Is TED the New Ivy League University?

Photo courtesy of Courtney Bolton

FastCompany recently published an article about the amazing influence TED is having on people who want to learn.  Gathering the greatest minds from around the world as ‘Faculty’ and sharing the Talks  freely online has converted the small, elite conference to something WAY beyond that.  TED has created a human network of like-minded people who have and want to share great ideas.  TED’s web presence is a key component to the popularity of the movement and FastCompany notes that by leveraging technology rather than physical infrastructure, it can do so rapidly and much more affordably. TED content has been translated to 77 languages so far thanks to its Open Translation project and it has a potential reach to 2.2 billion people.  So, if TED’s web strategy is so successful, can traditional universities take notes from this play book and bring a new model to higher education?