesson Worth Sharing by visiting www.facebook.com/kohls. Nominees can include teachers, parents, professionals, or anyone with a lesson worth teaching. Submissions can include powerful lessons – packed into 5 minutes or less - on subjects that vary from the way we think, to math in real life or how things work. Eighteen educators that meet program criteria as outlined in the Official Rules will be selected and have their lesson professionally animated to video and then posted to TED-Ed and Kohl’s Facebook page. Winning educators and their nominator will also receive a $100 Kohl’s Gift Card. The winning educators will be announced in late September.
Kohl’s is committed to giving back to the communities it serves. In addition to the TED-Ed initiative, Kohl’s philanthropic programs include the Kohl’s Cares cause merchandise program, which sells special merchandise, including plush toys and books, and donates 100 percent of the net profit, more than $208 million since 2000, to benefit children’s health and education initiatives nationwide, a scholarship program that has awarded $3.4 million in scholarships and prizes, Kohl’s associate volunteer program that donated more than $47 million since 2000, and a fundraising gift card program that has donated more than $35 million since 2000.
See Official Rules at www.facebook.com/kohls for all program and prizing details. For more information on Kohl’s philanthropic efforts, visit www.kohls.com/cares.
About the TED-Ed Website
The site builds on TED-Ed content – available on the TED-Ed channel on YouTube – by allowing educators to create custom lessons around each video. Each video featured on the site is mapped, via tagging, to traditional subjects taught in schools and comes accompanied with supplementary materials that aid a teacher or student in using or understanding the video lesson. Supplementary materials include multiple-choice questions, open-answer questions, and links to more information on the topic. The most innovative feature of the site is that educators can customize these elements by flipping a video, In turn, the supplementary materials can be edited and the resulting lesson is rendered on a new and private web page. The creator of the lesson can then distribute it and track an individual student's progress as they complete the assignment.
About TED
TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. Started as a four-day conference in California 25 years ago, TED has grown to support those world-changing ideas with multiple initiatives. The annual TED Conference invites the world's leading thinkers and doers to speak for 18 minutes. Their talks are then made available, free, at TED.com. TED speakers have included Bill Gates, Al Gore, Jane Goodall, Elizabeth Gilbert, Sir Richard Branson, Nandan Nilekani, Philippe Starck, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Isabel Allende and former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown. The annual TED Conference takes place each spring in Long Beach, California, along with the TEDActive simulcast in Palm Springs; the annual TEDGlobal conference is held each summer in Edinburgh, Scotland.
TED's media initiatives include TED.com, where new TEDTalks are posted daily, the Open Translation Project, which provides subtitles and interactive transcripts as well as the ability for any TEDTalk to be translated by volunteers worldwide, the educational initiative TED-Ed, and TEDBooks, short e-books by speakers that elaborate on a single idea originally presented on TED's stage. TED has established the annual TED Prize, where exceptional individuals with a wish to change the world are given the opportunity to put their wishes into action; TEDx, which offers individuals or groups a way to host local, self-organized events around the world, and the TED Fellows program, helping world-changing innovators from around the globe to become part of the TED community and, with its help, amplify the impact of their remarkable projects and activities.
Follow TED on Twitter at http://twitter.com/TEDTalks, or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/TED.
About Kohl's Department Stores
Based in Menomonee Falls, Wis., Kohl’s (NYSE: KSS) is a family-focused, value-oriented specialty department store offering moderately priced, exclusive and national brand apparel, shoes, accessories, beauty and home products in an exciting shopping environment. With a commitment to environmental leadership, Kohl’s operates 1,134 stores in 49 states. In support of the communities it serves, Kohl’s has raised more than $208 million for children’s initiatives nationwide through its Kohl’s Cares® cause merchandise program, which operates under Kohl's Cares, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kohl's Department Stores, Inc. For a list of store locations and information, or for the added convenience of shopping online, visit www.Kohls.com, or join the discussion on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/kohls or Twitter http://twitter.com/Kohls.