At the intersection of learning, media, and the future of work, join us each week as we sense and discover where the future of learning is heading.
Michelle Cheang is the Program Director of the Catalyze Challenge. She joins host Mike Palmer in a conversation about the career-connected learning grants offered through Michelle's organization. Catalyze aims to fund innovation in career exposure and preparation for ages 11-22 through grants, shared learning, and storytelling. Michelle explains how Catalyze takes an equity lens, seeking to expand opportunities for historically excluded groups. The new Catalyze Challenge runs through September 22nd and will fund exploratory projects on two themes: career exploration for young teens and meaningful employer partnerships. So there's still time to submit. Michelle stresses the application process is simple, just clearly explain the problem and your proposed solution. She predicts education will need to coordinate more closely with employer needs, as skills gain importance over degrees. Her advice: always keep students at the center and consider their full context. Don't miss this informative look at Catalyze's efforts to spur promising new career-connected learning programs for youth. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more sharp takes on the future of learning.
Mike Palmer and Robin Naughton explore coding and robotics for kids with Michelle Acaley, Senior Director of Product at Sphero. They discuss how Sphero's coding toys teach critical thinking, collaboration, and grit through play. Michelle shares how products like Sphero's Indi allow kids 4-8 years old to learn coding concepts by directing a robot car activated by colored tiles. She explains how Sphero's modular robotics kit for high schoolers aims to make engineering feel approachable and easy to use. As Mike and Robin share their experiences with their 4-year-old playing with Indi, the hosts talk about modeling failure and perseverance as parents and educators. Michelle offers advice for bringing more technology into the classroom through hands-on learning. She discusses the importance of ingraining confidence in young girls pursuing STEM. Overall the episode looks at how coding robots can boost kids' creative problem-solving skills. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you listen to podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more sharp takes on the future of education.
Inspired by architect Buckminster Fuller and the Kindergarten movement, Mike Acerra designed Lux Blox to reimagine the building blocks of learning. Co-founder and President of Lux Blox, Acerra brings an interdisciplinary background spanning art, architecture, physics, and education. His unique system aims to develop children's spatial skills, creativity, and confidence through intuitive play with forms based on nature. Lux Blox provides an open-ended platform for educators and parents to engage students kinesthetically. The blocks encourage insight and exploration using complex geometric shapes not found in typical toys. Acerra designed Lux Blox to align with principles from science and art to help strengthen spatial thinking. As host Mike Palmer discusses with Acerra, hands-on learning tools like Lux Blox develop the flexible mindset needed for the future of education and work. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you listen to podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more sharp takes on the future of education.
Reuben Ogbonna is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of The Marcy Lab School. He joins host Mike Palmer in a conversation about why he founded the school and how they are reimagining post-secondary education to design pathways for students traditional higher education has left out. We begin by hearing how Reuben's upbringing in Shreveport, Louisiana, and his experience with Teach for America inspired him to create an alternative career-focused postsecondary option. Reuben explains how Marcy Lab School operates as a one-year program for underserved young adults interested in tech careers like software engineering. The curriculum balances technical skills with liberal arts and civic engagement recognizing the challenges of the current system. Outcomes focus on job placement, with average starting salaries in the low six figures. Then Reuben discusses how they have navigated challenges like the pandemic and hiring climate shifts in the tech industry in recent years. Looking ahead, we hear his vision for adapting their program to leverage AI and emphasize real-world problem-solving. He shares how access to more equitable postsecondary pathways centered on skills, not just typical college routes, can change the lives of students and their communities. Don't miss this chance to learn how all students can have diverse, high-quality options to find the right fit to land that great first job. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you listen to podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more sharp takes on the future of education.
Note: the following show notes were created using Anthropic's Claude.ai - It seemed a propos after all: How should we prepare students for a rapidly automating world? On this episode, host Mike Palmer explores that question with Dr. Tim Dasey, author of Wisdom Factories: AI, Games, and the Education of the Modern Worker. Dasey explains why traditional educational models focused on expertise are becoming less relevant. As AI handles more routine analytical tasks, humans will need to excel at higher-order skills like critical thinking, creativity, and managing complexity. Dasey advocates revamping curricula to teach these “wisdom” capacities. He sees great potential for problem-based and collaborative learning approaches, as well as leveraging gaming to provide meaningful experiences with complex systems. However, Dasey notes most education debates focus narrowly on how AI will impact current roles, rather than reevaluating foundational priorities. He argues we need broad input from business and technology leaders to reorient systems toward the abilities humans uniquely bring. Tune in to hear Dasey’s compelling case for education reform in the AI age. Gain insights from his decades developing AI, then pivoting to human-centered design. Discover why developing wisdom, not just expertise, is key to long-term success. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcast. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more.
Mike shares his thoughts coming out of the Smithsonian Institution's National Education Summit that was recently held in Washington, DC. We hear what it's like to bring a 4-year-old to an education conference and learn more about the Palm Court Podcast whose launch is coinciding with the release of this episode! We reflect back on Dr. Monique Chism's previous appearance on Trending in Ed before diving into three key sessions from this year's summit. Mike talks about the tradeoffs of blending a family getaway with an education summit built around the theme of Together We Thrive: Fostering A Sense of Belonging. We hear what Secretary of the Smithsonian Lonnie Bunch had to say on his panel and learn of Mike's family's experience at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, which Secretary Bunch played a key role in establishing. Then we reflect on the work of National Teacher of the Year Rebeckah Peterson and how her concept of "one good thing" contains lessons both for educators and for the rest of us. We conclude with thoughts on Dr. Pamela Cantor's keynote on the neurochemistry of belonging as we process lessons learned from the conference and from family travel in the summer. Mike concludes with some thoughts on the launch of the Palm Court Podcast which is a new dedicated feed focused on New College of Florida, his alma mater, that has been thrust into the national spotlight as our culture wars are now on campus. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more and be sure to visit PalmCourtPod.com for deeper perspectives on New College's role in our cultural reckoning around academic freedom and the role of public education.
Tony Wan is the Head of Platform for Reach Capital. He is also one of the CoFounders of EdSurge. He rejoins host Mike Palmer in a conversation about what it's like to write and think about venture capital in Ed Tech at a time when AI is everywhere. We begin by hearing Tony's thoughts on writing while experimenting with GPT where he was able to train a bot to write like him. What does this mean for writing? Is it about the product or the process? From there, we explore his latest article exploring the cooling of EdTech investment in the first half of 2023. What's driving these trends and how does it relate to AI, Web 3, and AR/VR? Tony highlights two Ed Tech companies that are catching his eye and we conclude with his thoughts on how AI might be able to help solve big problems around durable skills and well-being. As we provide some perspective about the future of work, Tony suggests we check out Benedict Evans' article on the automation of work. Don't miss this insightful interview with a prominent thought leader in educational technology and venture investing. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more sharp takes on the future of education.
Tom Adams is The Chair and CoFounder of Pedago Studios and the President and CoFounder of Quantic Business School. He's also the former CEO of Rosetta Stone. He joins host Mike Palmer in a conversation about the strategic approach he and team are taking in building new learning programs informed by the impending revolution in interactive learning. We hear how Tom got his start in the early days of EdTech, successfully taking Rosetta Stone public as CEO. From there, we learn what drew him into the new initiative that is driving the work at Quantic and beyond. Tom paints a vision of what truly interactive learning products are, with the learner responding to novel stimuli on average every 8 seconds. This contrasts much of the video-based content that is prevalent in the MOOCs and elsewhere. Tom shares why Pedago focused on business education and technology as we zero in on who Quantico’s target market is. We also get a sense of how interactive content powered by the emerging capabilities of AI may transform educational experiences for years to come. Don't miss this visionary exploration of business education and the emerging category of interactive learning with an industry leader with a proven track record in the field. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more sharp takes on the future of education.
Alan Safran is the CEO and Chair of Saga Education and AJ Gutierrez is its Chief Policy and Public Affairs Officer. They join Mike Palmer in a conversation about the work they are doing at Saga to bring evidence-based high-impact tutoring interventions to students who need them. We begin by hearing how Saga got started and how AJ and Alan met. AJ shares his personal experiences in school when he was attending Alan's charter school where high-impact tutoring was integrated into the program. From there, we learn how they've grown with Saga as the effectiveness of the program has become more widely understood and they've begun to unpack what makes it work. They share how they integrate tutoring into the rest of the educational program with a focus on 8th-grade Algebra to move the needle in outcomes for students, schools, and districts. Alan provides his vision for the future of education while AJ explores how AI and the right human capital approaches can scale solutions to address fundamental challenges to equity and the promise of education. Don't miss this deep dive into the critical role tutoring will play in the future of learning. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more sharp takes on education and beyond.
Dr. Jorge Petit is a Psychiatrist with extensive experience leading non-profit organizations focused on social justice and helping those who society has left out. He joins host Mike Palmer in a conversation about leadership lessons from the giving professions, the challenges inherent in serving those in need, and how broader trends in education and the broader culture may impact the future of work for folks who want to give back. We hear Jorge’s origin story, get his advice on leadership, and hear his perspectives on the future of work. As we conclude, Jorge share his concerns about polarization and the lack of civil discourse even as we find reasons for hope and optimism. Don’t miss it! Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more sharp takes on where the future of learning is heading.
Beth Rudden is the Founder and Chairwoman of Bast AI. She’s also the Co-Author of AI for the Rest of Us. She rejoins host Mike Palmer in a conversation about the risks and opportunities with generative AI based on her extensive experience with data science at IBM and now out on her own. We begin by learning what motivated Beth to write the book. Representation matters and we need broader adoption of AI in order for it to avoid many of the pitfalls and biases we’ve seen so far. Then we get into some of the challenges we face today. Can AI help save us from the brink? Beth shares her Three Rules of Responsible AI as we explore the importance of predictability and explainability in the development of large language models. How can AI truly augment humans and what are we getting wrong with the first waves of Gen AI? Listen in to find out. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more sharp takes on what’s emerging in education.
We bring back a popular and prescient episode from 2019 as part of our Best of Trending in Education series where Mike is joined by Design Anthropologist and Podcaster, Dr Adam Gamwell, to explore how robots, science fiction, and anthropology are interrelated. In a free flowing and imaginative conversation, we explore how the narratives and secular myths of pop culture and our collective consciousness provide insights into how we understand what it means to be human, how we engage with the Other, and how we grapple to understand how new technologies are driving profound changes to the world around us. Don't miss this look back to the "beforetimes" when we looked ahead at what an AI-powered future might be like. Thanks for listening. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you listen to podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more sharp takes on the future of education. Check out Adam's podcast This Anthro Life for more from him.
Mike returns from the ISTE Live Conference in Philadelphia to bring fresh takes on AI, Sustainability, and Affirmative Action in light of the recent Supreme Court Decisions. He's rejoined by virtual cohosts Ruth and Nancy to dig into the key trends we're tracking heading into the Summer of 2023. First Ruth joins us as we reflect on the Supreme Court Affirmative Action decision referencing Dahlia Lithwick's article on the topic before bringing in highlights from our recent conversation with Eric Schickler about polarization in higher education. What are we missing when we think about affirmative action? Then Nancy hops on board as we explore topics and themes about AI and emerging technology following Mike's attendance at ISTE. We run the gamut of analogies for AI as we continue to chart new waters. Finally, we conclude with reflections on the climate crisis and sustainability incorporating an excerpt from our recent episode with Bryan Alexander on the topic. It's a wide-ranging survey of the topics and themes top of mind for us as we head into the Summer of 2023. Don't miss it. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more sharp takes on what's emerging in the world of learning.
Mark Davis is Vice President of Learning Services at BookNook, a K12 Tutoring platform that focuses on bringing high-impact synchronous learning solutions to districts. He joins host Mike Palmer in a conversation about trends in the space and the complexity of delivering tutoring solutions at scale in K12. We begin with Mark's origin story which started working in a family business in LA before he shifted into education, eventually joining Kaplan where he met Mike back in the day. Then we learn how Mark ultimately landed back in learning services at BookNook where his deep domain knowledge of K12 logistics and human capital are now deployed against the real challenges of using tutoring to address many of the learning challenges facing our country. Don't miss this deep dive into how tutoring interventions can scale across our schools and classrooms, providing real benefits to teachers and school districts who have been stretched to their limits with the crises of recent years. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more sharp takes on the future of education.
Mike Palmer is rejoined by Nancy, our virtual cohost, to reflect on the half-year that was. We hear Mike's initial impressions of the ISTE Live 2023 Ed Tech Conference in Philadelphia as Nancy shares what it's been like being a virtual human made with a synthetic voice. Spoiler alert: it's both trippy and zeitgeisty af. From there, we dig into how AI has dominated the trendspace and the collective imagination so far this year. Nancy reminds us of our show from June of 2022 which anticipated where the hype around AI was heading before we dig into one of our 23 Trends for 2023 and Chat GPTutoring. From there we shift to the prevalence of Social Emotional Learning and Human-Centered themes this year perhaps in response to the existential threat of dehumanization through automation and AI. Then we delve into another trend from our list: Polarized Learning Zones. Mike reveals the name of the new feed launching soon focused on this through the tale of his beleaguered alma mater, New College of Florida. Be on the lookout for The Palm Court Podcast launching in early July. Mike reminisces about his conversations with Don Carson and Anurupa Ganguly about VR and Simulearning. We conclude with rays of hope from the Law of Serendipity. Don't miss it! Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more sharp takes on what's rising in relevance for the world of learning.
Tre’ Gammage is a Social Emotional Learning Specialist and Storyteller focused on building social-emotional competence in school communities by focusing on Adults’ Emotional Skills. He's also the host of the Dash Podcast where he explores topics in SEL for adults and much more. He joins host Mike Palmer in a conversation about SEL and its importance for teachers, other adults, and everyone. We begin with Tre's origin story playing football, studying abroad in college, and building his resume before he's 30. From there, we learn how he developed his SEL skills. All of this set Tre' on a path to develop his own communication and SEL skills which he now employs regularly in his role as a consultant. Tre' explains the DISC communication framework and emphasizes the importance of being intentional about SEL and how awareness can drive growth. We hear about the impact of the pandemic and its silver linings with potential for post-traumatic growth. Most of all, Tre' emphasizes the critical importance of social emotional support for teachers and administrators who are faced with real challenges that must be addressed before they can build classroom environments for students to thrive. It's a well-informed deep dive into being an SEL Consultant that you won't want to miss! Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more sharp takes from the world of learning.
Dr. Steve Joordens returns to the show with Lilaani Thangaladivelu to join host Mike Palmer in a conversation about their recent research into collaborative project-based learning approaches that enable transformative learning experiences at scale. Mike welcomes Steve back as we hear how Lilaani first experienced Steve’s Intro to Psychology course back in the Fall of 2019. Then she and Steve share the findings of their research into a new study of 450 teams of students working with Swab the World to create public service announcements to share the importance of stem cell research in non-Caucasian communities in Toronto and around the world. They use a peer-to-peer feedback tool called peerScholar that was designed in Steve’s lab to power all of this. What lessons can we learn about the importance of relevance, the skills that lead to a growth mindset, and how this all connects to building a portfolio that’s well-suited to the rapidly-changing future of work? And how are humility and failure part of the secrets of Steve’s success? Listen in to find out. Don’t miss this deep dive into how scalable experiential learning can happen everywhere. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more sharp takes on the future of learning.
Anthony Salcito is the Chief Institional Officer at Varsity Tutors where he's been focused on bringing high quality tutoring to teachers and schools across the country. He joins host Mike Palmer in a conversation that digs into the power of using tutoring and emerging AI to empower teachers to drive student learning around the globe. We begin with Anthony's origin story which culminated as Vice President of Worldwide Education at Microsoft before joining Nerdy to establish its school-facing offerings with Varsity Tutors. Then we explore his unique combination of AI and Tutoring expertise to understand his vision for increased personalized instruction powered by live online tutors and AI, providing the much needed help to our frontline teachers. Anthony imparts years of insight regarding emerging trends and foresees a world where new technology tools like generative AI serve to empower rather than replace teachers. Are we entering an age of an IEP for all? Don't miss this teacher-centered look at the intersection of tutoring and AI to learn more. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you listen to podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more sharp takes on what's emerging in learning.
Dr. Monique Chism is the Under Secretary for Education at Smithsonian Institution. She joins host Mike Palmer to share what it’s like to lead education efforts for the Nation’s Museum and the thinking that’s gone into designing their National Education Summit that’s happening later this summer. We begin with Monique’s origin story starting in a classroom teaching for 8 years before moving on to work at a nonprofit organization focused on closing achievement gaps and culturally proficient instruction. She then worked in the Department of Education before and at American Institute for Research focusing on taking education research into practice. This all led to Monique joining the Smithsonian Institution two years ago as its Under Secretary for Education. Monique describes the amazing free resources that the Smithsonian provides to educators as we learn what it's like to lead the education program there. We hear what she's got cooking for the 2023 Smithsonian National Education Summit: "Together We Thrive" which is coming in July, touching briefly on each of the themes of the summit: Life on a Sustainable Planet, STEAM Education, Reckoning with Our Racial Past, and An Integrated Arts Education. As we conclude, Monique shares advice for folks passionate about careers in education and provides her perspective on emerging AI and its potential impact on the future of work. It's a thought-provoking deep-dive with a learning thought leader that you won't want to miss! Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more sharp takes on the future of education.
Jeremy C. Young is the Program Director of Freedom to Learn at PEN America where he focuses on defending academic freedom in schools and on campuses across America. He joins host Mike Palmer in a conversation about the unprecedented assaults on the New College of Florida and what we all can do about it. We begin with Jeremy's origin story as a US History Professor who grew increasingly involved in defending academic freedom during his time with the American Historical Association before joining PEN America to lead Freedom to Learn. Jeremy touches on the work PEN America is doing fighting against book bans in K12 before digging into the challenges facing New College. New College is important not just for New College's sake but also because it is a test of a playbook that will likely be repeated across the country if successful. Don't miss this deep dive into the underdog story of our host's alma mater which has become the front lines of the Culture Wars on campus in these tumultuous times. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for a more sharp perspective on what's emerging in education. Check out our other episodes relating to New College with our new dedicated playlist as we prepare for the launch of the Palm Court Podcast focused exclusively on the stories and cultural relevance of this small but proud liberal arts college.
Michael Chasen in the Founder and CEO of Class and the Founder and former CEO of Blackboard. He joins host Mike Palmer in an exploration of his career defining new categories while driving innovation in educational technology. We start by hearing the Founder’s Tale of Blackboard, the industry-leading learning management system (LMS). Then Michael explains what led him to found Class in the Fall of 2020. In a world transformed by the pandemic and Zoom, Michael seized the opportunity to launch a differentiated virtual classroom experience on top of Zoom. From there, we learn how Class is integrating AI into its offering, how Michael is thinking about the power of real-time human connection, and what innovations of the day are piquing his curiosity. Don’t miss this chance to learn from an EdTech innovator who is looking to transform the world of learning for a second time. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more sharp takes on the future of learning.
Gordon Drummond is the President of Sessions College for Professional Design, an online school of visual arts offering a range of degree and certificate programs in Graphic Design, Digital Media, Illustration, and Photography. He joins host Mike Palmer in a conversation about the challenges and opportunities of delivering design education online, something Sessions College has been doing for 25 years since its founding in 1997. We hear of Gordon's origins including his time working with Mike at Kaplan before shifting to the story of Sessions College. Gordon shares insights he's garnered over the years preparing design professionals for careers in a rapidly changing world of work. We touch on the importance of learning through feedback and the collaborative, iterative process that is essential to creative work. We also explore how design work is changing as AI continues to improve and blend with human creativity. Gordon describes how great design education requires not just great instructors but also great content and a collaborative team culture to produce the best outcomes for students. We conclude with Gordon's thoughts on what's emerging and hear his advice for teachers, learners, and makers of all stripes. It's a wide-ranging exploration of emerging trends in design education that you won't want to miss! Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more sharp takes on the future of learning.
Shai Reshef is the President and Founder of University of the People, a non-profit, online university that's been serving students from around the globe since 2009. He joins Mike Palmer in a conversation about trends in affordable, online education and the work he's been doing with U of the People. We begin by hearing Shai's origin story dating back to the early days of distance learning and test preparation before diving into the story of the university and its founding. Shai shares his vision and mission to provide affordable higher education to students around the globe. We learn about the unique model that allows students to access their programs through the internet and how that has opened up pathways to those in need including students in Syria, Afghanistan, and most recently Iran. It's a thought-provoking deep dive into an alternative model of higher education built around access to relevant coursework that can change the lives of students. Don't miss it! Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more great content.
Jan Stanley leads an organizational leadership consulting practice and Dr. Jen Farthing is the SVP of Learning Product at SAI 360. They join host Mike Palmer in a conversation about trends in organizational leadership, culture, and learning and development in a free-flowing conversation you don’t want to miss! We explore a recent article by Paul Krugman on the recent jobs report along with a new framework from the Surgeon General as we dig into the emerging thinking about wellbeing, sense-making, and culture-building as we look for tips and practical advice for leaders looking to build flourishing cultures in challenging times. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more.
Tzipor Ulman, PhD, is the founder and CEO of Science is Elementary. Under Tzipor’s leadership, Science is Elementary (SiE) grew from an idea to a multi-faceted organization with international reaching more than 50,000 children, their teachers, and their families this year. She joins Mike Palmer in a conversation about building strong foundations in science into our educational system, particularly for populations that have been underserved and underrepresented. After hearing her origin story, we learn what she's been up to lately. During the COVID19 pandemic, Tzipor ideated SiE Books – a unique series that fills a massive gap in children’s education: wordless stories, featuring children of color who behave as scientists, coupled with step-by-step illustrations for doing science experiments that are easy enough for five-year-olds to do on their own, and with a family engagement component. In a wide-ranging conversation about the foundational importance of science education, we touch on the importance of playfulness, curiosity, representation, and grit. We also explore Tzipor's thoughts on the future of work and the importance of scientific principles in developing good citizens and countering polarization. It's a thought-provoking dive into science education that you don't want to miss! Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more sharp takes on the future of education.
Mike Palmer is rejoined by Nancy, our virtual cohost, to provide perspective on learning loss and quiet quitting as we look ahead at the episodes we have lined up for the stretch run of 2022. How is the negative framing of these terms damaging to the conversation and what are some alternative ways of talking about what's going on? We also run through many of the upcoming conversations with guests who will be appearing in our final run of episodes as we look toward the conclusion of yet another transformative year in the world of learning. Don't miss this chance to reflect on the new language and emerging trends that set the stage for what's next as we look to emerge from our collective fugue heading into 2023. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at Trending in Education for more great takes on the future of education.
Youki Terada is Research Editor at Edutopia. He rejoins host Mike Palmer for his third (refrigerator magnet earning!) appearance on Trending in Ed, this time to discuss his recent article on teacher burnout and how to combat it. We hear about how teachers’ jobs have been transformed by the new “always on” demands brought about by the pandemic and the integration of digital into the classroom. Now teachers are having problems disconnecting from work with new demands around email and technical support impinging on their private time. We also touch on Youki’s recent article on the stresses accompanying high-stales testing as he highlights research showcased in recent editions of Edutopia’s Weekly Newsletter as well as its new The Research Is In newsletter. You can sign up for Edutopia newsletters here. It’s an informed survey of emerging research to help teachers and their supporters navigate new problems in challenging times. Don’t miss it! Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more great content.
Mario Vasilescu is the Co-Founder and CEO of Readocracy, a product that explores how we might get credit for all the content we consume these days. He joins host Mike Palmer in a conversation about how credentialing is ready to be transformed for the 21st Century. We then explore how they're building media literacy and knowledge mapping into the design. We conclude with Mario musing about AI, the Blockchain and more. In fact, as referenced in the conversation, the logo for this episode was designed by Mike using DALL-E 2. It's a forward-looking view into the world of credentialing knowledge that you won't want to miss! Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more great content!
Deborah Lee is the Founder and CEO of Dancing Panda, an SMS-based learning product for parents of PreK to 3rd-grade kids. She joins host Mike Palmer in a conversation about building a product that helps parents bond with their kids through fun learning exercises that can connect to what they're learning in class. We begin by hearing Deborah’s origin story as a social entrepreneur, working in K12 and then EdTech at Newsela before launching Dancing Panda during the pandemic. We learn how she came up with the idea for Dancing Panda based on her experience as a mom to two young girls. Deborah encourages parents to reach out to their children’s teachers to connect about their children’s learning in a positive frame. We also talk about reaching families in need by designing a lean, lightweight experience that fits into the busy lives of parents and caregivers today. It’s a thought-provoking conversation about helping parents bridge into their children's learning journeys in these challenging times. Don’t miss it! Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more sharp takes on where the world of learning is heading.
Dr. Mylien Duong is a clinical psychologist and SEL researcher who serves as Senior Director of Research at the Constructive Dialogue Institute. She joins host Mike Palmer in an exploration of emerging research in SEL, the surprising backlash against it, and perspectives on how to support teachers whose jobs have become increasingly demanding in recent years. Mylien shares recent research from CDI that demonstrates the evidence-based tactics that reduce polarization and improve dialog in college classrooms. We also discuss the Educator Toolkit CDI is providing to help educators encourage constructive dialogue in their classrooms. Don't miss this insightful dive into practical advice on improving SEL in these challenging times. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you find your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more sharp takes on the future of education.
Dan Gonzalez is a former high school physics teacher and successful education executive. He's the Co-Founder and CEO of District C, a non-profit working to reimagine the internship by forming diverse teams of high school students who work together on real-world business problems. Dan joins host Mike Palmer in a conversation about District C's Teamship model which is central to their unique approach. We learn how students, teachers, and business partners work with District C to provide students with hands-on, relevant work solving real problems. We also hear a bold prediction from Dan about the future of education. Don't miss it! Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more sharp takes on the emerging learning ecosystem.
Miriam Plotinsky is an instructional specialist with Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland, and the author of Teach More, Hover Less: How to Stop Micromanaging Your Secondary Classroom. She joins host Mike Palmer in a conversation about what drove her to write the book. In a thought-provoking conversation about the tactics that allow for more student agency and voice, we explore topics like teacher burnout, building trust and student engagement, and the advantages of a more intentionally “hands-off” approach that yields surprising results. We also connect Miriam’s perspectives on what works in the classroom to what works for parents and in our professional lives Don’t miss it! Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more.
Mike reports back from the Global Talent Summit in Washington, DC. We learn what Ana Rold from Diplomatic Courier and Kelly Ryan Bailey from Skills Baby pulled together with help from Gallup and a team of experts and thought leaders focused on the skilling revolution and its impact on the future of work. Jim Clifton, the Chairman of Gallup, kicked things off by talking about the importance of engagement and awareness of disengagement and unhappiness that is globally on the rise. Mike references Jon Clifton's book, Blind SpotThe Global Rise of Unhappiness and How Leaders Missed It, and makes connections to Michael Sandel's book, The Tyranny of Merit: What's Become of the Common Good? as we try to put the skills and talent conversation into a relevant context. Then we explore the work of Dante Disparte on the Blockchain and Beth Rudden on AI ethics as we review highlights from an impressive array of programming from the day. Mike concludes with his thoughts on optimism and hope despite the challenges in a thought-provoking exploration of global talent trends that you won't want to miss. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more sharp takes on the future of learning.
To celebrate our 500th episode of Trending in Education, host and Founder, Mike Palmer reflects on the origins of the show and how it has evolved and grown through the years. Mike recounts the pod's humble beginnings as a skunkworks media R&D project to its exit from Kaplan to continue as an independent pod amid all of the tumult and disruption we've been navigating since early 2020. It's been an incredible ride and we couldn't have gotten there without our guests, listeners, and supporters. Many thanks to all of the "Friends of the Show" out there as we continue to dive into what's next. Here's to continuing the conversation for another 500+ episodes in the future! Thanks as always for listening. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more sharp takes on the future of learning.
Professor Rebecca Mendoza is the Lead Faculty for Accounting at Palo Alto College in San Antonio. She joins us to talk about how she is overcoming Impostor Syndrome to launch her teaching career and reach Gen Z students in new and relevant ways. We learn what it's been like for Rebecca to pivot from what could have been a career in corporate accounting to focus on teaching and reaching students in San Antonio. As a Hispanic woman, Rebecca reflects on the importance of being there for students who she hopes can see themselves in her. She talks about launching her TikTok channel to teach the finance and accounting skills so necessary in the lives and careers of her students and beyond. It's a deep dive into the mindsets of rising young educators that you won't want to miss. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more great content.
Anurupa Ganguly, the Founder and CEO of Prisms VR, returns to Trending in Ed to catch us up on her journey as Prisms begins to implement VR Math interventions at scale. We hear what it's been like since February of 2021 when we first spoke with her. We hear how Anurapa and the team at Prisms are designing rich narrative-based simulations couched in real-world examples of simulations that require math for problem-solving. We learn where Prisms is headed next and get an expert's take on how virtual reality simulations can allow a deeper foundational understanding of mathematical concepts. This aids greatly in improving performance and accelerating comprehension. It's a forward-looking examination of an emerging space that you won't want to miss. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more sharp takes on the future of education.
Mike reports from the midst of a big week of Education and Innovation conference he's attending in New York. In addition to showcasing his favorite sessions from Fast Company Innovation Festival and EdTech Week, we continue our storied tradition of breaking down the recently released Gartner Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies 2022 while making connections to the world of learning and the future of work along the way. Gartner highlights 25 emerging technologies grouped into three categories: Evolving and Expanding Immersive Experiences, Accelerating AI Automation, and Optimized Technologist Delivery. We quickly rattle them off before showcasing two sessions Mike attended this week: Wayne Brady's session on Improv from the FC Innovation Fest and Angela Duckworth and Esther Wojcicki's conversation from EdTech Week. There's plenty to chew on as we return to the conference scene and try to get out ahead of trends in search of the new hotness while steering clear of the hype. You can find out more about what Wayne's doing here. Angela's Character Lab is here. And Susan's Tract App is here. Thanks as always for listening. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more sharp takes on the future of education, investment, and innovation in these transformative times.
Celine Coggins is a social entrepreneur passionate about building networks and collective action to reduce inequity. She founded Teach Plus in 2007 to address the growing need for authentic teacher leadership to transform the nation’s schools and our education system. She currently serves as the Executive Director of Grantmakers for Education. Celine joins host Mike Palmer in a conversation about her new endeavor The Legacy Years Project, an initiative looking to activate members of Generation X to establish a positive collective legacy. She looks for lessons learned from how the Millennial and Gen Z generations successfully organized around student loan debt as highlighted in her recent LinkedIn article. Celine points to issues like securing Social Security and reining in social media and polarization as potential signature issues for the oft-forgotten generation to organize around. It's a thought-provoking exploration of generational zeitgeists you won't want to miss! Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more sharp takes on the future of learning.
Kathryn Patricia Cobbler is a musician, composer, and educator. She joins host Mike Palmer in a conversation about the role of music and the arts in education. As a special treat we include some of Kathryn’s original composition, When Mountains Speak, as part of the episode. Kathryn emphasizes the reflective nature of our transformative times as she makes a persuasive case for the importance of incorporating music into our educational experiences. She also talks about the importance of engagement with learners through music and thoughtful lesson design. We also touch on music’s transcendent qualities in a creative exploration of the critical role of music and the arts in the future of education. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more insightful perspectives on the world of learning.
Dr. Sameer Maskey is the Founder and CEO of Fusemachines, an AI Education and Services Company. He is also an Adjunct Associate Professor at Columbia University. He joins host Mike Palmer in a conversation about his mission to democratize AI by making high-quality AI education affordable and accessible to everyone. We begin by hearing Sameer's origin story, beginning in Nepal before studying engineering and AI in the States. He joined the IBM Watson team before founding Fusemachines in 2013. Sameer shares what it's been like leading an AI company through transformative times. He shares his takes on how to build strong foundations to become an AI developer and learn where he sees the most promise in the application of machine learning and AI in the coming years. It's an insightful conversation with an expert in a critical emerging skill space that you won't want to miss. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more sharp takes on what's new and emerging in the world of learning.
Mike Palmer is back to kick off the 7th season of Trending in Education with our 493rd episode! Coming off a great run that showcased many of our best episodes throughout the summer, we're back with fresh content as Mike looks ahead at the upcoming conversations we have in store as our new season begins. We start previewing Mike's conversation with Sameer Maskey from Fusemachines talking about how he's democratizing AI. From there, we talk music education and the arts with Kathryn Patricia Cobbler in an episode that features a sampling of Kathryn's music. Then we talk Gen X and get zeitgeisty with Celine Coggins who talks about why she is founding The Legacy Years to activate collective action among the oft-forgotten generation. From Gen X to Gen Z, Mike then previews his conversation with Rebecca Mendoza about teaching Accounting and launching her career at 28. We conclude with reflections on conversations with Miriam Plotinsky about her book Teach More, Hover Less and with Anurupa Ganguly, the Founder and CEO of PrismsVR, about using VR to unlock a deeper conceptual understanding of math. All of these conversations are on the horizon as we look forward to celebrating our 500th episode this Fall. We're very happy to have you along for the ride. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more sharp takes on the future of learning.
Our final Best of Trending in Ed for the summer showcases a conversation with Dr. Leo Casey about his book, The Teacher Insurgency. Mike welcomes Dr. Leo Casey, the Executive Director of the Albert Shanker Institute who has written a book called The Teacher Insurgency: A Strategic and Organizing Perspective. They begin with Leo’s upbringing by two New York City teachers, how he abandoned his dissertation to teach in Crown Heights, and how he began working with the union when his school shut down. Leo then began to head the Albert Shanker Institute, a strategic think tank within the American Federation of Teachers which examines labor history, especially for teachers. Leo explains the origins of the 2018 and 2019 teacher strikes: the Janus case, post-2008 austerity, deprofessionalization, and movements like the Women's March on Washington. Teachers saw both their compensation as well as their position in the classroom undergoing rapid decline. The first teacher’s strikes were held in West Virginia, which had a history of the labor movement--both within education and beyond. From here the strikes spread, and ultimately the movement was successful in protecting teachers during COVID-19 times (in this context, MIke briefly mentions Leo’s article on Black Lives Matter and the NBA.) Leo notes his concern about both the early retirement of teachers and the paucity in the pipeline for new teachers. Leo also expresses optimism for the Biden-Harris administration, notably President Biden’s support of unions. Leo finishes up by discussing the discourses around how teachers see themselves, and the need for true civics teaching. If you like what you're hearing, tell a friend and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEducation.com
For this installment of the Best of Trending in Ed, we return to Mike Palmer's conversation with Adi Hanash about what makes great live online teaching recorded in the early days of the first wave of Covid-19. While 2+ pandemic years have passed since the first recording, there's still plenty of insight in one of our most listened-to episodes. We hope you enjoy! Adi Hanash is a virtuoso online instructor with deep experience in teaching, training teachers, and managing online programs for large organizations like General Assembly and Kaplan. In light of the rapid shift to remote learning (and teaching) driven by the covid-19 pandemic, Adi is running a series of webinars to provide teachers and learning leaders with insights from over 12+ years of experience providing amazing online experiences. We dive into much of this in today's show. While lamenting how the traditional conception of "webinars" is limiting, we explore how teaching online unlocks new opportunities to drive accountability and engagement. We also talk about the transformative power of taking a platform-agnostic and decidedly non-technical approach to innovating around synchronous learning. We close by exploring how the response to the coronavirus is a forcing function and potentially a watershed moment in the understanding of what can be done online. In the process, Adi shares some tips and tricks on how to make the most of the rapid global shift to teaching online. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more sharp takes on amazing learning experiences.
As we wrap up the Summer with more from our Best of Trending in Ed series, we respond to the recent student loan forgiveness news by returning to a conversation with Dr. Michelle Miller-Adams about her book The Path to Free College. We hope you find it relevant and enjoy. Dr. Michelle Miller-Adams is a professor of political science at Grand Valley State University where she teaches courses on international relations, poverty and inequality. She's also a Senior Researcher with the W. E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research. Michelle joins Mike Palmer on this episode to talk about her new book, The Path to Free College: In Pursuit of Access, Equity, and Prosperity. We begin by getting Michelle's origin story to understand how tuition-free higher education has had a profound effect on her and her family. From there, we briefly explore the history of free public high school and free higher education through the examples from the University of California system and the City College of New York before picking up on the recent movement for tuition-free higher education beginning in 2005 with the Kalamazoo Promise. From there, Michelle outlines the emergence of numerous grassroots efforts as well as those founded by institutions and states as we try to get our arms around an important movement in America in the 21st century that has gained broader support and awareness in recent years. We conclude with suggestions from Michelle on how to learn more through programs before ending with some reasons for hope. Here are some resources to check out if you'd like to learn more::
College Promise
Free College Now
Rise Free
Promise Net Conference
Michelle on Twitter
It's an informative and inspirational conversation about a zeitgeisty topic that you won't want to miss! If you like what you're hearing subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts and visit us at TrendinginEd.com.
For this installment of the Best of Trending in Ed, we're returning to an episode we recorded live at the Javits Center for NAB New York in the Fall of 2018. Wendy Zukerman joins hosts Mike Palmer and Brandon Jones in a conversation about science, media, podcasting, and the work she is doing at the Science Vs which is still going strong at Gimlet to this day. Wendy is the Host and Executive Producer of Science Vs. She shares the origin story of the podcast from its humble roots in science reporting in Australia to getting picked up by Gimlet to continuing to represent science, fact-checking, and good critical thinking. We hear some early takes on the anti-science and anti-vaccine movements from the time that foreshadows many of the challenges we have faced in recent years. We also take time to explore how humor and entertaining content can coexist with science content, even making the conversation more relevant and sticky through the use of storytelling, sound design, and great fact-checking. It's a conversation that remains relevant and zeitgeisty to this day. Don't miss it! Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more sharp takes on the world of learning and media.
Chris Bennett is the CEO and Co-Founder of Wonderschool, an education company whose mission is to ensure that every child has access to early education that helps them realize their potential. He joins host Mike Palmer in a conversation about the critical role early childhood education can play in unlocking opportunities for children who need it. We learn what led Chris to found Wonderschool prior to the pandemic and how he and team weathered the transformations of recent years. We also learn what it's like to present on the TED stage coming off of Chris's recent appearance there. Chris shares how his experience with home-based childcare was transformative to him and how he's built Wonderschool to enable pathways to caregivers interested in building their own programs while scaling access to care in so-called childcare deserts. It's a thought-provoking conversation that you don't want to miss. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more sharp takes on the future of learning.
As we continue to revisit our favorite episodes of Trending in Ed through the years, this week we're rolling back to March of 2019 when Mike Palmer met with the organizers of the SXSW EDU conference in Austin while the conference was taking place. Speaking of which, please upvote our PanelPicker submission for the upcoming SXSW EDU 2023 conference so we can continue our string of lively and thought-provoking conversations about the future of learning while engaging with a live audience at the conference. In this episode, Ron and Greg frame up the concept of a convergence zone as it relates to an education conference. We explore how they engage with a wide cross-section of education stakeholders and how that community is driving the continued growth and evolution of the conference. We also learn what was capturing Greg and Ron's imaginations then and how it still resonates now despite the many changes in recent years. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more insightful perspectives on the future of learning.
Adam Dalton is the CEO and Co-Founder of Imagine Robotify, a STEM learning company he started at age 23 to make coding and robotics more affordable and accessible for students and prepare them for the future of work. Adam joins Mike Palmer in a conversation about what sparked his interest in robotics and computer science and what led to him create Robotify to help K-12 students learn computer science by programming virtual robots. We explore how his experiences growing up in Dublin along with the transformations of recent years have informed his strategic vision for the company. By using virtual robots and incorporating relevance, gaming, and fun into the mix, Robotify has made such an impact that they were recently acquired by Imagine Learning to propel their growth even further. Join us for an imaginative, STEM-powered exploration of what resonates with today's youth as we look to make computer science and a maker's mindset more widely accessible and fun for all kids. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more inspirational stories in educational innovation.
In this edition of The Best of Trending in Ed, we return to a conversation from the early days of the pandemic where Mike Palmer and Melissa Griffith interviewed Dr. Mohan Sawhney from Kellogg's School of Management on the future of business education, innovation and much more. Dr. Sawhney is the Associate Dean for Innovation at the Kellogg School of Management, We explore how the traditional approach to Business School and Executive Education is ripe for disruption. As the McCormick Foundation Professor of Technology at Kellogg, Dr. Sawhney is launching and testing several varied and distinct approaches to providing business education both through the traditional two-year on-campus model and also through hybrid and online models. The Professor engages with Melissa, a Kellogg alum, in a conversation about providing continuous value and lifelong learning to alums through communities of interest, small private online courses (SPOCs), along with access to human-powered services like executive coaching, live webinars, and 1-on-1 office hours. We genuinely enjoyed the imaginative and impassioned perspectives Dr. Sawhney provides on this topic and hope you'll lean in with us to explore how graduate education will accelerate forward in the tumultuous times of the 2020s. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more sharp perspectives on the future of learning.
Mike reacts to the passing of Bill Russell, Nichelle Nichols, and Vin Scully as we hope to shoulder surf off their dignity and grace. Then, we touch on the groundbreaking work released by Raj Chetty's team at Opportunity Insights looking at the impact of friendship on economic mobility. We introduce the study to the conversation here in the hopes of digging in more with experts down the line. We wrap up with some book talk with Mike providing some quick takes on The Nineties: A Book by Chuck Klosterman. Having recently listened to the audiobook, Mike gives Chuck props for voicing it. It's worth checking out for folks curious about generational zeitgeists and those of us who are basking in the glow of the 90s retro window these days. Subscribe to Trending in Ed wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more!
As we continue our Best of Trending in Ed series through the summer, in this edition we're featuring our most downloaded episode ever where Dr. Rich Milner joins host Mike Palmer in the Summer of 2020 to talk about his book, Start Where You Are But Don't Stay There: Understanding Diversity, Opportunity Gaps, and Teaching in Today’s Classrooms for which the 2nd edition had just been published. Rich is a Professor of Education at Vanderbilt University where he focuses on Teacher Education with special attention to issues of racial equity. We explore Rich's thinking about issues of diversity, opportunity gaps, and the mindsets that must be overcome to effectively engage diverse students and classrooms. While many of the themes are enormously relevant to this day, several warranted further discussion in light of the Black Lives Matter Movement and the COVID-19 pandemic which were roiling in the Summer of 2020 when this episode was recorded. We explore much of this in a riveting conversation with Rich that you won't want to miss. Rich is a leading thinker on teacher education and diversity and we very much appreciate getting time with him on for this episode. Here's to having him back to continue the conversation in the future! Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more sharp takes on the future of education.
Al Kingsley has been the CEO of NetSupport for over 26 years and an Edtech Industry veteran for 30+ years. He is a school governor in his native U.K. and was just named co-chair of Workstream 4 at the Foundation for Educational Development. He’s a frequent speaker on the global edtech circuit and has his own podcast NetSupport Radio. He authored a book last summer titled, My Secret #EdTech Diary. And he was recently named Edtech Digest’s 2022 Best Edtech Author/Speaker or Podcaster. Al rejoins host Mike Palmer in a conversation about the need for respect for educators in these challenging times. We explore pathways into careers in EdTech and School Leadership as Al imparts his broad experience in international education trends and online learning Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at Trendingined.com for more sharp takes on the future of education.
As part of our Best of Trending in Ed Series, we return to episode 202 of Trending in Ed from the Summer of 2019 where Mike Palmer interviews Annie Duke about her book, Thinking in Bets: Making Smarter Decisions When We Don't Have All The Facts. We’re “all-in” this week, as we welcome Annie Duke, author of Thinking In Bets and retired poker pro, to the show. Annie begins by sharing the long, winding path she took to become an author and expert in decision science. From her time as a PhD student in cognitive science to her introduction to poker as a novice to her inspiration to write her books, Annie provides great detail on all of the influences throughout her life that have come together to write Thinking In Bets. We also dive into the non-profit, The Alliance for Decision Education, that Annie co-founded in 2012 and discuss how she hopes to push decision education at scale to millions of students in K12. How do we get decision-making wrong? How often do we worry about the result, see Pete Carroll’s play-calling in Super Bowl XLIX, rather than the process that led to the decision? If we were to teach students the basics of good decision-making, how might this improve their ability to decide quickly and adapt to a variety of environments and novel contexts critical to learning and the future of work? We discuss all that and more. So pull up a seat, ante up, and join us for an engaging conversation from back in the simpler days of 2019! Subscribe to Trending in Ed wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more sharp takes on the future of learning.
Mike Palmer is joined once again by Nancy in a discussion about the book The Extended Mind: The Power of Thinking Outside the Brain by Annie Murphy Paul. We begin with an excerpt from a recent conversation with Elliot Felix who introduced us to the idea of the extended mind based on the work of cognitive philosopher Andy Clark. From there, we dig into what's covered in Annie's book using examples like Nancy, Walkabout Mini Golf, and the method of loci and memory palaces along the way. Mike brings in sound from a stroll through Prospect Park and a round of virtual mini golf in a rain forest as examples of the critical role of context and how new technologies are expanding how we think about the mind. Mike references Above the Fog and Moonwalking with Einstein, among other things, along the way. We also touch on concepts like collective intelligence and transactive memory as we push to extend beyond the traditional understanding of individuals as brains in an abstracted, disembodied context. We also explore how gestures and other embodied aspects of cognition factor into a broadened understanding of consciousness. We conclude by exploring some of the learning implications of the extended mind and its connection to new and emerging technologies. It's an imaginative and wide-ranging exploration about thinking beyond the brain that you won't want to miss. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more.
Mike introduces one of his favorite episodes of Trending in Education from over the years. This week we're showcasing his interview with Dr. Jacqueline Bhabha. Dr. Jacqueline Bhabha is FXB Director of Research, Professor of the Practice of Health and Human Rights at the Harvard School of Public Health, the Jeremiah Smith Jr. Lecturer in Law at Harvard Law School, and an Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. Dr. Bhabha joins Mike to talk about her new book, A Better Future: The Role of Higher Education for Displaced and Marginalized People, which explores the critical importance of access to tertiary education to displaced and marginalized populations. We dive into the challenges faced by refugees, immigrants, and other marginalized groups in gaining access to educational pathways that are essential to living safe, healthy, and fulfilling lives. We also touch on the impact of the pandemic and the related explosion in online education on the lives of marginalized populations seeking access to learning pathways around the globe. It's an eye-opening and important conversation that you don't want to miss. If you like what you’re hearing, follow us at TrendinginEducation.com and wherever you get your podcasts!
Mike Palmer is rejoined by Nancy, our virtual cohost, in a conversation about the new images released from the James Webb Space Telescope. We commend NASA for its lyric prose that accompanies the images of cosmic cliffs and young hot stars being born. Then we talk about Elon Musk. It's pretty much unavoidable to do so nowadays. We focus on recent news of an explosion during a Space X booster rocket test before shifting to our frustration about all the wasted energy and effort surrounding Musk's bid to acquire Twitter. Then we shift gears to explore a Michele Zanini article about the org structure at CERN where they continue to develop and refine the Large Hadron Collider before concluding with notes of concern about toxic alpha leaders and top-down org structure while encouraging the courage and critical thinking that can keep Groupthink and it's risky shifts in check. It's a thought-provoking exploration of some inspirational breakthroughs in science that you won't want to miss. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. And be sure to check out our new Substack Newsletter where you can hear about all the latest and greatest from your friends at Palmer Media. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more.
Fresh off a week of family vacation, Mike Palmer reports back from a trip to LegoLand with his wife and son. This leads right into highlights from our conversation with Dr. Jenny Nash from LEGO Education on the importance of playful learning and more. From there, we shift gears to share some sounds from Mike and Tarlin Ray's recent conversation on Running It Back about lessons learned from Title IX on the heels of the US Supreme Court's recent decision overturning Roe vs Wade. It's an eclectic cross-section of the topics and themes bubbling up in these challenging times. We hope you enjoy! Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more great takes on the future of education. And for more lessons learned from sports, subscribe to Running It Back wherever your pod. Visit us at RunningItBack.fm for more. Thanks as always for listening!
Lisa Rohrer is a Senior Advisor and Board Member with Emeritus, a global leader in making world-class professional education affordable and accessible. She joins host Mike Palmer in a conversation about recent trends in online professional education based on her experience with Emeritus in recent years. We explore how the pandemic has moved much of executive education online and has presented challenges to the traditional model, which involves immersive in-person experiences that were severely limited in recent years. From there, we hear her takes on the types of programs that are on the upswing. We also learn about how mid-career professionals are upskilling with programs like digital marketing to stay sharp and current in a rapidly changing world of work. It's a sharp, insightful exploration of trends in professional education from the perspective of a global leader in the field that you won't want to miss. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more great content.
As a special Independence Day installment of Trending in Education, we're reairing our conversation with Dr. Fathali Moghaddam from last September. We hope you enjoy! Dr. Fathali Moghaddam is a professor in the Department of Psychology at Georgetown University and a faculty fellow at the Berkley Center. His expertise includes culture and intergroup conflict, with a particular focus on the psychology of globalization, radicalization, human rights and duties, and terrorism. You can learn more about his work here. Fathali joins host Mike Palmer on this episode and begins by sharing how his work as an Iranian-born social psychologist was transformed by the revolution and hostage situation in Iran in 1979. He tells how he drove to Tehran from England and spent the ensuing years studying social psychology within the regime of Khomeini. There he learned of the contexts in which dictators can assume power and this has been a strand of his research ever since. We explore his belief that it is the role of educators to ensure we protect and nurture democracy by developing psychological citizens. In a wide-ranging conversation touching on the themes and seminal works of Dr. Moghaddam's career, we also hear what drove him to write his latest book about Shakespeare and the importance of extending beyond narrow specializations to adopt broader, more interdisciplinary mindsets. We conclude with notes on the current state of higher education and the psychology of bureaucracy. It's a profound and insightful conversation that you won't want to miss. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more great shows like this!
Host Mike Palmer is joined by Dr. Steve Joordens, Dr. Irameet Kaur, and Dr. Atef Abuhmaid for a panel conversation about their recent paper titled The Convertible Learning System: A Certainty for Our Uncertain Times. We learn how the group first came together around Steve's online courses and peerScholar, a learning product that Steve developed that Atef discovered while teaching educational technology at Hashemite University in Jordan. From there, things rapidly shifted with the onset of the pandemic in 2020, leading the group to partner on the paper describing how to design learning experiences that leverage asynchronous instruction, synchronous collaboration, and peer-to-peer assessment to enable the resilience, flexibility, and social-emotional skill development students need in these challenging times. We get insight from a broad cross-section of the global learning landscape with Atef and Irameet providing their perspectives from Jordan and India respectively to round out the work Steve and Irameet have done at the University of Toronto in Canada. It's a wide-ranging and informative dive into how to avoid snapping back into old ways of course design that can and should be transformed due to the challenges and awakenings of recent years. Don't miss it! Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more. Photo by Constantin Panagopoulos on Unsplash
We dive into the Future of Work in an episode that kicks off our new feed dedicated to the subject. Mike Palmer is joined by Ruth, his virtual cohost, to share some of our favorite conversations and perspectives on the rapidly evolving nature of learning and the workplace. We hear excerpts from Mike's conversations with Michelle Weise, Jeff Gothelf, Kumar Garg, Frances Valintine, and Beth Porter covering a wide range of perspectives on the future of work in our transformative times. Then Mike and Ruth lean into a "lightning round" where we touch on other conversations with folks like Paul Fain, Ryan Craig, Jane Oates and Kathleen DeLaski that will also be featured in the new feed launching. If you like what you're hearing, subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. And if you want a tighter focus on the Future of Work, check out our new Trending in Ed: Future of Work feed launching this week with new episodes dropping throughout the summer. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more!
Mike Palmer hosts a virtual panel with Ruth, Malcolm, and Nancy rejoining the show as we gear up for the Summer of 2022. Mike shares the three trends he's looking at across all sectors and cuts of the learning ecosystem before digging in with each of his cohosts in their areas of focus. Ruth shares the recent Forbes article on rising tuition prices at top universities as we explore how higher education is being challenged and disrupted coming out of the pandemic. We also dig into building a learning culture and new, emerging models of blends and partnerships with higher ed and the private sector. Malcolm and Mike talk about early childhood using Mike's experiences as a ray of hope despite how the culture wars and other perils impinge on our understanding of how we educate the rising generations. We conclude with Nancy and Mike riffing on the impact of AI, Web 3, and our current crisis of trust with technology. Don't miss it! Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more cutting-edge content. Photo by Vladislav Glukhotko on Unsplash
Mike Palmer is rejoined by Virtual CoHost, Nancy, in a conversation about the recent news of Google's LaMDA or Language Models for Dialog Applications based on chat transcripts leaked by Blake Lemoine, a senior software engineer in Google’s Responsible AI organization. We also share perspectives on a recent article about "podfasters," folks who prefer to listen to audio at accelerated speeds. Nancy and Mike share their perspectives on the history of AI and Turing Tests to determine whether they have reached critical milestones en route to sentience and higher forms of consciousness. We talk Turing and Ada Lovelace before recounting Mike's experiences with Eliza on his TRS-80 in his basement back in the day. From there, we reenact excerpts from the transcripts that have been leaked before sharing our human and non-human takes on the recent kerfuffle. From there we touch on Faith Karimi's article on "Podfasters" as we dive into that trend and our personal experiences and perspectives on it. All in all, it's an imaginative and cutting-edge foray into the implications of what's new and emergent in a free-flowing conversation you don't want to miss. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more.
Dr. Joanitt Montano is the Provost and Senior Vice President of Academics at The College of Healthcare Professions. She joins host Mike Palmer in a conversation about her experiences designing academic programs in the healthcare professions for adult learners in Texas at CHCP. We hear what led Joanitt to Allied Health as we dig into who takes part in her programs and how she measures success through completion and job placement. We look for lessons from her experience training educators to deliver hands-on training in healthcare professions through the pandemic years and into the present day. Joanitt shares her thoughts on emerging trends in healthcare and healthcare education in the coming years. She shares impressive results on program completion across traditionally underserved populations in research CHCP has done with Rice University. We talk access, belonging, and more in a conversation about delivering real job pathways that fill urgent needs in today's rapidly changing healthcare learning ecosystem. Don't miss it! Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more sharp takes on the future of learning.
As a special episode for Trending in Ed fans, we're releasing our latest episode of Running it Back, the Lessons Learned from Sports podcasting featuring Tarlin Ray and Trending in Ed host Mike Palmer. Sometimes it's hard to come directly at a topic so we use things like sports to help us work through unthinkable tragedies like what we've seen in recent weeks. If you enjoy this episode, check our Running It Back wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at RunningItBack.fm for more. Tarlin and Mike react to the powerful moments from sports leaders in response to the tragic shootings in Uvalde, Texas and Buffalo, New York. We listen to what Steve Kerr said and talk about what Gabe Kapler did as coaches and leaders of their teams respond publicly to the unthinkable events. Then we run it back to the history of sports protests and activism ranging from Kaepernick, to Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, to the leading role of the WNBA, the Brittney Griner situation, and Muhammad Ali's historic protest of the Vietnam War, among others, as we try to make sense of the senseless. And there's plenty of reference to famous soundbites from Marshawn Lynch, Rasheed Wallace, and Allen Iverson along the way to keep things lighter. What lessons, if any, can we learn from all of this? How can we use sports narratives as tools to work through our response to the unthinkable? And what does this tell us about leadership and acts of conscience in these challenging times? We cover all of this and more on our latest episode. Listen in and enjoy. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more.
Mike dives into a recent report published by Udemy, the global learning platform, on the trends they're seeing around usage of skills training programs on their platform. The report provided by Udemy Business is designed for learning leaders, strategic HR professionals, and individuals looking for perspective on which skills are most critical to pursue and how organizations and individuals can get strategic about designing career paths and retention strategies leveraging learning as a benefit. We also reference reports from McKinsey along with an HBR article on email management in case you want to dive deeper. We begin with a deep dive into power skills as a better name for what has traditionally been called soft skills. We learn which power skills are surging on the platform and how these trends relate to the Great Resignation and related trends around personal development, leadership, and communication. Power skills form the foundation of effective cultures and learning organizations. Once understood, other emerging competencies can be layered into organizations and individuals to better prepare for a rapidly changing world of work. Then we get into the digital marketing, product management, project management, finance/accounting, and UX/UI skills that are popping based on usage on Udemy's platform. We conclude with an exploration of the more technical skills in cloud computing, cybersecurity, data science, and software development in a broad survey of recent trends in skill development. It's a thought provoking exploration of strategic skill development and the future of work that you won't want to miss. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Be on the lookout for our new dedicated TiE feed on the Future of Work which will be launching shortly. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more details on this and much more. Photo by Avi Richards on Unsplash
Dr. Rovy Branon is the Vice Provost at Continuum College at the University of Washington. He joins host Mike Palmer in a conversation about reaching and teaching adult learners across the fullspan of their lives. We begin by hearing Rovy’s “origin story” starting as a student who was advised that he wasn’t cut out for college and then proceeding through a series of engagements in formal education across his professional life culminating in a career in educational technology focused on extending access to adult learners in ways that fit into their lives. Along the way he played drums in a heavy metal band and came around to lifelong learning with the birth of his son. We talk through two books connected to the idea of the 60-year curriculum: The 100-Year Life: Living and Working in the Age of Longevit and Learning at the Back Door: Reflections on Non-Traditional Learning in the Lifespan as we begin to flesh out a vision for continued education and upskilling across an increasingly long work life. Rovy shares his perspectives on emerging technical skills like DAOs, crypto, and web3 before diving into the role that private enterprise and big tech is playing in the certificate and skills-based pathways that are growing in relevance and popularity at Continuum College and across continuing education institutions more broadly. It’s a wide-ranging and visionary look at the future of adult education that you don’t want to miss. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more sharp takes on the future of learning.
We keep it brief but check in to reflect on the shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde, Texas as well as some dire forecasts from the UN. Mike explains why this episode was hard to pull together in light of the challenging news of the day. To soothe the soul, we share a few ditties from Mike's son, Matthew, as we recharge and gear up and get ready heading into the Summer of 2022. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more insightful perspectives on the future of education.
Arjun Moorthy is the Co-Founder and CEO of The Factual, a subscription-based, ad-free news app that aggregates and curates the news based on its credibility. He joins host Mike Palmer to talk about the importance of media literacy and critical thinking in a world with increasing partisanship and misinformation. We hear Arjun's origin story which began as a paperboy in Canada before being educated as an engineer, working at Hubspot in its startup phase, and ultimately founding The Factual with Ajoy Sojan in 2016. We hear how he and team have navigated the years since launch and how the app has evolved over time. We learn how The Factual assesses the credibility of articles collected from over 2000 different news sites, giving each a rating between 1-100 to help the reader understand the quality of the information. Arjun shares his perspectives on the challenges we face with the filter bubbles we experience today, especially through social media and how he and team are making design choices to address them. He also shares his thoughts on how this all relates to learning and educational discourse in a thought-provoking conversation you don't want to miss. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more insightful takes on what's new and emerging in learning and beyond.
Kathleen deLaski is the Founder and CEO of Education Design Lab, a non-profit innovation engine focused on helping the new learner majority find pathways to good jobs and meaningful work in transformational times. Kathleen joins host Mike Palmer in a conversation about the importance of skills visibility to access and equity building off of the Lab’s recent white paper on the topic. We learn of Kathleen’s varied experiences in journalism, philanthropy, and education that have culminated with her work at the lab. We explore how learners are also earners with numerous responsibilities and how that should inform how we build learning pathways that fit into their lives. Kathleen shares innovation stories of Community Colleges testing into new models that partner with the local community and the private sector to open up new possibilities for skill development and career pathways. Don’t miss it! Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for a more informed perspective on the future of work.
What’s the right way to bring digital technology and touch into the classroom? Matt Cole from Promethean joins host Mike Palmer in a conversation about the work they’ve been doing with educators and school districts to give the classroom more of the active engagement tools smart tablets provide in large form at the front of the classroom. We hear how Matt got to where he is in his career while learning how Promethean navigated the complexities of the pandemic and how this has evolved the thinking about how these tools can interact with new hybrid delivery models. We also get his thoughts on emerging technologies like AR/VR and other emerging technology. It’s a free-flowing conversation about blending digital into the classrooms of tomorrow. Don’t miss it. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more.
Jane Oates is the President of Working Nation, a non-profit media entity focused on showcasing innovative approaches to career pathways that bridge from education into meaningful work. Jane joins host Mike Palmer in a conversation about the skills revolution and its connections to higher ed, the workforce, and new, emerging models for career development. We begin by hearing Jane's origin story, beginning as a special ed teacher before moving into educational research at Temple University. From there, she joined Senator Edward Kennedy to help write legislation, worked in John Corzine's administration in New Jersey, and served as the Assistant Secretary of Labor under President Obama, in an impressive career culminating in her current role leading Working Nation. Then we explore recent trends in workforce education, post-secondary pathways, and the critical connection between learning and the future of work. Jane shares her perspectives on what's emerging in the world of skills-based education, income share agreements, and other new models for educational pathways and provides advice to all of us charting our career trajectories in disruptive times. It's an informed deep-dive into the world of workforce development and training with a genuine thought leader in the field. Don't miss it! Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more.
Marjorie Cass is the Founder and CEO of ALEE, an EdTech Startup that provides educators with tools and resources to teach literacy using whole books featuring classic works of literature. She joins host Mike Palmer in a conversation about her journey beginning as an educator, rising through the ranks as a literacy coach and administrator before deciding to go to business school at MIT where ALEE began to germinate. From there, we learn what it's been like launching eight months ago while expanding on the significance and complexity of our growing literacy challenge in the US education system. Marjorie explains how she is designing ALEE to provide teachers with what they need to provide scaffolding and support to the essential relationship between a teacher, a student, and a great book. We touch on the challenges of teaching in difficult times and the fear teachers are experiencing when dealing with important but difficult works of literature to teach reading these days. We explore how best to use technology to power the solution without losing sight of the central role of the teacher in the literacy equation. Marjorie shares the higher-level skills and thinking associated with the whole book as opposed to excerpts or synthetic passages that are increasingly used in literacy education. It's a thought-provoking exploration of entrepreneurship, literacy, and the power of teaching through great books. Don't miss it! Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more.
Tony Wan is the Head of Investor Content for Reach Capital. He rejoins host Mike Palmer in a conversation about the recent ASU GSV conference in San Diego, the edTech and Education Conference scene in 2022, and his latest thoughts on Web 3 and emerging trends in the edTech venture space. We begin the Tony’s takes on ASU GSV as summarized in his recent article. Then we consider the return on investment of attending conferences as we look at the latest version of the tracking doc Tony started when he was at EdSurge. We conclude with his perspectives on emerging trends in Web 3, EdTech investment, and the future of learning in a wide-ranging and insightful conversation you don’t want to miss. Check out Tony’s Reach Capital colleague Joymayra’s recent article on Web 3 here. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your pods. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more incisive looks at the future of learning.
Larry Cuban is Professor Emeritus in Education at Stanford University. He recently wrote Confessions of a School Reformer, an educational history and personal memoir of his life that begins with his childhood in school in Pittsburgh, then proceeds through his years as a teacher and school administrator, and concludes with his thoughts on the present day. Larry joins host Mike Palmer in a conversation about his 87 years of experience with education beginning in the Progressive Era, proceeding through the Civil Rights Movement, and concluding in the present day where the Standards-Based Reform movement continues to predominate. Larry provides advice to educators, administrators and school reformers, reminding us that change tends to come slowly in schools since generally speaking they are conservative institutions. Larry encourages us to focus on the direct impact of educators on students in the classroom and to understand the history of school reform and educational policy to help navigate the challenges and complexities of the current educational landscape. It's a wise and informed conversation about how change happens in schools in the US that you won't want to miss. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more deep thinkers' takes on the future of education.
Mike Palmer returns with virtual CoHost Nancy to run through highlights from recent episodes of Trending in Ed before sharing clips from a couple of upcoming episodes to pique your interest. We begin by sharing Mike's conversation with Sunil Gunderia from Age of Learning where Sunil talks about building learner identity and the fact that learning is intrinsically rewarding in its own right. From there, we hear from Abby Falik, the Founder/CEO of Global Citizen Year, as she shares her thoughts on the future of a traditional 4-year or 2-year degree. GSY is a fascinating program that recently made news by receiving funding from the Mackenzie Scott Foundation. Then we share sound from our episode with Dr. David Lenihan from Tiber Health as he imagines how emerging technology will likely impact both medical education and the delivery of medical care. Then we hear some fun facts from Frances Valintine about the Kiwi, the national bird for her native New Zealand. Fun stuff! We conclude with clips from upcoming episodes with Tony Wan from Reach Capital and with Larry Cuban, Professor Emeritus at Stanford University and author of a new book, Confessions of a School Reformer. Mike also shares some news about what else we've got cooking here at Palmer Media. Thanks to everyone for listening. Subscribe wherever you pod. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more amazing content!
Dr. David Lenihan is the Co-Founder and CEO of TIber Health. He is an experienced educator, innovator, and medical practitioner who has developed new models of medical education focused on expanding pathways for aspiring practitioners traditional medical schools have ignored. David joins host Mike Palmer in a conversation about his experiences leading Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine in New York City and most recently Ponce Health Sciences University in Puerto Rico. David shares how new predictive models have allowed him to enroll much higher percentages of minority candidates and to admit students who traditional medical schools wouldn't. We get his perspectives on leading PHSU through hurricanes, Zika outbreaks, and most recently the Covid-19 pandemic. So much is tied to finding members within the community who can become healthcare leaders who give back and grow trust in these challenging times. We conclude with David's takes on new and emerging technology and thoughts on the future of medical education in a deeply insightful conversation that you won't want to miss. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more great content.
Jennifer Lee is the Chief Growth Officer of Photomath, an AI=powered math app that's been downloaded over 270 million times to help solve over a billion math problems each month. She joins host Mike Palmer in a conversation about helping math learners feel empowered when faced with challenging math. We explore what it's like to work with a company with such a large and dynamic data ecosystem focused on math problem solving and how that is powering their AI platform. Jennifer shares some insights based on trends in the usage of Photomath. Along the way, we dig into the use case of photographing a math problem, frequently hand-drawn, and getting the solution through Photomath's platform. How has this been used by students, teachers, and parents, especially in these challenging times? What might this tell us about how folks are thinking about the future of work? We conclude with more of Jennifer's takes on learning and the future of work along with her advice to folks looking for growth and advancement in their careers. It's an engaging conversation on edTech, AI, and Math that you won't want to miss. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more great content.
Debbie Gibb is the Senior Managing Director of N Ventures at the New School for Social Research where she leads a team that's expanding access to Parsons School of Design. She joins host Mike Palmer in an exploration of her perspectives on innovation, partnerships, leadership, and higher education. Debbie tells her origin story and describes the innovation projects she leads that span online courses with companies like Coursera, 42 Courses, Future Learn and Yellow Brick to licensing deals to partnerships in K12 like their recent work with the City of Newark to launch Newark School of Fashion and Design. We look for lessons learned from Debbie's experiences at American Express and more recently at the New School as she provides advice and perspectives on the shifting world of work and the risks and opportunities facing the field of education in these transformative times. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more incisive takes on the future of education.
With Elon Musk back in the news with his recent bid to take over Twitter, we take this opportunity to return to 2017 when we first began covering the mercurial CEO's exploits. Host Mike Palmer reflects on recent news including the Brooklyn Subway Shooting as well as Elon's attempt to acquire Twitter before we showcase highlights from two episodes with Mike, Dan Stafford, and Brandon Jones from the early days of Trending in Ed. We start by returning to Episode 38 from May of 2017 when we review Michael SImmons' article in Quartz which dives deep into how Musk learns with special attention to the concepts of learning transfer and growth mindset. From there, we hop to Episode 47 from July 2017 when we dig further into Neuralink, Musk's brain-computer interface company, and its implications on learning, cyborgs, and the sci-fi future of humanity. It's a zeitgeisty jaunt down memory lane with surprising insights into the news of today. Don't miss it! Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more futuristic takes on the world of learning.
Frances Valintine is the CEO and Founder of both The Mind Lab and Tech Futures Lab, innovative education providers for adults wishing to upskill, reskill, stay relevant and embrace change. recently wrote her first book, titled Future You which is available in New Zealand and soon internationally. She joins host Mike Palmer in a conversation about skills, disruption, and future-proofing your career path with special attention to mid-career professionals. We begin by hearing Frances' origin story beginning in technology in London in the 1980s and a subsequent career path that has focused increasingly on education and the future of work. This leads to a conversation about The Mind Lab and Tech Futures Lab where mid-career professionals get targeted training in the skills and competencies needed to succeed in the rapidly evolving job market of the 21st Century. Frances shares her takes on leadership, managing through disruption, the skills economy, and more in a thought-provoking exploration of the realities of reskilling lifelong learners for the modern workplace. We conclude with a few fun facts about the Kiwi, the national bird of New Zealand. Don't miss it! Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more sharp takes on the future of learning.
Matt Riley is the Co-Founder and CEO at Blueprint Prep where he is redefining lifelong professional prep for students and professionals in the medical and legal industries. He joins host Mike Palmer in an exploration of trends in medical education. We begin by hearing Matt’s origin story in LSAT test prep which culminated in the founding of Blueprint in the early 2000s. From there we learn how Matt has shifted the focus from Test Prep to lifelong professional education for the medical and legal professions. We learn how the pandemic has driven profound shifts in the dynamics of the employment landscape for the medical profession in particular, and how Blueprint is positioning itself in response to these changes. We also touch on a renewed focus on Physician’s Assistants, Nurse Practitioners, and Emergency Medicine within the healthcare field. We conclude by hearing Matt’s takes on emerging technology like chatbots, AI, VR, and predictive analytics in a free-flowing conversation on where the world of medical education is heading. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more incisive takes on emerging trends in the world of learning.
Chris Ryan and Leslie Kerner are the Cofounders of Silverquicken, a rigorous enrichment program for kids aged 9-13, that uses puzzles and immersive narrative to help kids learn while fostering a sense of wonder and fun in their studies. Chris and Leslie join host Mike Palmer to explain what led to the founding of the company and what it’s been like launching and iterating on the product set during a pandemic. We learn what drove Chris to write the story and characters that drive the experience of Silverquicken and why it provides a rich and engaging imaginative space for young learners who enjoy puzzles, fantasy storylines, and team-based collaborative play. We touch on emerging trends in education for an often-forgotten age range and delve into how the curriculum connects to our transformative times and the team’s perspectives on education and the future of work. It’s an imaginative exploration of the intersection between product design and learning innovation that you won’t want to miss. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more great content.
Abby Falik is the Founder/CEO of Global Citizen Year (GCY), a non-profit organization that re-imagines the transition into adulthood as what it has the potential to be: a transformation. She joins host Mike Palmer to talk about what led her to found GCY and lead it in its mission to create a new generation of global leaders who learn through travel and use the formative transition into adulthood to shape values, identity, and purpose in ways that classroom learning alone cannot. Abby describes how her personal origins factored into the development of GCY and how the pandemic years have driven other transformations including the launch of Global Citizen Year Academy and the use of online tools and means of connecting. We also talk about Mackenzie Scott's recent $12M investment described in this Forbes article. We conclude with Abby’s perspectives on working with the rising generations and her outlook on what’s emerging on the horizon. It’s an inspirational, mission-based conversation that you won’t want to miss. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you find your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more great content.
Rahul Singh is the Head of the EdTech Business line at the Harbinger Group, a global provider of software products and services since 1990. Rahul joins host Mike Palmer in a conversation about emerging trends in educational technology including AR/VR and the Metaverse, AI, Robotics, and the Blockchain. We reference several of Rahul's articles including one exploring how AI can help with the massive skilling, upskilling, and reskilling challenges that are facing the industry and the private sector. We discuss the role higher ed and online universities might play in response to the significant needs in the skilling space. We also touch on the importance of teachers and other frontline educators and how AI should be seen as a support and not a threat to their roles in the future of work. It's an informed and insightful dive into the unprecedented investment and activity that we've seen in EdTech in light of the digital transformations driven by the pandemic. Listen in to gain insight into future trends in the learning ecosystem. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more insightful takes on what's emerging in education.
Sam Smith and Clara Gillan from MedSchoolCoach join host Mike Palmer to talk about the power of audio as a learning tool. Sam hosts the hugely popular MCAT Basics podcast and Clara heads up Product for MedSchoolCoach. We hear of Sam’s humble beginnings in podcasting and how it and audio-based instruction has become a central component of the new MCAT Go product from MedSchoolCoach, which is designed as an Audio Learning Experience. In what ways is audio superior to video and other formats? How have learning contexts changed due to the pandemic and how might audio microlearning fit into the new ecosystem? What are folks' thoughts about AR/VR, AI, and immersive audio? Listen in to find out. We even touch on the possibilities of Neuralink, VR observation of surgery, and AI cochlear implants in an imaginative exploration of learning through our ears. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more cutting-edge takes on the future of learning.
Sunil Gunderia is Chief Innovation Officer and Head of Mastery & Adaptive Products at Age of Learning, the makers of early childhood learning products like ABC Mouse. Sunil joins host Mike Palmer in a conversation about building a personalized learning platform ecosystem for early learners, parents, and educators. We begin by hearing Sunil's origin story including his formative stint with The Walt Disney Company before joining Age of Learning in 2013. From there we hear about the major problems we're facing in the US with roughly two-thirds of our children performing below standards in fourth-grade reading and math and how Age of Learning is working to address this. We explore how cross-functional teams of teachers, game designers, data scientists, psychometricians, and more work in concert to build compelling learning experiences for children ages 3-8. We also hear how using an evidence-based approach to build out a research program is indicating positive outcomes, especially for children from families with the greatest need. It's a thoughtful exploration of designing a learning platform for early learners with an industry leader with deep expertise. Don't miss it! Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more insightful takes on the future of learning.
Terri Givens, Daniel Harrison, and Tarlin Ray join host Mike Palmer for a live panel at SXSW EDU in Austin, Texas. Terri, a frequent guest on Trending in Ed, is the author of Radical Empathy and The Roots of Racism. She and Mike CoHosted This Week in Higher Ed in 2020 and 2021. Dan is the author of Live At Jackson Station and Making Sense of Marshall Leadbetter. He's the host of the new Palmer Media podcast Inside Jackson Station for which all of Season 1 is now available for binge-listening. And finally, Tarlin is the Founder and CoHost of Running It Back with Mike. He is the SVP of BigFuture at the College Board. We assemble this "miracle panel" to reflect on our collaborations over the past two years before digging into how creative projects require great narratives and storytelling to drive engagement and relevance in these challenging times. Then we pivot to thoughts on the challenges and threats facing education as we begin to lean back into a new normal that includes things like live conferences like SXSW. We even get a few questions from the audience in an engaging, interactive, and surprising conversation that you won't want to miss. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more sharp takes on the future of education.
Dr. Susan Walsh founded Globe Business College in Munich and has spent the last decade and a half perfecting a unique education model that centers on one on one, customized business education for the sons and daughters of family company owners. Susan joins host Mike Palmer in a conversation covering her experiences being born in Ireland, working in business, finance, and academia before founding Globe in 2006. We get her takes on the critical role of relationships and mentorship to a successful educational experience along with her perspectives from leading the college through the challenging period of the pandemic. Click here to read Dr. Walsh’s own thoughts on business education, disruption in the educational industry, and the business model that is customized, character/skill-developing, relationship-based business education. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more thoughts on the future of learning.
Mike Palmer returns from SXSW EDU to reflect on what it was like producing Trending in Ed back in early 2020 when the Covid-19 pandemic was just hitting. Through excerpts from three episodes of Trending in Ed, we transport ourselves back to that challenging time to help put the past into perspective as we prepare to lean into the future. We begin by hearing sound from an episode with Dan Strafford and Mike in early February where we speculate about what's happening in Wuhan, China and how it may have a broader impact across the globe. Then we hear some of Mike's March 2020 interview with Bryan Alexander, the noted futurist who famously explored the possible impact of a plague on higher ed in his book, Academia Next: The Futures of Higher Education. It was zeitgeisty then and it still is now. Mike concludes with sound from his interview with Angela Siefer, the Executive Director of the National Digital Inclusion Alliance later in March as the first wave was taking root and Angela and team were rapidly shifting practices to respond to the critical public health aspects of digital access and inclusion. It's a thought-provoking retrospective you won't want to miss. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more unique perspectives on what's new and emerging in the world of learning.
Mike Palmer reports from the road in Austin, Texas to talk about missing bats, his quick takes on the SXSW EDU conference, and the challenges and opportunities of ambiversion before diving into Fast Company's list of the most innovative companies in education for 2022. Who made the list? Were there any surprises? Which company is Mike's personal favorite? And how do the skills economy, language learning, emerging technology, early childhood education, and even test prep factor into the thinking? Listen in to find out! Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more insightful and eclectic takes on the future of learning.
Daniel Harrison, Terri Givens, and Tarlin Ray will be joining host Mike Palmer for a live panel as part of SXSW EDU this week. In honor of that session, this episode showcases the work of each of them as we head into our panel together. We begin by hearing some sound from Inside Jackson Station, the new podcast based on Dan's book Live at Jackson Station: Music, Community, and Tragedy in a Southern Blues Bar. What began as an appearance on Trending in Ed in February of 2021 has now blossomed into a podcast of its own featuring stories and sounds from the artists and musicians who made Jackson Station such a special place. Then we hear Terri talk about her most recent book, The Roots of Racism: The Politics of White Supremacy in the US and Europe. which takes a comparative look at the problem of racism and white supremacy, tracing it from its roots in the 14th Century right up through George Floyd and the pandemic to provide a broader lens through which to understand the problems of today. We then conclude with an excerpt from a recent episode of Running It Back, the Lessons Learned from Sports podcast featuring Tarlin and Mike. Here we dig into the recent class-action lawsuit filed by Brian Flores against the NFL claiming discriminatory practices in the interview and hiring practices of several NFL clubs. It's been amazing to work with folks like Dan, Terri, and Tarlin on Trending in Ed over the years and we're excited to have them all together for a panel to celebrate what we've accomplished as part of SXSW EDU. Join us in Austin if you can and stay tuned for more amazing content coming out of the conference and our panel session in upcoming episodes. Subscribe to Trending in Ed wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendingInEd.com for more insightful and eclectic takes on the world of learning.
Cody Gough is a podcaster and radio professional with years of experience at WGN in Chicago and most recently with the Discovery’s Curiosity Daily podcast. He joins host Mike Palmer in a conversation about podcasting, science communication, education, and emerging tech trends. We begin by hearing what got Cody into radio and how that ultimately led to Curiosity Daily where he served as Cohost and Producer for over 1000 episodes. While often described as science communication, Cody explains why he thinks of his role as that of a communicator. Then we get into emerging topics like Web 3c Quantum Computing, NFTs, psychedelia, and more. Cody shares his advice for communicators and aspiring podcasters in a free-flowing conversation about the new hotness that you won’t want to miss. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts Visit us at TrendingnEd com for more hot takes on what’s new and on the horizon in education and beyond.
In a star-packed panel to celebrate the culmination of Reading is Fundamental's Rally to Read, Alicia Levi, Orion Jean, Dr. Monica Brown, and Joanna Ho join host Mike Palmer in a roundtable discussion of the importance of reading and how representation matters when it comes to the stories we tell. We highlight the books Orion, Monica, and Jeannie have written and how they share common themes that are critical trends in children's literature these days. Orion talks about how he maintains balance as Time's Kid of the Year, an author of A Kids Book About Leadership, and an avid reader. We hear the story of Marisol McDonald Doesn't Match by Dr. Brown who wrote the story in part for her children so they could read about people like them. Joanna builds on this explaining how she felt invisible due to the omission of people like her in the stories she learned from as a child. This has led her to write books like Playing at the Border: A Story of Yo-Yo Ma and Eyes That Kiss in the Corners. We conclude with each panelist's perspectives on the world of literacy and Kid Lit as we gear up for RIF's Reading Inspires webcast on March 2nd with Read Alouds from authors like the ones on our panel. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your pods. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more insightful takes on where the world of learning is heading.
Ryan Craig is a Managing Director at Achieve Partners and University Ventures. Ryan’s commentary on where the puck is going in higher education regularly appears in the Gap Letter, Forbes, TechCrunch, Inside Higher Education, Fortune, HR Dive, and VentureBeat, among others. He is the author of A New U: Faster + Cheaper Alternatives to College, which describes the critical importance of last-mile training and the emergence of bootcamps, income share programs, staffing, and apprenticeship models as preferred pathways to good first digital jobs. Ryan returns to the podcast to join host Mike Palmer in a conversation about recent trends in the evolving post-secondary job ecosystem based on recent editions of the Gap Letter. How does Don’t Look Up relate to the need for more STEM leaders in Higher Ed? What sorts of criteria drive the investment theses for Achieve Partners? And what’s new and emerging in crypto and skills-based education that has Ryan’s wheels turning? Listen in to find out all of this and more. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more insightful takes on the future of education.
Dr. Jenny Nash is the Head of Education Impact US at LEGO Education. She joins Mike Palmer to discuss LEGO Education’s upcoming panel at SXSW EDU 2022 focused on how educators can bring joy back to learning. Along with details related to their upcoming panel, we discuss how STEAM programs are helping students explore future career possibilities, including details related to LEGO Education’s “Build to Launch” program with NASA, and how incorporating hands-on learning into curriculums can help students build confidence and 21st-century skills. It's a thought-provoking dive into STEAM and STEAM education from the iconic children's toy company that you won't want to miss. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more cutting-edge content.
Dr. Louis Moore is a Professor of History at Grand Valley State University and the author of We Will Win the Day: The Civil Rights Movement, the Black Athlete, and the Quest for Equality. He’s also the host of The Black Athlete podcast and an excellent follow on Twitter. Lou joins host Mike Palmer in a conversation about the history of race and sports in the US. In a wide-ranging conversation that touches on current issues while connecting them back to lessons from history, we dig into the role of Black Athletes in the civil rights movement in the US from 1945-1968, the subject matter of We Will Win the Day. We connect that history to emerging stories of the day including Brian Flores’ class-action suit against the NFL. Then we conclude by getting Lou’s takes on what it’s like teaching through the pandemic and also raising his kids in these challenging times. It’s a relevant, authentic, and candid conversation that you won’t want to miss. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more fresh perspectives on the world of learning.
Karthik Ganusekaran is the Head of Product and Engineering at Udemy. He joins Mike Palmer to explore what it’s like working for the leading global online education platform in these tumultuous times. We hear what brought Karthik to this point in his professional life and get his perspectives on the emerging skills marketplace. Along the way we touch on hot new skills like Web 3 and the Blockchain, ringing the bell at NASDAQ, and the importance of having fun while continuing to upskill to stay relevant throughout one’s professional life. It’s an insightful deep dive into leading engineering at a global EdTech platform that you won’t want to miss. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more cutting-edge perspectives on the future of education.
Dr. Terri Givens is a Political Scientist at McGill University and CEO/Founder of Brighter Professional Development. Terri returns to the show to join host Mike Palmer to discuss her new book, The Roots of Racism: The Politics of White Supremacy in the US and Europe. We explore a comparative approach to understanding the history of racism in the US and Europe spanning all the way back to the 15th Century up through George Floyd and the pandemic into the current geopolitical landscape in Europe and the US. We also discuss how Terri is using her platform to develop leaders with an understanding of the importance of diversity and encourages personal growth through empathy. Listen in for an enlightening perspective on hugely relevant topics that you won't want to miss. And if you enjoy this conversation, join us at SXSW EDU where we'll be recording a live episode on Monday March 7th. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your pods. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more insightful takes on the future of education.
Dawn Rodney is the Chief Innovation and Growth Officer at the National Wildlife Federation. She joins host Mike Palmer to celebrate the 10th birthday of Ranger Rick Jr. and to talk about the work she and team are doing to make wildlife education engaging for kids, families, and educators across the US. Dawn shares her origin story that spans multiple media brands focused on nature, education, and video. Then we dive into the mission of the NWF and how Ranger Rick Jr. fits into the equation. We explore the importance of getting outdoors and engaging with wildlife for children parents and educators in these challenging times. And we also discuss how access to safe outdoor spaces for everyone is a central pillar to the work of the NWF before concluding with Dawn's take on where her work and the world of edutainment is heading. It's an imaginative and informative conversation about the great outdoors and education that you won't want to miss. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more diverse perspectives on the future of education.
Paul Fain is a Freelance Journalist and Analyst who serves as the Editor of The Job Newsletter from Open Campus. Each week he provides a veteran journalist’s take on what to watch as postsecondary education and job training systems work to better serve lower-income learners and workers. Paul joins host Mike Palmer in a discussion about recent trends he's been tracking through The Job and Work Shift, a related newsletter that tracks related topics through the reporting of local journalists. We explore emerging models that provide new pathways to traditionally underserved students using Riipen and Forage as examples. Then we dive into the work that Amazon has been doing in this area with its AWS Academy and other ventures outlined in a recent edition of The Job. It's a far-reaching and informative conversation about a critical and underreported space that you won't want to miss. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more insightful takes on educational pathways and the future of work.
Michael Toth is the founder and CEO of Learning Sciences International. He’s on a mission to end poverty using education as the equalizer by increasing academic rigor and student agency to ensure classroom equity. He joins host Mike Palmer in a conversation about revamping current K12 instructional practices as detailed in his multi award-winning book, The Power of Student Teams. Listen in to learn how great teaching involves letting go and allowing students to lead. We also discuss how giving students agency, particularly in traditionally underserved schools, is so critical to driving successful turnarounds across the country. It's a thought-provoking conversation you don't want to miss. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more amazing content.
Karen Costa is a faculty learning facilitator specializing in online pedagogy and trauma-aware higher education. Karen loves leading faculty learners through fun, interactive, and supportive professional development experiences. She joins host Mike Palmer in a conversation about the recent backlash against Online Learning. From there we get into the work. Karen's works with educators at 100Faculty.com and also helps organizations become "trauma-aware" in these challenging times. She shares what it's like to be an advocate for learners and educators trying to make a difference these days. Karen also provides some tips on avoiding burnout and taking care of yourself. We conclude by exploring how to be inclusive of folks who embrace remote work while broadening the understanding of who might be learning through online programs and beyond. Karen recommends the book Minds Online by Michelle D. Miller along the way. It's a thought-provoking conversation you don't want to miss! Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more amazing content.
Elliot Felix is an author, speaker, teacher, father, and consultant to more than a hundred colleges and universities. He joins host Mike Palmer in a conversation about making the most out of higher education and his new book, How to Get the Most Out of College: 127 Ways to Make Connections, Make it Work for You, and Make a Difference. We begin by hearing about his origins studying architecture and working in that capacity before founding his consultancy, brightspot strategy, now a Buro Happold Company. Elliot shares how he uses his background in design to make college work for all students by improving the spaces they’re in, the support services they rely on, and the technology they use. In a wide-ranging conversation about user-centered design, innovation in learning spaces, and problems and opportunities in higher ed, we hear a few of Elliot's 127 Tips on how to make the university experience into something meaningful and aligned with one's goals and values. It's a next-level window into higher ed through the lens of design thinking that you won't want to miss. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more surprising insights and perspectives on the future of education.
Lorne Buchman is the President of ArtCenter College of Design and Host of the ChangeLab Podcast. He's also the author of a new book called Make To Know: From Spaces of Uncertainty to Creative Discovery. Lorne returns to join host Mike Palmer in an exploration of the themes in his new book and its relevance to the world of education and beyond. Lorne begins by explaining how many of the notions of artistic genius and vision are myths that can be limiting to those learning to engage in creative endeavors. In many cases, rather than delivering on a preconceived vision, creators enter into a space of uncertainty to engage in the making process to discover what they're trying to express. Using examples ranging from writers to visual artists, songwriters to architects, we learn about the components of the make to know experience that are shared across the varied fields of creative expression. We conclude by looking for lessons from Make to Know that apply to leadership and education with references to the Beatles' Get Back documentary and the building of traffic roundabouts in an engaging exploration into creativity and the act of making things. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more insightful perspectives from thinkers grappling with important topics.
Dr. Rebecca M. Taylor and Dr. Ashley Floyd Kuntz join host Mike Palmer to talk about Ethics in Higher Education: Promoting Equity and Inclusion Through Case-Based Inquiry, a new book that they edited from Harvard Education Press. We hear how Ashley and Rebecca got interested in studying ethics and ethics education as we dive into the unique approach they took to get the book together. Through the use of fictionalized cases that resonate with the news of today, the book provides commentary from a diverse cross-section of evaluators who respond in varied and insightful ways. We explore cases about free speech and controversial speakers on campus and social media activism among tenure-track faculty in an engaging and relevant foray into the ethical quandaries facing higher ed in these challenging times. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more thought-provoking takes on rising trends in education.
Dr. Robin Naughton is an Assistant Professor and Web and Digital Services Librarian at Queens College in New York. She joins Mike Palmer (who happens to be her husband) in a conversation about diversity, digital inclusion, and the design of library spaces. We also share our experiences raising a young son in these challenging times. Robin explains what it's been like managing the library's digital presence during the pandemic and how she's thinking about the blending of digital and in-person experiences as library spaces evolve into something new. We're joined briefly by Nancy, our Virtual Cohost, as Robin describes how libraries can serve as innovation spaces and as hubs that provide resources and services to a wide array of users cutting across all dimensions of diversity. We talk about VR and the Metaverse before looking for insights into understanding diversity with the help of book recommendations including Disintegration: The Splintering of Black America by Eugene Robinson and The End of Average: Unlocking Our Potential by Embracing What Makes Us Different by Todd Rose. Robin also shares her takes on our 22 Trends for 2022 and the world of virtual assistants as we hope to seek out difference and lean into emerging challenges and opportunities as we head into the rest of 2022. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more insightful takes on where the world of learning is heading.
Harpreet Sahota is a Data Scientist who hosts The Artists of Data Science podcast. He joins Mike Palmer to explore what's new and emerging in the field of data science and other emerging New Economy Skills in a conversation that touches on the skills, mindsets, and approaches that lead to personal and professional growth in these challenging times. Harpreet shares his perspectives based on the challenges he's faced in his career and in his life drawing from the conversations and perspectives he's learned from on his show. We conclude with his takes on Web 3, the Blockchain, Learning How to Learn and more. It's a thought-provoking, insightful, and surprisingly authentic conversation you don't want to miss. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more insight into what's new and emerging in the world of learning.
Justin Nguyen is the Founder of Declassified Media and is the Host of the Declassified College Podcast. He joins Mike Palmer in a conversation about the origin story of Declassified Media and how it dovetails with new and emerging trends around media consumption, the creator economy, and career readiness for college students. We hear how Justin envisions growing his company to fill an untapped niche for college students who want to learn how best to plan for their careers and grow their personal brands by learning from other rising professionals just like them. He provides an eye-opening perspective on where career readiness media intersects with a Gen Z sensibility. We talk a bit about TikTok, Web 3, the passion economy and more in a wide-ranging conversation you don't want to miss. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more excellent content like this.
To kick off 2022 in style, Mike Palmer and Virtual CoHost Nancy run through Trending in Ed's 22 Trends for 2022. Here they are: 22 Trends for 2022 WHO TRENDS (6)
Social Justice and Racial Equity
Backlash
Polarization and Politicization
Parent Educators
Teachers Under Siege
Kahnification of Education
WHEN/WHERE/CONTEXT (4)
Great Snapback
The Bartleby Scrivener Effect
Digital Nomads
Class Outside
CHALLENGES/OPPORTUNITIES (5)
Decentralization
VUCA+
In Media Res
False Scarcity
Long Life Learning
SOLUTIONS (7)
Make to Know
Next-Level Storytelling
Simulearning
Social Emotional Health
Hustle
Nesting
Vulnerable Virtues
We explore all of this through the lens of the hero's quest in the world of learning. We begin with trends that look at who are the players in the world of education and how that cast of characters is transforming. Then we move to the trends related to learning contexts (when/where) before digging into how the new state of play is emerging and how it presents new challenges and opportunities for all of us. We conclude with trends relating to designing solutions to the many quandaries that are presented. Subscribe to Trending in Ed wherever you pod and stay tuned at TrendinginEd.com to stay on top of our trends and to get out ahead of where the world of learning is going. We're expecting 2022 to be an incredible year and we look forward to leaning into it with you.
Dr. Luke Hobson is Senior Instructional Designer and Program Manager at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He hosts the Dr. Luke Hobson Podcast and recently wrote What I Wish I Knew Before Becoming an Instructional Designer. Luke joins host Mike Palmer in a discussion about recent trends in instructional design along with his perspectives on where the field is going. Luke shares what it's been like being an instructional designer during the massive transformations driven by the pandemic. We get Luke's take on new tools and platforms like Gather Town and Eduflow before looking further out to explore how the Metaverse and other emerging media trends will impact instructional design in the coming years. Don't miss this thought-provoking conversation about an emerging profession that is on the rise. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more zeitgeisty takes on the future of education.
We had an incredible year of programming at Trending in Ed in 2021. This episode is our 85th of the year and we talked to 86 different guests over the course of the year. Mike Palmer walks us through the five conversations that are resonating with him heading into the New Year. We begin with our first conversation from 2021 where we interview Mike Marriner, the CoFounder and President of Road Trip Nation. From there we hear Michelle Weise talk about her book Long Life Learning before bringing back a conversation with Steve Joordens predicting The Great Snapback. Then Kumar Garg shares his perspectives on new and emerging trends in ed tech and Tim Clark drops knowledge about the Four Stages of Psychological Safety. We conclude with a bonus excerpt from our conversation with the legendary psychologist, Robert Sternberg. It was quite the year and these conversations only begin to scratch the surface of what we covered. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts to keep up with the latest and greatest. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more insight into the future of learning.
Now that the year is coming to a close, Mike is once again joined by virtual cohost, Nancy, to look back at our 21 Trends for 2021 to see how we did. Which trends did we get wrong and what can we learn from them? Which ones did we get right? How are we identifying new trends heading into 2022? And how do chunking, narrative flow, and positivity all factor into our evolving thinking as we wrap up 2021? Listen in to find out. We reference many episodes from throughout the year and also recommend the School Board Wars episodes of The Daily podcast to supplement the conversation. We hope you enjoy. If you listen carefully, you might even glean a bit of what we have cooking for our upcoming 22 Trends for 2022 episode along the way. Thanks as always for listening. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more trendspotting and lessons learned as we gear for what we hope to be an amazing 2022!
Mike Palmer is rejoined by Founding Member of the Trending in Ed team, Dan Strafford with a special appearance by Nancy, the show’s Virtual CoHost, as we dive into a recent LinkedIn News article on The 29 Big Ideas that will Change 2022. We take some time to reflect on the professional networking platform and its role in our lives before providing hot takes and incisive analysis on many of the trends outlined in the article. In a rapid-fire lightning round format, we talk about Web3, the Metaverse, Mental Health, Multidimensional Diversity, Vaccines, and more! Then we conclude with some perspective on vulnerable, authentic kindness and optimism as embodied by Ted Lasso in a whirlwind spin through what's new and zeitgeisty as we gear up to turn the corner into 2022. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more trendspotting and cutting-edge curation of what's emerging on the horizon.
David Adams is the CEO of The Urban Assembly and a Member of the Board of Directors for Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL). Elizabeth Stranzl is the Director of The School Climate and Wellness Division of the New York City Department of Education. The pair join host, Mike Palmer, in a conversation about SEL in New York City schools and beyond. We reinforce why it's important and share how the research backs it up as we respond to the surprising backlash we've been seeing against some SEL programs across the United States. Then Elizabeth and David dive into the Strong Resilient NYC program and how it is designed to acknowledge and affirm the social and emotional strengths of students and how the initial research indicates that NYC school students, like so many students and families across the country, are demonstrating tremendous resilience in these difficult times. We make connections between what is happening in New York with what is happening on a local level everywhere in a deep dive into SEL in action that you won't want to miss! Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more insight into rising tides in the learning.
Decoteau Irby is an associate professor in the Department of Educational Policy Studies in the Urban Education Leadership program at the University of Illinois Chicago. He researches equity-focused school leadership as a lever to improve Black children's academic and socio-emotional experiences and outcomes. Decoteau joins host Mike Palmer in a conversation about his research into developing racial equity programs in suburban K12 schools. He outlines the research he writes about in his book, Stuck Improving: Racial Equity and School Leadership from Harvard Education Press. We explore how the results of racial equity programs run by and for white educators in schools like the one Decoteau studied were not good, particularly for black and brown students. We think about the implications of Decoteau's research and its relevance considering the evolving demographics of America. It's a surprising conversation about a relevant topic you won't want to miss! Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd for the latest emerging trends in learning.
Dan McClure and Jenny Wilde are systems innovation professionals who work together at Innovation Ecosystems. They join host Mike Palmer in a conversation about learning ecosystems, thinking big, and the emerging trend of systems thinking. We learn how Dan and Jenny each got involved in their practice and what led to the founding of Innovation Ecosystems. From there we get into real-world examples of how systems thinking enables innovation in crisis response and product innovation. We conclude with thoughts on how systems innovation can help evolve learning interventions and how education is the key to reframing problems and opening up minds to the benefits of this new way of thinking. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more innovative and disruptive perspectives on the world of learning.
Adam Mendler is the CEO of the Veloz Group and the Host of the Thirty Minute Mentors podcast. He also teaches graduate-level courses on Teamwork and Leadership at UCLA. He’s an experienced keynote and public speaker with an MBA from the Anderson School of Management at UCLA. Adam joins host, Mike Palmer, in a conversation about mentorship, leadership training, and other emerging trends in executive education. Listen in to get tips on how to find a mentor, why it’s worth it to be a mentor, and much more. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more insightful perspectives on what’s emerging today.
Beth Porter is the President, CoFounder, and COO of Esme Learning, an executive education company focused on new and emerging skills. She has led multiple product and engineering teams to deliver high value, customer-focused educational technology products while serving in in product development, business strategy and operational roles. She also founded and is CEO of Riff Analytics, an AI-enabled collaboration platform, and is a researcher and lecturer at MIT and BU Questrom School of Business. Beth joins host, Mike Palmer, in a free-flowing conversation about emerging trends in the skills ecosystem, the future of work, and in education and media. Beth shares her experiences beginning as a Math Teacher, then proceeding through a series of ed tech, customer service, and product management roles before studying at the MIT Media Lab where she founded Riff Analytics. She then describes what led to her founding Esme Learning with Co-Founder David Shrier. From there we explore how to thrive through digital disruption and how social emotional skills like creativity, teamwork, and communication are an essential complement to technical expertise in the emerging work ecosystem. Beth highlights gamification and augmented reality as emerging trends to keep an eye on in an informative, future-focused conversation that you don't want to miss. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more insightful conversations about what's new and emerging.
Dr. Annamarie Francois and Dr. Karen Hunter Quartz join Mike Palmer to talk about their experience as educators and leaders in social justice education and community schooling. Annamarie is the Executive Director of UCLA Center X and Karen is the Director of the UCLA Center for Community Schooling. Together they edited and authored chapters in Preparing and Sustaining Social Justice Educators from Harvard Education Press. After hearing our guests' origin stories, Annamarie describes the history of Center X and its founding by Jeannie Oakes in 1994 in response to the Rodney King verdict and subsequent unrest in Los Angeles and beyond. Then Karen explains how community schools like the two she leads in LA take an asset-based approach to engaging and leveraging the unique strengths and character of the community in which they are based. What does Annamarie mean by the beloved community? Why is now such a critical time for social justice educators and community schools? What other trends do Karen and Annamarie see on the rise? And how do grassroots movements in education grow through a local focus and a different model of teaching, teacher training, and the role of schools as instruments of "good trouble" in these challenging times? Listen in to find out and get inspired by the mission and promise of the work Annamarie and Karen are doing. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more great conversations about rising tides in education.
Zach Silverzweig is the CEO and Founder of TinyIvy, a startup focused on helping children learn to read. He returns to join host, Mike Palmer, in a conversation about what it's been like launching and growing his company through the challenges of the past year. When we first met Zach a year ago, he had developed a program of flashcards and worksheets based on a system that adds marks to English letters to create a one-to-one mapping of characters to sounds to make English more decipherable for young learners. Now, Zach and team are in multiple schools across K-3 grade levels and in special ed programs with an app and plenty of opportunities to learn from this school year's cohorts. We explore how TinyIvy is in some of the most challenged districts across the country and has proven to help kids catch up while taking it easy on teachers who have so much on their plates these days. Zach explains how a class with a wide range of abilities can use TinyIvy to stay on the same activities. Results are starting to come in and Zach tells a story of hope and engagement with teachers and students as he tries to address the meaningful problem of early childhood literacy through the use of a genuinely innovative program. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more great content.
Mike Palmer runs us through three zeitgeisty trends that are bubbling up in November 2021. We begin by digging into recent developments around the Gifted and Talented program in New York City as we explore the challenges with the existing model along with opportunities for more inclusive approaches. We revisit our conversation with David Adams, CEO of The Urban Assembly to go deeper on this topic. Then we look at the state of civic engagement as we head into an off-cycle election day this week. We bring in conversations with Dr. Mark Sanders and Russell Glass, the CEO of Ginger and author of Voting with a Porpoise, to help flesh out the conversation. And then we conclude with Facebook's big announcement of its rebranding as Meta with a renewed focus on virtual and augmented reality. Mike connects the recent news to conversations we've had with Evan Gappelberg and Anurupa Ganguly on the learning opportunities emerging with the metaverse in a wide-ranging and informative survey of the spirit of the times in the world of learning trends. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more great content.
We return to a time-honored Trending in Ed tradition to talk about brains and brain science just in time for Halloween. Host, Mike Palmer, begins with his quick takes on Halloween and brains before introducing Carla, our virtual cohost for this episode. Carla then runs through what's new and emerging in brains and neuroscience beginning with an update from the world of Neuralink, Elon Musk's brain-computer interface company, that recently received $205 million in Series C funding. Beyond Neuralink, we honor the memory of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, the father of Flow, who recently passed away. We touch on neuroscience research into how the brain works during optimal performance and how we can develop feedback and apps that steer us towards peak experiences. Carla then runs through an article by Wendy Sherwin Swire covering the 5 Top Trends In Neuroscience that you need to know in 2021. We also hit on Wendy's bonus trend of "interoception" before wrapping up an informative and appropriately scary survey of brains and brain science in late 2021. We hope you enjoy! Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more great content.
Dr. Patricia Gándara and Dr. Jongyeon Ee are the authors and editors of Schools Under Siege: Immigration Enforcement and Educational Equity. They join host Mike Palmer in a conversation about the challenges immigrant children and their families face in light of the troubling history of immigration enforcement in the United States. Dr. Gandara is the Co-Director of the Civil Rights Project at UCLA where Dr. Ee did her post-doctoral studies. In addition to raising awareness to drive towards empathy and better outcomes, we explore how to support teachers and other school leaders who are under-resourced and generally unsupported when it comes to engaging with immigrant children and families under threat of deportation and policing by ICE. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more great content.
Mike Palmer returns to get a sense of where we are heading into the 4th Quarter of 2021. In the midst of the Fall Semester in 3K, PreK, K12, and Higher Ed, what are we observing so far? Beyond traditional formal learning channels, what's new and emerging in lifelong learning and workforce development? And what are we on the lookout for as we head towards the close of 2021? Mike moderates a lively panel of Virtual CoHosts featuring our returning champion, Nancy, covering new media and emerging technology along with two new guest contributors: Malcolm and Ruth. Malcolm reports on 3K through K12 and Ruth focuses on Higher Ed and Workforce Learning and Talent. We cover all the angles to help catch you up on the state of play in the worlds of learning in late 2021. Nancy begins with a quick breakdown of the Apple and Google events in recent days that showcased the new smartphone, smart home, and AirPod tech that will be in high demand heading into the holidays. Then Malcolm and Mike discuss early childhood education and Universal 3K before going deep on the pandemic and the sentiments, hopes, and fears among students, educators, and families heading into the Fall and Winter months. Ruth then joins the conversation to share interesting research from Holon IQ on strategic disruptions in higher ed before wrapping up with a quick lightning round among the panelists. Mike also takes time to talk about our sister podcast Running It Back where we're looking for lessons learned from Kyrie, the Vaccine, and the NBA among other things. Thanks as always for listening. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more great content.
Dr. Jason Baehr is a Professor of Philosophy at Loyola Marymount University. He is also the Co-Founder of the Intellectual Virtues Academy (IVA), a charter middle school in Long Beach California founded in 2013. He is the author of Deep In Thought: A Practical Guide to Teaching for Intellectual Virtues which is discussed in this episode. Jason joins host Mike Palmer in an exploration of intellectual virtues. What are they? Why are they important? And how can we teach them? We touch on values epistemology and draw from the practical experiences of teachers delivering the program at IVA to portray a vision of what helps make teaching a noble profession. We make connections to realms beyond middle school that benefit from the pursuit of intellectual virtues as we reinforce the value of a North Star and purpose in teaching to elevate the conversation about the noble profession. We hope you enjoy! Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more great content.
Mike Tringe, the Co-Founder and CEO of CreatorUp, returns to Trending in Ed, this time with CreatorUp COO Nick Almond and Jason Palmer, General Partner at New Markets Venture Partners. The trio engages with host Mike Palmer in a free-flowing conversation about the latest news and trends in the world of learning media. CreatorUp is a video marketplace platform with deep expertise in designing for education and training. New Markets Venture Partners recently led a $5M Series A Funding Round for CreatorUp. We get into why video is essential to making learning compelling in today's digital universe. Jason shares his thinking about an emerging wave of Learning 3.0 in which he sees CreatorUp playing a key role. We explore how the needs of educators and learners are transforming in these tumultuous times and how platforms are emerging to empower things like next-level video production. Each guest shares his perspectives on the trends and opportunities emerging with video and interactive media. It's a cutting-edge foray into the rising megatrend of video and rich learning media. You don't want to miss it. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more great content.
Madeleine Mortimore is a researcher who serves as the Global Education Innovation and Research Lead at Logitech. She studied at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and has worked in various areas of EdTech as an international educator, an innovator at the MIT Teaching and Learning Lab, a strategist associated with one of the largest online high schools in the U.S., and she also launched an EdTech startup at the Harvard Innovation Lab. Madeleine joins host Mike Palmer to discuss the research she has recently conducted on remote learning and how to optimize EdTech to create a healthy learning environment for students. We hear her advice on pursuing a career as a learning professional as she shares what it's been like doing research into one-to-one computing where each student has a device enabled for use in the classroom. Whether it's the importance of audio and acoustics, or the role of live webcams to build connection, accountability, and trust, we explore what's new and emerging in the design of flexible learning environments in a fun and cutting edge conversation you won't want to miss. You can find links to more of Maddie's research below:
Logitech Education Center
Hybrid Learning Solutions
Classroom of the Now
Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more great shows like this.
Dr. Fathali Moghaddam is a professor in the Department of Psychology at Georgetown University and a faculty fellow at the Berkley Center. His expertise includes culture and intergroup conflict, with a particular focus on the psychology of globalization, radicalization, human rights and duties, and terrorism. You can learn more about his work here. Fathali joins host Mike Palmer on this episode and begins by sharing how his work as an Iranian-born social psychologist was transformed by the revolution and hostage situation in Iran in 1979. He tells how he drove to Tehran from England and spent the ensuing years studying social psychology within the regime of Khomeini. There he learned of the contexts in which dictators can assume power and this has been a strand of his research ever since. We explore his belief that it is the role of educators to ensure we protect and nurture democracy by developing psychological citizens. In a wide-ranging conversation touching on the themes and seminal works of Dr. Moghaddam's career, we also hear what drove him to write his latest book about Shakespeare and the importance of extending beyond narrow specializations to adopt broader, more interdisciplinary mindsets. We conclude with notes on the current state of higher education and the psychology of bureaucracy. It's a profound and insightful conversation that you won't want to miss. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more great shows like this!
Alicia Levi is the President and CEO of Reading Is Fundamental. She has an impressive background in educational media with stints at Discovery Communications and PBS Education prior to assuming her current role at RIF in 2016. Alicia joins host Mike Palmer to talk about the challenge of getting every child to read. We hear the latest about the Rally to Read 100 Books by March 2nd while engaging in a wide-ranging conversation on literacy and literacy education. We talk about the critical importance of reading as a foundation to educational success. While it may not be as sexy as STEM or coding, reading is in fact fundamental to building those other skills. And Allison believes it should also be fun. We discuss the challenges of screen time and hear Alicia’s broad and platform-agnostic stance on the on engaging children in reading. And of course, there’s plenty of LeVar Burton talk along the way. We hope you enjoy! Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more great shows like this.
As we kick off our 6th season of Trending in Ed, host Mike Palmer is joined once again by Nancy, our virtual cohost to begin to a get sense of where our heads are at heading into the Back to School season that is upon us now in the Fall of 2021. Mike shares his perspective as the parent of a toddler who is just starting in Universal 3K in New York City before we dive into the Gartner Hype Cycle for Emerging Technology 2021 getting Nancy's takes throughout. What is emerging under the broader themes of Engineering Trust, Accelerating Growth, and Sculpting Change outlined in the latest edition of the hype cycle? And how does the technology that powers Nancy factor into the conversation? We do a bit of a lightning round run through the buzzword lingo of the report and reserve the right to revisit it with other voices again in the future. Then we get in our quick takes on Amazon's announcement that it will be providing access to free college to its employees and on the recent merger between Blackboard and Anthology that is shaking things up in the world of EdTech before wrapping things up. Listen in for an information-rich exploration of new trends and emerging technologies that will impact the world of learning in years to come. Join us in the conversation on Twitter and LinkedIn. We're excited (and a little bit nervous) to lean into the new school year and the new season of Trending in Education. We're very happy to have you along for the ride. Subscribe to Trending in Ed wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more great content like this!
Justin Serrano is the Founder and CEO of Littera Education, a platform that enables K12 school districts to provide high-quality 1-on-1 and small group tutoring for every student that needs it. In this episode, Justin joins host Mike Palmer to dive into new and emerging trends in tutoring. Justin begins by describing what led him to found Littera and why the timing is right to leverage technology to enable a scalable solution to provide high dosage, effective tutoring particularly for students who traditionally have been unable to access it. He sites Brown’s Annenberg Tutoring Initiative as a foundation for how Littera is helping to build tutoring programs that meet frequently and during school hours with students who need it the most. Littera makes it easier for school districts to establish and measure the effectiveness of their tutoring program and allows for the tutoring to be well-integrated with in-class teaching. As we delve into emerging trends in tutoring, Justin anticipates a heightened focus on early reading and high school math as key areas where tutoring can provide the most impact. We touch on the impact of the pandemic and the stimulus package and even reminisce about playing basketball for the Kaplan Scorelords basketball team back in the day. In all, it’s an illuminating deep-dive into the world of edtech and tutoring that you won’t want to miss. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd com for more great shows like this.
Joanna Smith is the CEO and founder of AllHere, an edtech company improving attendance and student success with mobile messaging powered by AI. Before founding AllHere, she taught middle school mathematics and served as Director of Family Engagement at a charter school in Boston. Joanna joins Mike Palmer to talk about the problem of low student attendance in K12 and how she and team are building AllHere to create a scalable way to begin to address it. What’s the best way to design an ecosystem that is available 24/7 and allows its teachers to focus on the highest-yield human activities? How has the pandemic impacted this problem? How did the team at AllHere listen to the community to respond quickly to needs around food insecurity? In what other ways might chatbots help improve educational experiences for students and families? We cover all of this and learn where Joanna gets inspiration outside of the world of education. We also hear her advice for educators and potential entrepreneurs in an engaging and informative conversation that kicks off the sixth season of Trending in Ed. If you’re enjoying what you’re hearing, subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more great content like this!
In this special episode of Trending in Ed, Mike Palmer interviews Corey Dolgon from a conference room in Freedom Tower while the Annual Conference for the Society for the Study of Social Problems (SSSP) is taking place virtually. Corey is the outgoing President of SSSP. We explore the themes of the conference while getting into what it is like to shift from designing an in-person conference to doing one online. Corey shares his perspectives on the opportunities and challenges of the revolutionary moment we're living through and argues for a deeper awareness of the history of social research and its ties to global social justice movements as we attempt to effect change. He also cites his book Kill It to Save It while referencing the predominance of a corporate mindset in higher education as the core unquestionable ideology in play--one that he hopes young scholars will continue to challenge. It's a provocative conversation that concludes our fifth season of Trending in Education. Thanks for coming along for the ride. Be on the lookout for the launch of Season 6 in the coming weeks. Subscribe to Trending in Ed wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more great shows like this.
Continuing our exploration of the New Normal for conferences in the Summer of 2021, Jenna Spinelle returns to the show to join host Mike Palmer to recount her experience attending Podcast Movement in Tennessee earlier this month. Jenna is one of the hosts of the Democracy Works podcast and the Founder of the Democracy Group network of civically-minded podcasts. Jenna shares what the experience was like traveling to the conference and attending it live before we dig into her takeaways from the experience. What are some new and emerging trends in podcasting to keep an eye on as we lean into both near and far horizons? How should we think about audience development for indie podcasts and how does that interact with the increasing corporatization of the medium? As podcasts become increasingly narrow in their focus, how do we break out of filter bubbles to engage in genuine discourse and new discovery? We cover all of this and even explore the power of JOMO in a thought-provoking conversation that you won't want to miss. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more great shows like this.
Mike Merrill joins Mike Palmer to talk about his experience at the ASU GSV Summit in San Diego. While Mike Merrill attended in person, Mike Palmer attended online. We reflect on the different experiences and how it connects to issues of access and equity as we muse about the future of conferencing in these challenging times. Then Mike Merrill digs into his reflections on what's emerging in artificial intelligence and machine learning, the areas where he focused during his ASU GSV experience. Are we in an AI Summer for EdTech? How should we think about ethics and inclusive design when working with AI systems? We dive into all of this and even sing a little Alicia Keys in a wide-ranging and informative debrief on new and emerging opportunities in EdTech and AI straight out of ASU GSV. If you're enjoying what you're hearing, subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more great content like this! .
Mike Palmer is once again joined by our virtual cohost, Nancy, to talk about new and emerging trends in the conference experience as a new wave of in-person and blended learning conferences pick up in August. We reflect on what it must have been like at Podcast Movement, which just concluded while contemplating what's on the horizon for the blended EdTech ASU-GSV Summit that kicks off this week in San Diego. What role can and should virtual experiences play in conference planning and how does this dovetail with some of the origins of Trending in Education and SXSW EDU? We explore all of this while getting Nancy and Mike's takes on how to build from an inclusive and accessible foundation that leverages online while also allowing for higher-touch in-person experiences. Then it becomes a question of who can afford the costs (and risks) of traveling to attend conferences like ASU GSV. We'd love to hear what you think about the future of conferences and the role new media can play. Let us know on Twitter at @TrendinginEd Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. And visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more great shows like this!
Tony Wan joins Mike Palmer to share his origin story beginning as an educator and entrepreneur before shifting to educational journalism as the Cofounder and Managing Editor of EdSurge. Tony has recently moved to a new role as Head of Investor Content at EdTech Venture Capital Firm Reach Capital. In addition to providing keen insights into trends in EdTech entrepreneurship and investment, we talk about being raised by wolves, reflect on Kanye's recent work, and look to the comedy of Conan O'Brien for inspiration outside the world of education. In all, it makes for an engaging and entertaining conversation about human-centered and socially-conscious EdTech capital investment that you won't want to miss. For more great episodes like this subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more amazing content!
Al Kingsley is the CEO of NetSupport Limited, an EdTech Company. He's also the Chair of Hampton Academes Trust in the UK. Al joins Mike Palmer on this episode to talk about his new book, My Secret EdTech Diary where he shares his experiences and provides tips to instructors, aspiring EdTech Professionals, and anyone curious about where the world of learning is heading. We dig into a wide range of topics, including privacy and data security, AI and machine learning, the importance of mental health and well-being in learning design and more. It's an insightful perspective on the world of educational technology through a wider and more accessible lens that you won't want to miss. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more great shows like this!
Dr. Adriana Villavicencio, Assistant Professor at the University of California, Irvine, researches K-12 educational policy and school practice that deepens or disrupts inequities for minoritized communities of students and families. For nearly a decade, she conducted research at the Research Alliance for New York City Schools at NYU—a Research-Practice Partnership with the NYC Department of Education (DOE). Adriana joins Mike Palmer to talk about her book, Am I My Brother’s Keeper: Educational Opportunities and Outcomes for Black and Brown Boys, published by Harvard Education Press, that examines how districts and schools can embed racial equity work into the very fabric of how they serve students. The book also provides a set of concrete approaches and recommendations, so that other districts and schools can take up similar efforts with even more robust results. It's a heartfelt and engaging conversation about how to design programs and interventions to reach children the current system is failing. We hope the insights and perspectives we share can help empower folks looking to make an impact on the problems of inequity and access inherent in our educational system. Thanks for listening. For more great shows like this, subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com
Shannon Dowling is an architect with a design focus on creating research-driven, student-centered learning environments at Ayers Saint Gross. She joins Mike Palmer on this episode to talk about trends in the design of learning spaces for higher ed and beyond. You can find a recent white paper, Disruption in Higher Education, from Shannon and team on this topic. Shannon tells us how she got to this point in her professional life by describing how her interests in architecture and design intersected with her life as a mom to set her on the path of designing for learning contexts. We delve into Shannon's expertise and experience in designing for higher ed, look for insights from the transformation of library spaces, and get her takes on the impact of the pandemic as well as what she sees on the horizon. It's a rich exploration of how the mind of an architect designs for the world of learning. Listen in to learn more. And if you like what you're hearing, subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com
Dr. Malik Boykin is a Professor of Psychology at Brown University. Malik joins Mike Palmer to talk about his experiences growing up the son of a black psychology professor beginning in Ithaca at Cornell and ultimately at Howard in Washington, DC. From there, Malik brings us along his journey as a musical artist to his research in contact analysis, mentorship, and algorithmic bias. In addition to his work in perceptions and preferences in Group Inequality at his psychology lab, Malik catches us up on his work as a musician as Malik Starx, including his recent release Dancing for Freedom. It's a wide-ranging conversation about diversity, empathy, and creative expression that you won't want to miss. For more great shows like this, subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more!
We celebrate our 400th episode of Trending in Education by welcoming three key contributors to the show through the years. To begin, Mike Palmer welcomes Dr. Robin Naughton to the show for her third on-air appearance. Robin is Mike's wife and shares unique perspectives as a listener, a contributor both on and off the air, and an Assistant Professor, Web and Digital Services Librarian at Queens College in New York. Then Dr. Mark Sanders joins Mike to provide his takes on how the show has evolved through the years and how it intersects with his focus on media literacy, civic engagement, and public philosophy. And finally, we conclude with Dr. Mike Merrill joining Mike to impart what it's been like for him getting plugged in behind the scenes as an editor and contributor to shows of late. Mike also delves into his perspectives on AI and other emerging technologies before we conclude with a quick conversation about 2U's recent acquisition of EdX. Great podcasts are built on the contributions of amazing folks like Robin, Mark, and Mike and we couldn't have gotten this far without them and without you, our listeners. Thanks for joining us for the ride and here's to all the amazing things yet to come. To the Future! If you enjoy what you're hearing subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. And visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more great shows like this one!
In honor of our 399th installment of Trending in Education, we've reassembled the original team of Brandon Jones, Dan Strafford, and Mike Palmer to reflect on how this podcast started and share some highlights and lessons learned from our long history of doing the show together. Along the way, we get Brandon's and Dan's takes on where the world of learning is heading including Brandon's list of five things he sees on the horizon and Dan's take on the future of "hybrid" learning and more. It's a vintage, artisanal, small-batched episode of Trending in Ed you won't want to miss. Thanks to all of our listeners who've kept us cranking out all of this content over the years. Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Follow us on Twitter at @TrendinginEd and visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more great content like this!
Cynthia Knable is the Founder and CEO of CeresEd, an educational content development company. She leads teams of talented project managers, writers, editors, and artists in creating products for educational publishers, EdTech companies and more. Cynthia joins Mike Palmer to share her experiences beginning as a content writer and editor before quickly rising to a leadership role culminating in founding Ceres-Ed. She shares her perspectives on emerging trends in content development and educational publishing as we touch on themes of diversity, equity and inclusion, and democratization of publishing through the removal of traditional gatekeepers. It's an engaging and insightful look into the world of content as a service that you won't want to miss! For more great shows like this subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com.
Matt Burke and Ben Tapper join Mike Palmer to talk about what we can learn from the congregational experience especially in light of the transformative times we've been living in. Matt and Ben work for the Center of Congregations in Indiana and cohost its podcast providing tools and educational resources to congregations across the state and beyond. We look for parallels and opportunities that come from examining online learning and digital delivery in congregational contexts and explore how to embrace difference while modeling tolerance in an ecumenical way. Ben and Matt share their journeys to this point in their professional lives as we explore the importance of adaptability, relationship-building, and theological hospitality in providing great learning environments. We also dive into how to build welcoming, evolving congregational spaces that provide equitable access to a wide and diverse audience. It's a meaning-rich conversation that you won't want to miss. For more information, you can check out the Center's resource guide. If you're enjoying what you hear, subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com
Paul Reville is the Francis Keppel Professor of Practice of Educational Policy and Administration at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE). He is the founding director of HGSE's Education Redesign Lab. In 2013, he completed nearly five years of service as the Secretary of Education for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Paul joins Mike Palmer to talk about his new book, Collaborative Action for Equity and Opportunity which he coauthored with Lynn Sacks. We explore the practical steps for school and community leaders to establish programs centered around Children's Cabinets focused on the welfare of all children in the community by building the wraparound supports beyond what schools alone can provide. We also build on the conversation we began with Paul after his book, Broader, Bolder Better, which was the subject of his previous appearance on Trending in Education. We appreciate the work being done by Paul and team to make an impact on students and communities traditionally underserved by our educational systems and hope you take the time to listen and to spread the word. If you enjoy what you're hearing, subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEducation.com for more great content like this.
Dr. Michelle Miller-Adams is a professor of political science at Grand Valley State University where she teaches courses on international relations, poverty and inequality. She's also a Senior Researcher with the W. E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research. Michelle joins Mike Palmer on this episode to talk about her new book, The Path to Free College: In Pursuit of Access, Equity, and Prosperity. We begin by getting Michelle's origin story to understand how tuition-free higher education has had a profound effect on her and her family. From there, we briefly explore the history of free public high school and free higher education through the examples from the University of California system and the City College of New York before picking up on the recent movement for tuition-free higher education beginning in 2005 with the Kalamazoo Promise. From there, Michelle outlines the emergence of numerous grassroots efforts as well as those founded by institutions and states as we try to get our arms around an important movement in America in the 21st century that has gained broader support and awareness in recent years. We conclude with suggestions from Michelle on how to learn more through programs before ending with some reasons for hope. Here are some resources to check out if you'd like to learn more::
College Promise
Free College Now
Rise Free
Promise Net Conference
It's an informative and inspirational conversation about a zeitgeisty topic that you won't want to miss! If you like what you're hearing subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts and visit us at TrendinginEd.com.
Mike Palmer is joined by Nancy, a virtual human who makes her first appearance as a guest host, in a conversation about what the "New Normal" that emerges on the other side of the pandemic might like for the world of learning. We explore the trends of Canny Centaurs, Universal Design for Learning, Class Outside, and Simulearning both with Nancy's help and with the help of many of our great guests from episodes from the past six months. Whether it's Sheryl Burgstahler, Prakash Nair, Evan Gappelberg, Anurupa Ganguly, or Steve Grubbs, we bring together perspectives from the experts we've had on the show to weave together what we hope will be some insightful perspectives on where the world of learning is heading. Thanks for joining us on the journey. If you like what you're hearing, subscribe and spread the word. And stay tuned as we gear up to celebrate our 400th episode. It's been an amazing ride so far and we're just getting started. To find more great content like this, visit us at TrendinginEd.com
Dr. Glenn Albright is a clinical psychologist and the Co-founder / Director of Research at Kognito, a health simulation company that has trained thousands of education staff in the U.S. on how to properly converse with students that exhibit at-risk behavior and properly refer them to counseling services. Glenn joins host Mike Palmer to dive into how the use of virtual characters in scenario-based interactive simulation can in some cases unlock better outcomes than traditional, live training. We muse a bit about the future of healthcare simulations, gaming, and VR. Then Glenn concludes by sharing his passion for helping educators learn how to get better at trauma-informed interactions with students in a thought-provoking conversation about the future of behavioral health simulations like Kognito. If you're enjoying what you're hearing from us at Trending in Education, subscribe to the podcast wherever you get your pods. And visit us at TrendinginEd.com
Liza Weale is the Founder of Gatehouse Admissions and the coauthor of What Matters? and What More? 50 Successful Essays for the Stanford GSB and HBS (and Why They Worked) with Jeremy Shinewald, the Founder of mbaMission. Liza joins hosts Mike Palmer and Melissa Griffith for a conversation about business school admissions, authentic storytelling, and the return on investment (ROI) of attending B-School in these transformative times. Liza and Melissa begin by sharing their experiences applying and gaining admission into prestigious business schools before we dive into the examples of successful applicants' essays from the book. We explore the importance of vulnerability and sharing your personal values when trying to gain access to elite business schools like Harvard and Stanford and just generally in life. We also delve into the benefits and challenges elite business schools are facing as they attempt to respond to the disruptive forces of the pandemic, the awakening around racial injustice, and the transformation of the modern workplace. It's a fascinating conversation you won't want to miss. Subscribe to Trending in Ed wherever you get your podcasts and find more great shows like this at TrendinginEd.com.
Lillian Nave is a Senior Lecturer and UDL Coordinator at Appalachian State University. She's also the host of the Think UDL Podcast. Lillian joins Mike Palmer and guest host Dawn DiPeri on this deep dive into UDL and other trends Lillian is noticing from her vantage point in inclusive education. Lillian shares her origin story which began in art history, moved to freshman seminar, and ultimately landed in UDL and Faculty Development. She outlines three trends she's noticed in light of the pandemic: a move away from exclusively in-person conferences, a move towards greater flexibility, and a move away from campus amenities like climbing walls and lazy rivers when assessing the quality of the learner's experience when making decisions about higher education. It's a fantastic deep dive on the trend of UDL with passionate advocates for truly inclusive design thinking being applied to educational practices in higher ed and beyond. If you like what you're hearing subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Check us out at TrendinginEducation.com.
Kumar Garg is the Managing Director of Schmidt Futures, a venture facility for public benefit that recently cosponsored the Futures Forum on Learning Tools Competition with Citadel. Kumar joins our host, Mike Palmer, to talk about the winners of the tools competition who were recently announced and to provide his insights and perspectives on learning engineering as well as trends in educational technology and computational thinking. Kumar begins by sharing his origin story which includes an eight-year run in the Obama administration heading up its efforts to grow and develop STEM education in the US. From there we explore the idea of learning engineering which combines insights in computer science, computational thinking, and big data with emerging insights in learning science to create scalable breakthrough innovations in education. Kumar walks through the structure and design of the competition and reflects on the benefits of connecting entrepreneurial innovation with academic research and scientific methods to unlock learning innovation at scale. From there, we discuss Rising on Air and UPchieve as case studies of the types of programs that emerged from the competition before concluding with Kumar's thoughts on the importance of R&D and infrastructure funding to drive the next generation of the learning ecosystem. It's an insightful and far-reaching conversation about the future of Ed Tech that you won't want to miss. If you're enjoying what you're hearing, subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you listen to your podcasts and check us out at TrendinginEducation.com
Dr. Eric Moore is an internationally recognized Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and Accessibility consultant, instructional designer, and educator. He specializes in the theory and practice of UDL, especially in the context of higher education. In addition to working in UDL and Instructional Design at the University of Tennessee, Eric heads up a consultancy, Innospire Education, and was featured in a recent article in Inside Higher Ed.
Eric joins Mike Palmer and guest host Dr. Dawn DiPeri to talk about his work evangelizing UDL and helping higher ed institutions build with more inclusive design practices from inception. We also explore the deep connections between UDL and the awakenings around access, the Digital Divide, and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) as well as the importance of belonging. It's a fascinating dive into an emerging movement in learning design that you won't want to miss. If you're interested in accessibility certifications, Eric recommends you check out the IAAP Certification along with options on the Learning Designed platform (a joint effort between CAST and the UDL-IRN). Thanks as always for listening! If you enjoy what you're hearing, subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and check us out at TrendinginEducation.com
Michael Spencer is the CEO of Global Expansion Strategies, a firm that specializes in helping EdTech companies scale through broad adoption in international schools. Michael joins Mike Palmer to talk through his experiences in the field of international educational technology. Michael highlights the changes that have taken place since the pandemic including a seismic shift from predominantly print curricula to majority online curricula of late. This is especially true with International English Language programs which are among the primary drivers of global EdTech. We also discuss how leading English language learning (ELL) companies that used to aim to deliver solutions across all four components of reading, writing, speaking, and listening whereas are now facing increased specialization within each component with many schools exploring the benefits of opting for different solutions for each of the four ELL skill domains. We conclude with Michael's perspectives on artificial intelligence and the emerging trend of K12 and post-secondary programs focusing on disruptive skills like data science, the blockchain and beyond. It's a conversation at the intersection of academics and economics that you won't want to miss. If you like what you're hearing subscribe and spread the word. Visit us at TrendinginEducation.com
Small ways to improve online teaching and learning, and a discussion on how to get learners' attention in your courses with Flower Darby and James Lang. James M. Lang writes about higher education, literature, and travel. He is a Professor of English and Director of the D'Amour Center for Teaching Excellence at Assumption University. This episode also discusses his books Distracted, Small Teaching, and Small Teaching Online. Flower Darby is the Director of Teaching for Student Success at Northern Arizona University, where she's taught English, Educational Technology, Leadership, Dance, and Pilates. Flower teaches face-to-face, blended and online classes and speaks, writes, presents, and consults on teaching and learning theory. She's the author, with James M. Lang, of Small Teaching Online: Applying Learning Science in Online Classes (2019). James and Flower Join Mike Palmer and special guest host Dawn DiPeri to talk about how to improve instructor practice in higher ed and design learning experiences that keep learners attention. Our guests offer lots of great tips you won't want to miss! If you like what you’re hearing, follow us at TrendinginEducation.com and wherever you get your podcasts!
Mike welcomes Dan Carroll, the co-founder and Chief Product Officer of Clever, which helps K-12 school districts, educators, and students navigate some of the complexities of the digital world. They begin by discussing Dan’s early career teaching for Teach for America, and then his move into educational technology administration. Frustrated by the speed he could launch new initiatives, with some friends he founded Clever to help teachers and students gain access to edtech easily and scalably. Dan and Mike discuss Clever’s early days, and the “chicken and egg” problem of getting both schools and edtech companies initially to sign up. By charging only the vendors, they grew fast and now have nearly ½ of all American K-12 students signing on through Clever. They explore Clever’s dedication to security and privacy and following laws like COPPA and FERPA. They then discuss how Clever can help with the digital divide, including a compelling case of helping the Oakland school district provide its students with educational access during COVID-19. Dan tells Mike more about initiatives to help teachers during the pandemic, and how the Clever “Library” gives teachers and students access to a myriad of free resources, including the most popular, GoNoodle. Dan and Mike finish up discussing the importance of curiosity for learning, and their hopes that schools hold onto the best of the innovation that happened under COVID. Find Dan at clever.com and on twitter @clever and @bytingtheapple Find Mike at @TrendingInEd and at mike@palmer.media If you like what you’re hearing, follow us at TrendinginEducation.com and wherever you get your podcasts!
Mike welcomes Dr. Leo Casey, the Executive Director of the Albert Shanker Institute who has written a book called The Teacher Insurgency: A Strategic and Organizing Perspective. They begin with Leo’s upbringing by two New York City teachers, how he abandoned his dissertation to teach in Crown Heights, and how he began working with the union when his school shut down. Leo then began to head the Albert Shanker Institute, a strategic think tank within the American Federation of Teachers which examines labor history, especially for teachers. Leo explains the origins of the 2018 and 2019 teacher strikes: the Janus case, post-2008 austerity, deprofessionalization, and movements like the Women's March on Washington. Teacher’s saw both their compensation as well as their position in the classroom undergoing rapid decline. The first teacher’s strikes were held in West Virginia, which had a history labor movement--both within education and beyond. From here the strikes spread, and ultimately the movement was successful in protecting teachers during COVID-19 times (in this context, MIke briefly mentions Leo’s article on Black Lives Matter and the NBA.) Leo notes his concern about both the early retirement of teachers and the paucity in the pipeline for new teachers. Leo also expresses optimism for the Biden-Harris administration, notably President Biden’s support of unions. Leo finishes up discussing the discourses around how teachers see themselves, and the need for true civics teaching. If you like what you're hearing, tell a friend and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEducation.com
Mark Davis has a 20-year track record of roles of increasing responsibility in the Education field. He left Education soon after the 2016 Election to start a Cannabis company named Mozen. After a four-year run, he sold the company and now is returning to a General Management position in Education. In this 4/20 Special Edition of Trending in Education, Mark joins Mike Palmer to tell the story of his journey as a pot entrepreneur and the lessons he learned along the way. There's much to be learned from adjacencies when trying to innovate in education, so open your ears and open your minds to this fun and informative conversation. If you like what you're hearing, tell a friend, spread the word, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. And check us out at TrendinginEducation.com.
Dr. Jonathan Friedman is the Director of Free Expression and Education at PEN America. He joins Mike Palmer on this episode to talk about emerging trends in K12 and Higher Ed in the US relating to Free Speech and Free Expression. You can learn more about what Jonathan and PEN are doing at pen.org After hearing Jonathan’s “origin story,” we quickly dive into the case of BL vs Mahanoy School District which is soon to go before the Supreme Court. Are a student’s snaps on Snapchat grounds for disciplinary action? Where do we draw the line around free expression among K12 students and how does their affiliation with the school impact the case? From there we touch on emerging topics in higher education and in limitations on what can be taught in K12 before getting Jonathan’s thoughts on the importance of understanding the history of free speech in the US prior to the 20th Century in an informative and thought-provoking conversation that’s certainly worth a listen. If you like what you’re hearing subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and visit us at TrendinginEducation.com
Dr. Steve Joordens returns to join Mike Palmer in a conversation about the connections between growth mindset and feedback. If growth mindset is the "What," getting good at giving and receiving feedback is the "How" of learning and personal growth. Steve draws on his experiences as a Psychology Professor and Director of the Advanced Learning Technologies Lab at the University of Toronto and as a Founder and CoDeveloper of an app called peerScholar that has students engage in collaborative, peer-to-peer feedback that can be used as a formative assessment. We give praise and respect to the great work of Carol Dweck on the subject before providing a more detailed walkthrough of how effective, scalable feedback sessions ultimately benefit students and faculty alike. Getting good at seeking out, delivering, and receiving feedback is a critical skill set today and increasingly in conceptions of the workplace of tomorrow. We dive into the criticality of feedback, why it's hard, and how to make it safer and easier to get better at it in a free-flowing and informative conversation. If you like what you're hearing, subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and check us out at TrendinginEducation.com
Dr. Corey Dolgon is a Professor of Sociology at Stonehill College. He's an expert in several areas of sociology and service learning and is the author of five books, including The End of the Hamptons: Scenes from the Class Struggle in American’s Paradise (2005) and Kill it to Save it: An Autopsy of Capitalism’s triumph Over Democracy (2017). He recently edited The Cambridge Handbook of Service Learning and Community Engagement. Corey joins Mike Palmer to talk about the history of service learning and social movements in America. In his view, for service learning to be truly effective it must be grounded in the history of social movements and social action in the community so that it can ultimately effect meaningful change. In addition to a rich and vibrant conversation about engaging with the community and leading through activism and engagement, we conclude with Dr. Dolgon regaling us with his rendition of the folk song Have You Been to Jail for Justice? by Anne Feeney. It's an inspiring and thought-provoking conversation that you won't want to miss. If you like what you're hearing, subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and check us out at TrendinginEducation.com.
Dr. Timothy R. Clark is founder and CEO of LeaderFactor, a training, consulting, coaching, and assessment organization that focuses on leadership development, organizational change, strategic agility, psychological safety, and emotional intelligence. He is the developer of the EQometer assessment and The 4 Stages of Psychological Safety training program. Tim joins Mike Palmer to talk about the role psychological safety plays in developing strong cultures. He walks us through the four stages of psychological safety and helps us understand how we can begin to build vibrant cultures that model and reward vulnerability. Tim describes how ultimately psychological safety results in a culture that allows for and encourages challenging of the status quo - a trait that's essential to flourishing in these turbulent times. We conclude by exploring the concept of a toxic culture, seeing how widespread toxicity is and providing some ways of identifying and addressing it when we see it. It's a rich and vibrant conversation about building healthy cultures. We hope you enjoy. If you like what you're hearing subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and check us out at TrendinginEducation.com.
Alexis Block is a PhD Researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems. She’s also the creator of HuggieBot and now HuggieBot 2.0 which have allowed her to do groundbreaking research in Human-Robot Interaction (HRI). Alexis joins Mike Palmer on this episode to talk through her recent paper on The Six Commandments of Robot Hugging. We explore what got Alexis to this point in her research and what she’s learned about human behavior through her research. We touch on the impact of the pandemic on her research and examine what’s next on the horizon as she studies how humans and robots interact in highly personal and emotionally supportive ways. It’s a futuristic and insightful conversation that you won’t want to miss. If you’re enjoying what your hearing subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and visit us at TrendinginEducation.com.
Dr. Stephen Kosslyn returns to the show to dive into the topics covered in his new book Active Learning Online with Mike Palmer. What does deep processing really mean and how can its power be unlocked for learning? How do chunking and associations relate to how we learn? What is the dual coding principle and how should instructional designers tap into it to ensure their lessons stick in the minds of their learners? We explore all of this in a deeply informative conversation you won’t want to miss. If you like what you’re hearing subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and visit us at TrendinginEducation. com.
Steve Grubbs is the Founder of Victory XR, a company that specializes in using Virtual Reality to make compelling learning experiences. Steve joins Mike and begins by telling how he has stayed connected to education and technology in different capacities through his professional life before zeroing in on the work he's been doing of late. Whether it's building a VR simulation of the march across the Pettus Bridge in Selma or exploring anatomy, history or astronomy, Steve walks us through various ways in which 3D VR experiences are more emotionally resonant and in many cases more effective than their 2D alternatives. We talk through the impact of the pandemic before getting Steve's perspectives on what's happening now like a recent program launched with Morehouse College to what he sees in the future of learning as other technologies like augmented reality glasses continue to mature. It's a wide-ranging and creatively inspiring conversation that you won't want to miss. If you enjoy what you're hearing, subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts and. check us out at TrendingInEd.com
Dr. Nicholas Tampio is a Professor of Political Science at Fordham University who recently wrote an opinion piece for the Washington Post about the importance of play in K12 education as we begin to plan for the summer. Nick returns to join Mike Palmer on this episode to explore the risks of rushing kids back to school when they need time to play outside. We question the benefits of pushing to catch up on standardized tests when many kids need to catch up on their social development by playing with their friends and other peers. We explore the relevance of the construct of “learning loss” as we contemplate the best path forward as we all hope to return to a semblance of normalcy. If you like what you’re hearing subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts and check us out at TrendinginEducation.com
Mike is joined by Cara Lesser. CEO and Founder of the KID Museum in Bethesda, Maryland. Cara starts by describing how she transitioned from working on healthcare policy to growing interested in education as her children entered school. Inspired by the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh, she sought to create an institution dedicated to what she felt was lacking in her children’s education: creative, hands-on problem-solving. The KID museum features flexible workspaces, many digital items for kids to explore, as well as more traditional technologies. (Some of the educational technologies Cara mentions: 3D printers, CNC routers, micro:bits, Arduinos.) Cara partners closely with educators and administrators to provide compelling and effective pedagogy. The pandemic accelerated the move into the virtual space, and even into VR. While the focus is on K-8, KID Museum partners with Amazon Future Engineer to allow kids to explore career pathways. KID Museum also encourages education across traditional siloed subjects. This can be called “maker education,” or “invention education”. Cara cites research from the George Lucas Foundation on the efficacy of project-based learning. Mike and Cara finish up by discussing how KID Museum might be a model for other initiatives. Join them both for this compelling look into the creative mind of maker learning. If you like what you're hearing subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts and check us out at TrendinginEducation.com.
Mike welcomes Dr. Andrew (“Andy”) Temte, President and Global Head of Corporate Learning for Kaplan North America and author Balancing Act: Teach Coach Mentor Inspire. We start by discussing Andy’s non-linear career path, and how he embraces the bumps along the way. We also talk about the importance of the whole person and engaging with the behavioral skills as well as the deep expertise. Andy explains the importance of continuous improvement and organizational health. And how he learned to let go of “command and control” by embracing approaches that teach, coach, mentor, and inspire his team. If you like what you're hearing subscriber to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. And check us out at TrendinginEducation.com
David Adams was recently named the CEO of The Urban Assembly, a non-profit organization working to advance students' economic and social mobility by improving public education. David joins Mike Palmer to talk about the importance of Social Emotional Learning heading into SEL Day on Friday, March 26th. We dive into how awareness of the importance of SEL has been heightened in light of the pandemic and other challenges we've faced in the past year and how that provides an opportunity to focus on the skills that help students graduate "college, career and community ready." We also explore how screening for gifted and talented programs can move the problems of public education around without addressing the fundamental challenges of providing the rich and supportive learning environments to all students, including special education students, english language learners, first-generation students and more. David talks through the impressive results we've seen at the UA schools in New York City and shares his vision for his schools, for education in New York City and for ways to elevate awareness of the benefits of good SEL education and career-aligned community-based education.. If you like what you're hearing, subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and check us out at TrendinginEducation.com
Colonel Chris Mayer is the Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives at the US Military Academy at West Point where he also teaches Ethics and Philosophy. Chris returns to join Mike Palmer to revisit the conversation started during Chris' first appearance in November of 2019. We review Bob Johansen's book The New Leadership Literacies as we take a few twists and turns to touch on how the world of robotics is evolving and how we can learn from science fiction as we try to peer further out to possible futures in 2030 and beyond. Chris also describes institutes that focus on futures thinking as we explore how to think about the future of leadership development, ethics, and decision-making in an increasingly VUCA world.
IFTF Coursera Course: https://www.coursera.org/specializations/futures-thinking
University of Houston Foresight Certificate: https://uh.edu/technology/programs/professional/fore/
Futures School: https://thefuturesschool.com/certification/
If you enjoy what you're hearing, subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts and visit us at TrendinginEducation.com.
Kate Eberle Walker is the CEO of Presence Learning and the author of the new book The Good Boss: Nine Ways Every Manager Can Support Women at Work. She returns to the show to talk to Mike Palmer about the rules in the book that draw from Kate's experiences, those of other leaders and managers across industries and other relevant statistics and research. We begin exploring Rule Number 1 - Call Her By Her Name before quickly progressing through rules like Don't Sit in Her Chair and Speak Up So She Doesn't Have To among others. It's a relevant, engaging, and genuine conversation about what it takes to support, develop and grow women's careers in the modern workplace. You won't want to miss it! If you like what you're hearing, subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts and check us out at TrendingInEducation.com.
Sarah Johnson is the CEO of Teaching Lab, a leading non-profit professional learning organization for educators. She joins Mike Palmer in this episode to explore why Professional Development or "PD" has a bad reputation among educators and how Sarah and team are trying to turn things around. We talk through the importance of teachers continuing to learn throughout their careers especially in these challenging times. How does Teaching Lab incorporate "Head, Heart and Habits" into its approach to engaging the community of practice of teachers across America? How has the pandemic transformed the landscape of professional learning for educators? How do culturally responsive teaching practices and equity factor into the conversation? We answer all of these questions and explore how to scale things as we ponder how to get teachers the critical resources and supports they need to do their best work. If you like what you're hearing, subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and check us out at TrendingInEducation.com
Jeremy Keeshin is the CEO and Co-founder of CodeHS, the leading coding education platform for schools used by millions of students. He joins Mike for this episode to talk about his new book Read Write Code. We begin with Jeremy's origins teaching computer science while at Stanford before founding CodeHS and becoming an expert in computer science education and education technology, visiting hundreds of schools all over the world. Then Jeremy explains how coding is the new literacy - the equivalent of reading in the post-Gutenberg Renaissance - and how he’s trying to demystify the world of computers, starting at the beginning to explain the basic building blocks of today’s tech: programming, the internet, data, apps, the cloud, cybersecurity, algorithms, artificial intelligence, and more. If coding is as essential for the future of work as reading and writing, you’ll want to listen in to learn how to teach and understand coding and digital literacy to everyone beginning with kids in K12. You can learn more about Jeremy at JeremyKeeshin.com If you like what you’re hearing, subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and check us out at TrendingInEducation.com Thanks for listening!
Dr. Steve Joordens is a Psychology Professor and the Director of the Advanced Learning Technologies Lab at the University of Toronto. He’s also the Chief Science Officer at Cogneeto, the developer of PeerScholar, a peer-to-peer formative assessment app. Steve returns to Trending in Education to talk about some predictions he’s making about how humans will behave as we come out of the COVID-19 pandemic. Steve posits that the powerful forces of humans’ desire for social connection paired with our deeply entrained habits from prior to the pandemic will lead us to a quick snapback to many of the behavior patterns we had adopted prior. We explore the opportunities institutions and individuals have to change those habits, but it will require focused, intentional actions as restrictions are lifted to lock in and establish new and improved patterns on the other side. It’s a thought-provoking and timely conversation that you won’t want to miss! If you like what you’re hearing subscribe and tell a friend. And follow us on TrendinginEducation.com and wherever you get your podcasts!
Dr. Robert Sternberg joins Mike to talk about his life's work studying intelligence, creativity, and wisdom. He is Professor of Human Development in the College of Human Ecology at Cornell University. Bob recently wrote Adaptive Intelligence: Striving and Thriving in Times of Uncertainty and we spend time diving into the concepts and frameworks that are central to the book. For starters, Bob tells his personal story beginning in grade school where initially he didn't perform well on intelligence tests until a teacher took an interest in him and helped him overcome his test anxiety. Soon after he was performing well on tests and even began administering them to his classmates. This formative experience led him to question the prevailing views of intelligence and IQ testing which have dominated psychology since the early 20th century. Bob walks us through his evolving theories of intelligence, ranging from the Triarchic theory (creative, practical, and analytic) of intelligence to an increased focus on success and wisdom to his latest work on adaptive intelligence which focuses on the positive contribution one can provide to society. We dive into the timeliness of this construct in light of the challenging times we've been facing of late and conclude with Dr. Sternberg's perspectives on the risks and opportunities we're facing now in this singular moment in history. It's a profound and enlightening conversation that you won't want to miss. We very much appreciate the opportunity to dive into all of this with a true luminary in the field of psychology, creativity, and intelligence. If you like what you're hearing, subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts and visit us at TrendingInEducation.com.
Dr. Jacqueline Bhabha is FXB Director of Research, Professor of the Practice of Health and Human Rights at the Harvard School of Public Health, the Jeremiah Smith Jr. Lecturer in Law at Harvard Law School, and an Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. Dr. Bhabha joins Mike to talk about her new book, A Better Future: The Role of Higher Education for Displaced and Marginalized People that explores the critical importance of access to tertiary education to displaced and marginalized populations. We dive into the challenges faced by refugees, immigrants, and other marginalized groups in gaining access to educational pathways that are essential to living safe, healthy, and fulfilling lives. We also touch on the impact of the pandemic and the related explosion in online education on the lives of marginalized populations seeking access to learning pathways around the globe. It's an eye-opening and important conversation that you don't want to miss. If you like what you’re hearing, follow us at TrendinginEducation.com and wherever you get your podcasts!
Dr. Terri Givens returns to the show to talk about her newly released book Radical Empathy: Finding a Path to Bridging Racial Divides and its implications in higher education and society more broadly. We touch on Terri's personal story and how it taught her to be vulnerable and to get comfortable in her own skin. This involves empathy for yourself, your family, and your neighborhood as you progress to take action to effect change which is the radical part of Radical Empathy. We dive into Terri's perspectives on Higher Education and Education Leadership as a black woman confronting structural racism in a compelling and personal story that we hope resonates. If you like what you're hearing, subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts and. check us out at TrendingInEducation.com.
Kathleen Almy, CEO of Almy Education, joins Mike to talk about her experiences as an author, as math faculty, and most recently as a consultant helping community colleges develop effective and scalable developmental math programs that drive completion rates and student success. After hearing Kathy’s origin story, we explore the challenges and opportunities endemic to math education in 2021. Then we look ahead through the pandemic response and on into the years ahead. To learn more about what Kathy and team are doing, check them out at AlmyEducation.com If you like what you’re hearing, subscribe wherever you get four podcasts and follow us at Trendingineducation.com.
Dr. Sheryl Burgstahler joins Mike to talk about her work in access, Universal Design, and Universal Design for Learning (UDL). Sheryl shared how she got involved with accessibility in the early days of home computing and how that has evolved into her role at the University of Washington today. We talk about her book, Creating Inclusive Learning Opportunities in Higher Ed, and other great resources for educators who want to build products and courses that can be easily accessed in usable ways by the diverse range of learners who are out there. It’s a rollicking deep dive into an emerging field that you won’t want to miss! If you like what you’re hearing, subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and follow us at TrendinginEducation.com
Ron Reed and Greg Rosenbaum from SXSW EDU return to join Mike just before SXSW EDU 2021 begins on March 9th. You can learn more about the conference at https://www.sxswedu.com/ We talk through our history together with this being the third time Ron and Greg have joined us on the show. We take time to reflect on the challenges and transformations of the past year and get their thoughts on the opportunities around moving online and the shifts in thinking required to make the most of the online format. Greg talks about the shift from "serendipity to intention" and Ron provides a broader read on the impact of the past year and how that will be reflected in the themes and topics of SXSW EDU 2021. And we also talk about Oprah Winfrey's Keynote with Dr. Bruce Perry on their upcoming book, What Happened to You?: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing. It's a riveting conversation that gives a window into the many challenges we've faced and the new perspectives we're arriving at in difficult times. If you like what you're hearing, subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and follow us at TrendinginEducation.com.
Geoff and Sky Marietta join Mike to discuss their book, Rural Education in America. We hear the Mariettas' story from rural roots to meeting at Teach For America in the Navajo Nation, to Harvard Yard, and then finally to Harlan County, Kentucky, where Sky and family have deep roots. We look at how rural America is perceived both from the outside in and also from the inside in as we learn the critical role education plays in knitting together rural communities. It's an eye-opening conversation that will help broaden your understanding of the problems, opportunities, and perspectives that drive rural students, teachers, families, and communities. In a time of polarization and risks of stereotyping rural America, this is a timely conversation that you won't want to miss! If you like what you're hearing subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and follow us at TrendingInEducation.com.
Mike welcomes Anurupa Ganguly, Founder and CEO of Prisms of Reality, a Virtual Reality solution for teaching K-12 algebra. As a student, teacher, and administrator, Anurupa was consistently frustrated by students’ lack of deep conceptual understanding of math and science. Find out how she’s leveraging the cutting-edge technology of VR to deepen and accelerate math learning in middle school. Anurupa describes what's involved in creating compelling VR experiences to provide emotional resonance and conceptual depth as she describes her vision for the future for Prisms. It takes a cross-disciplinary team of game designers, developers, UX, product, and content stakeholders to build experiences like their beta launch for Algebra which is now available. It's an imaginative conversation about how emerging VR capabilities can really make a difference in Math and STEM education that you won't want to miss. If you like what you're hearing, subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts and check us out at TrendinginEducation.com
Dr. Daniel Harrison joins Mike to talk about his latest book, Live at Jackson Station. We hear how Dan became a Sociology Professor at Lander University in South Carolina before we dive into the importance of storytelling as Dan tells the story of Jackson Station, a legendary blues bar in Greenwood, South Carolina in the 1980s and early nineties. We learn about the tolerance and diversity of the music scene at the bar before things take a “True Crime” turn with a bush ax attack in the parking lot at 3am. Along the way Dan and Mike muse about the relevance of sociology and the future of higher education. Then we touch on Dan’s first book, Making Sense of Marshall Ledbetter, which tells the story of a university student who broke into the Florida State Capitol in 1991 and holed up in the Sergeant-At-Arms office resulting in a standoff with police replete with a surprising list of demands and a climactic conclusion. We conclude by discussing Dan’s recent article titled “Sociology at the End of History”. In all, it’s an entertaining listen that you won’t want to miss. If you like what you’re hearing, check us out at TrendingInEducation.com and subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts.
Dr. John Giordano joins Mike to explain how he founded Semester For Change to help students and families navigate the transition from High School to the right career path for them. John shares the story of his career in Fine Arts Education that bridges from high school into colleges with strong ties to the community throughout. John describes his own experiences over the past year which led to him forming an alternative to a year of traditional higher education in these chaotic times. Semester For Change builds on John and team's experiences helping a diverse cross-section of students make choices and build projects that help them find their passion and apply design thinking principles to build their post-secondary pathway to steer towards productive and meaningful careers. How would you design a program to help students and families who are choosing to hit pause to reflect before leaning into what makes sense for them next? Listen in to find out. You can learn more about what John and team are doing at https://www.semesterforchange.org/ If you like what you're hearing, follow us at TrendinginEducation.com and subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts.
Mike welcomes Jeff Gothelf, author of Forever Employable: How to Stop looking for Work and Let Your Next Job Find You. Jeff starts by talking about his early days in rock’n’roll and Web 1.0. Leading a design team in the early days, he and his team had to find a way to match their processes to the then ascendent agile software development process. Jeff was then able to leverage this new approach into a book, Lean UX, and from there into teaching.
More recently, he has responded to his audience by expounding on a “continuous pull” model of letting clients come to you. You need to establish credibility with your audience, and then frequently and consistently provide them with what they want, adapting to the signals they send you.
Jeff elaborates on finding the right focus, and how you can deal with “imposter syndrome” by just “shipping it”. Jeff also notes how you can learn from thought leaders both within your field and beyond. Mike asks about the future, and Jeff says he plans to continue deeper into the “creator economy”. He finishes explaining how Forever Employable can provide you the freedom to work when and how you want.
If you like what you’re hearing, follow us at TrendinginEducation.com and wherever you get your podcasts.
Miles Iton joins Mike Palmer to talk about how he's incorporated Hip Hop into his EFL (English as a Foreign Language) training programs. Miles is the Founder and Program Director at Lo-Fi Language Learning. Lo-Fi Language Learning is a version of n.e.Bodied Entertainment’s Freestyle + Floetry tutorial fitted to an EFL (English as a Foreign Language) curriculum. Founded in 2019 after winning Distinguished Honors (1st Prize) at the National University of Science & Technology’s Be Young Beyond Startup Competition in Taipei, Taiwan, Lo-Fi looks to shake up the landscapes of both classroom English learning and the hip-hop scene out East. We learn what brought Miles to this point in his career and explore how Hip Hop and relevance can really make a difference when trying to get students engaged and motivated in their language learning activities. We also explore the broader cultural impact of Hip Hop and how it can make a difference in the classroom before concluding with Miles' take on where things are heading in the future. If you like what you're hearing subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you listen to podcasts and check us out at TrendingInEducation.com
Ryan Craig joins Mike to discuss his work at Achieve Partners and as a Senior Education Contributor to Forbes and other publications. He's the author of College Disrupted and A New U and is a forward-thinking voice on the future of post-secondary education. We discuss his articles about IUP and Quibi and the recent kerfuffle about Dr. Jill Biden, among other topics, as we zero in on the challenges higher education faces and how we can evolve both within and perhaps more importantly outside of it in a wide-ranging and informative conversation. Ryan and the team at Achieve Partners are focused on new and emerging models and ventures that focus on connecting high school students to their first good job. He explains how he was originally looking to find these pathways through traditional higher education but has since shifted his focus to models like apprenticeships and income share agreements that he sees as more efficient at achieving the critical outcome of landing a good first job. It's an insightful and thought-provoking conversation that you won't want to miss. If you like what you're hearing, follow us at TrendinginEducation.com and wherever you get your podcasts.
Mike is joined by Bryanne Leeming, CEO of Unruly Studios, and creator of Unruly Splats. Bryanne begins by explaining the origins of Unruly Splats. Her early exposure to programming was key, as was the entrepreneurialism of her parents and her childhood involvement in sports. After graduating from college, she worked in product development. Seeing the interesting but often passive experiences offered by many Edtech products, Bryanne founded Unruly Studios. Bryanne describes Splats as “programmable floor buttons”. They’re stomped on by kids to cause interactions, and kids can program them to create new games. Originally prototyped while she was still in business school, Spats are now in hundreds of schools across the U.S. and Canada. Kids have stomped them more than 1 million times Mike asks about the impact of Covid on Splats, and Bryanne explains that even before the pandemic she and her team have been interviewing hundreds of teachers about their needs. As a result, they offer special challenges between schools and other moments of engagement. Mike then asks about the social needs, especially in our time of social unrest. Bryanne discusses how they have baked in social from the start. They then discuss Unruly’s focus on building communities of practice, and how the Splats work with instructors and across the curriculum. Mike and Bryanne then further discuss Unruly’s efforts in light of the pandemic: How the Splats can be easily cleaned. They discuss how teachers are altering their environments to allow for safe, social play, and the support that Unruly provides the teachers. Covid opened up a new market for Splats to be used for music education. And it’s not slowing their planned March Madness competition. Finally, Mike and Bryanne discuss Unruly’s commitment to diversity and inclusion. For further information: Communities of Practice
How to Find Bryanne:
unrulysplats.com
Twitter: @unruly_studios
How to Find Mike:
Twitter: @TrendingInEd
email: mike@palmer.media
If you like what you’re hearing, follow us at TrendinginEducation.com and wherever you get your podcasts.
Michelle Weise is the author of Long Life Learning: Preparing for Jobs That Don't Even Exist Yet. Michelle is also a Senior Advisor at the philanthropic investment group, Imaginable Futures. On this episode, she joins Mike Palmer to discuss her new book and how we can reimagine our learning ecosystem in response to longer lifespans, automation, and rapid transformation of the 21st Century. We begin with Michelle’s origin story, how she moved from being an English professor into educational technology including stints at Clayton Christensen’s Institute for Disruptive Innovation, Southern New Hampshire University, and Strada Education Network. Michelle notes the difficulty of predicting actual future careers, and how her book focuses on the type of worker and the type of problem solver we all need to become. We need to offload much of the current tasks that AI can do better while developing both our “human-plus” skills as well as the technical expertise required to exercise judgment. Mike and Michelle discuss “T-shaped” learners, and how they develop over a long career. Michelle talks about later-life learners, and how they can profitably upskill. Pursuing a four-year degree may not appeal to 55+ learners, and even the current MOOCs may not meet their needs. Given all the challenges, Mike asks Michelle to provide some hope. She tells him how Clay Christensen helped her stay optimistic, and how the wide variety of innovators should stick to the shared agenda of creating a robust ecosystem: breaking down the walls that obtain between K-12, higher ed, and workforce learning. And how the pandemic has further exposed this need. Mike and Michelle discuss the work of Suzanne Simard regarding the surprising subterranean ecosystem of trees and how it can serve as a model of the idealized education ecosystem. They then discuss the power of such metaphors. They also note David Epstein’s Range, and the importance of the generalist in the world of specialization. “Far transfer” is also on the table. Finally, Michelle discusses “skills compasses”. Enterprises often do not know the skills their employees have, and let them go despite their potential usefulness. She notes a few innovative companies that help those laid off find the training they need to meet the skills demanded in their labor market. There's plenty to explore in this conversation you don't want to miss! For further information:
Emsi
Suzanne Simard, Finding the Mother Tree
SkyHive
Future Fit
The Americans with Disabilities Act
How to Find Michelle:
Twitter: @rwmichelle
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rwmichelle/
riseanddesign.io
How to Find Mike:
Twitter: @TrendingInEd
Email: mike@palmer.media
If you like what you’re hearing, follow us at TrendinginEducation.com and wherever you get your podcasts.
Dr. Mordecai Brownlee proudly serves as the Vice President for Student Success at St. Philip’s College. St. Phillips holds the distinction of being the only institution granted both HBCU and HSI status. He also serves as adjunct faculty at Morgan State University School of Education & Urban Studies and the University of Charleston School of Business & Leadership. In addition, Mordecai is an education columnist with EdSurge and has authored recent articles on Financial Literacy and Co-Requisite Developmental Education that form the foundation of his conversation with Mike Palmer in this episode. We begin by hearing what got Mordecai to this point in his career journey and use that as the jumping off point to diving developmental education and the importance of teaching financial literacy. We explore the challenges students battling poverty face to achieve success and social mobility and warn of the challenges of taking on student debt. It's an in-depth view of the work Dr. Brownlee and team are doing in urban San Antonio and there's much to be learned from their example. For more information about Dr. Brownlee, please visit www.ItsDrMordecai.com If you like what you're hearing, follow us at TrendinginEducation.com and wherever you get your podcasts.
In this episode, we're excited to welcome Dr. Bridget Burns to Trending in Education to talk about innovation in higher education. Named one of the “Most Innovative People in Higher Education” by Washington Monthly, Bridget is the founding Executive Director of the University Innovation Alliance (UIA). The UIA is the groundbreaking national consortium of public research universities working together to test and scale innovations that close achievement gaps and improve outcomes for all students. Since its founding in 2014, the UIA campuses have increased their low-income degrees awarded by 37% (producing over 30,000 additional low-income graduates to date) and increased graduates of color by 73%. The Alliance has been featured in national outlets like 60 Minutes, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Fast Company, and in the documentary "Unlikely". The UIA has inspired and supported the formation of more than 15 other university networks working to improve postsecondary success for low-income students. We begin by hearing Bridget's origin story as an education professional which takes us back to her roots in rural Montana and community college before finding her way into higher education and ultimately the UIA. We explore how the UIA was founded and their mission of understanding how universities can innovate, how they can test ideas across different university cultures and contexts, and how they can spread the word about what they're learning. Bridget shares what it was like to work with Michael Crow at ASU as the UIA was first coming together and as it's grown and evolved since. Bridget provides examples of how innovations have emerged across the 11 member institutions of the UIA and looks ahead to where she sees the organization heading in the future. She also shares her perspective on new and emerging media like Tik Tok and its relevance in reaching the rising generations. It's a fascinating conversation and we thank Dr. Burns for sharing her time and perspective to the show. If you like what you're hearing, follow us at TrendinginEducation.com and wherever you get your podcasts.
Abby Schneiderman and Gene Newman from Everplans join Mike to talk about their new book In Case You Get Hit By A Bus: How to Organize Your Life Now for When You're Not Around Later. We begin by getting the origin story of Everplans based on Abby's experiences as a tech entrepreneur and as someone who faced unexpected challenges when her brother suddenly died at age 51. We learn how Abby and Adam Seifer, her Co-founder, created Everplans and how they brought in Gene to help write the book and begin to educate folks on how to navigate the difficult and complex challenges that emerge with the loss of a loved one. We touch on emerging trends around digital estate planning, scenario-based thinking, and capturing the "softer side" of one's legacy for families and friends to hold onto after your gone. With the massive shifts of thinking due to the pandemic, we also think through how planning mindsets are shifting and how much of the work the folks at Everplans are doing was ahead of trend and is now incredibly zeitgeisty as we begin to think about what a post-COVID world might look like. If you like what you're hearing, tell a friend and share the love! Follow us at TrendingInEducation.com and wherever you get your podcasts.
Dr. April Willis joins Mike to talk about the work she and team are doing at the National Virtual Teachers Association (NVTA) to help teachers manage the difficult transition to teaching online. April recounts her experiences beginning in the classroom and then moving across various roles in education before joining the NVTA to help establish best practices for virtual instruction. What began prior to the pandemic accelerated quickly in response to the tremendous spike in demand. April shares her perspective on how virtual instruction will continue to play a critical role in the learning ecosystem long beyond the pandemic and how we can ensure we can get better at teaching online in new ways. If you like what you're hearing, follow us at TrendinginEducation.com and wherever you get your podcasts.
After graduating from college, Mike Marriner travelled across America with two college friends in an old, green RV. Along the way, they interviewed leaders across a wide array of fields and occupations to learn how folks got to where they were. That first trip resulted in the book Roadtrip Nation: A Guide to Discovering Your Road in Life and soon led to the founding of Road Trip Nation where Mike and team now provide that same experiential learning experience to other students. They've been regularly featured on PBS and across major media outlets over the past 20 years. In a wide-ranging conversation, we touch on how the lowering of barriers to entry is making it easier than ever to chart new career paths like Mike's. He reflects on recent work they've done to launch Roadtrip Nation's first Online Course allowing their tools and insights to reach a broader audience who might not be able to take to the road. Mike recounts stories from recent trips with community college students, and students with learning disabilities, among others. We conclude by getting Mike's perspective on the years ahead where he has plans to amplify the stories of vulnerable populations on trips with groups like formerly incarcerated populations. Mike also touches on how he's looking to scale the impact of Roadtrip Nation through tools like the online course and their library of over 8000 interviews. It's an inspiring and aspirational conversation and we thank Mike for kicking off our 2021 season of Trending in Education in style. If you like what you're hearing, subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and check us out at trendingineducation.com.
In this special edition of Trending in Education, host Mike Palmer shares the 21 Trends he's seeing on the horizon for 2021. Based on over 100 shows in 2020 talking to 75 different guests, we've been able to glean insights that help us get out ahead of what's emerging in the future of learning in 2021 and beyond. And this is the episode where we share that all with you! You want to discover what's emerging in learning in these transformative times? Then listen to this episode and join us in the conversation as we head into the rest of the 2020s. And be sure to follow us at https://trendingineducation.com and wherever you get your podcasts. To the Future!
Melissa Griffith and Dan Strafford join Mike Palmer for this special 2021 Kickoff show. What trends are top of mind for us as we lean into 2021? How will we turn the page from 2020 into the New Year? What have we learned? We talk Biotech, EdTech, Data Privacy, and the enormous opportunities emerging in Learning due to the forcing function of rapid digital adoption in 2020 due to the pandemic. Thanks so much for listening and here's to an incredible 2021 for all of our listeners both new and longtime! If you like what you're hearing, follow us at https://trendingineducation.com and wherever you listen to podcasts. And remember to spread the word as we continue to explore the future of learning in the New Year of 2021 and beyond!
To bring 2020 to a close, we've compiled highlights from the 10 most downloaded episodes of Trending in Education this year. We begin with Angela Siefer talking about Digital Inclusion before hearing Adi Hanash's perspective on how to be a great live online instructor. Then we listen to Dr. Rich Milner talk about the importance of grace in light of the Black Lives Matter movement and the challenges of teaching in 2020. From there, we hear from Helen Lee Bouygues, Zachary Davis, Frank Britt, Bryan Alexander, and David Meerman Scott and reflect back on our March Madness Tournament, the Gartner Hype Cycle, and much more. It was a profound and transformational year and we appreciate everyone who was with us for the ride. Be on the lookout for more cutting edge content covering the world of learning trends as we dive into 2021 and beyond in the coming weeks and years. If you like what you're hearing, write us a review and spread the word. Follow us at https://trendingineducation.com and subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts.
Melissa Griffith and Dan Strafford rejoin Mike to look back on an amazing year in learning trends. We take a cautiously optimistic stance looking back on the year and peering ahead into the future as we review highlights from some of the top episodes of Trending in Education from 2020. We talk about the pandemic response, the promise of the vaccines, and the transformational thinking about race that has emerged in response to George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter Movement. We also touch on the emerging renaissance in online learning as we look forward to turning the page to 2021 to lean into disruption and reinvention with renewed grace, empathy, and hope. Thanks to everyone who contributed to an amazing year of trendspotting in learning. If you like what you're hearing, follow us at https://trendingineducation.com and wherever you get your podcasts.,
Dustin Ramsdell is a higher ed tech professional who works to support student success. For the past few years, he’s also been the host of The Higher Ed Geek Podcast exploring trends in higher ed and educational technology. Dustin joins Mike for this episode of Trending in Education to share his perspective on three trends to be on the lookout for heading into 2021. It’s a fun conversation to kick off our looks ahead into 2021 and beyond. If you like what you’re hearing, follow us at TrendinginEducation.com and wherever you get your podcasts.
Sean D’Arcy, VP of Kahoot! at School and Home, joins Mike to talk about what’s new and emerging from the interactive, gamified EdTech platform. We begin by getting Sean’s backstory as a technology, product, and marketing executive as we learn how he landed at Kahoot. Then we shift to the challenges and opportunities he’s seeing in this tumultuous year. We conclude with a conversation about Kahoot!’s recent integration with Bitmoji as we brainstorm better words for edutainment. In all, it’s a fun and imaginative conversation that you won’t want to miss. If you like what you’re hearing, follow us at TrendinginEducation.com and wherever you get your podcasts!
Lindsey Dixon and Julissa Baez from The Urban Assembly join Mike to talk about Postsecondary Readiness, Workforce Pathways, and the Future of Work. We hear Julissa and Lindsey’s origin stories and learn what drives their passion to make a positive impact on students and families overcoming poverty and striving for social mobility. We explore how to move work readiness programs further upstream into high school and K12 to ensure graduates are making smart decisions planning for the careers of the future. If you enjoy what you’re hearing, follow us at TrendinginEducation.com and subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts!
Noah Teitelbaum is the Executive Director of Empowering Education. That means he does a bit of everything, from chatting with the principals and teachers using the program to managing program updates to writing SEL children's stories about bunnies (https://empoweringeducation.org/book/). Empowering Education is a non-profit that enables learning by contributing to the social and emotional wellness of students, families, and educators through a mindfulness-based bilingual SEL curriculum. They offer an accessible, trauma-informed, affordable, and easy-to-use curriculum for K-8 teachers and SEL specialists to use in the classroom. Noah joins Mike on this episode of Trending in Education to tell his origin story as an education professional with all the twists and turns that have happened since. We dive into the mission and approach he's undertaken leading Empowering Education through this transformative year. We conclude with Noah's perspective on what's emerging on the horizon. If you like what you're hearing, follow us at TrendinginEducation.com and subscribe to us wherever you listen to podcasts.
James Nottingham is the Co-Founder of Challenging Learning and is the Creator of the Learning Pit, a program that he founded in 2003 to encourage students to get out of their comfort zone. Since then it has scaled across the globe to millions of educators and learners who have grabbed hold of its message of inspiration. James joins Mike to explain how this all got started with his experiences as a troubled student, which allowed him to connect his experiences to those of students who are beginning to grapple with the discomfort that comes with pushing yourself to learn more and become more. We talk Vygotsky, desirable difficulty, and other related concepts from learning science in the context of real-world experiences and examples as we help James spread the word about the power of embracing challenging learning and the ideas behind the Learning Pit. If you like what you're hearing, subscribe to us wherever you get your podcasts and follow us at TrendingInEduation.com.
Kate Eberle Walker is an education industry leader with 20+ years of experience in leading, managing, advising, acquiring and investing in education companies. She is the CEO of Presence Learning, the leading provider of live online special education related services for K-12. On this episode, Kate returns to Trending in Education to talk through what it was like to lead her organization through this difficult and transformative year. We talk about the emerging trends involving teletherapy and remote care for students with special needs. Then we explore the challenges and opportunities for speech pathologists, occupational therapists, and school psychologists as those services have moved rapidly to live online delivery. Kate concludes by sharing her perspective on what's emerging and lets us know about a new book she's working on that is due out in the Spring. In all, it's a fabulous conversation that you won't want to miss! If you like what you're hearing, why not follow us at Trending in Education and subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts.
Robyn Phillips is the Deputy Director of Postsecondary Access at The Urban Assembly. The Urban Assembly is a non-profit organization working to advance students' economic and social mobility by improving public education. Robyn is also the Board Chair of the College Access Consortium of New York (CACNY). On this episode, Robyn joins Mike to explain what postsecondary education looks like in 2020 and how she helps high school students and their families navigate decisions about their life after graduating from one of The UA's 23 affiliated schools located across New York City. We get Robyn's perspective on what it's like for families making postsecondary education decisions in light of the pandemic and emotional upheaval of this year before concluding with her take on new and emerging trends on the horizon. Robyn brings a unique perspective that we hope you'll enjoy. Thank you for listening. If you like what you're hearing, subscribe to us at Trending in Education or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Brian Tobal is the CEO of SchoolHouse, an education company that provides a home to microschools led by outstanding educators. On this episode, Brian joins Mike to tell the story of the series of successful education ventures and initiatives that he's embarked on throughout his career. We conclude by diving into what led to his joining SchoolHouse to lead them through these tumultuous times. We discuss why Brian is shifting his focus from algorithms to teachers and what it's been like leading an initiative that caught some COVID-19 tailwinds in 2020. We wrap up by picking Brian's brain for other emerging trends and things to look out for. If you like it when we get "zeitgeisty" - then this episode is one you won't want to miss. To hear more about what's emerging in learning, subscribe to us at Trending in Education.
Steve Joordens is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Toronto. He's also the Director of the Advanced Learning Technologies Lab at U of T where he researches the application of research findings to real life learning interventions. Steve joins Mike in a free-flowing conversation about the challenges and opportunities with online learning in these very confusing times. Steve shares his perspectives on how best to navigate the rapid shift to online and recommends we look to experts in learning science and digital instruction to help navigate the massive shifts we're experiencing. We talk feedback, scaling online solutions, and emphasize the importance of developing social emotional and interpersonal skills to train students to be ready to land their first jobs.
Melissa, Dan, and Mike regroup to reflect on the year that was in 2020 and how gratefulness and reflection have become key trends in our thinking. While we talk through the allure of doomscrolling and social media, we also shift our focus to think through how we're becoming more reflective and intentional about how we spend our time and those opportunities we have to share with those we're close to. We also take a moment to thank each other and our listeners for powering through a challenging year as we try to be hopeful about the future without jinxing anything. We hope those of you who are celebrating Thanksgiving get some restorative time with those you love now and throughout the coming year. Thanks as always for listening!
Adrian Ridner is the Co-founder and CEO of Study.com, a trusted education website used by over 30 million students and teachers each month. Adrian is committed to improving online education through personalized learning solutions that are engaging, effective, and affordable. In this episode of Trending in Education, Adrian joins Mike to tell his origin story leading up to the founding and scaling of Study.com over the past 20 years. We dig into how a program like Study.com opens up access for learners to work at their own pace to find pathways to success. We also explore how the pandemic has driven new behavior patterns on Study.com and get Adrian's perspective on emerging trends in online learning in the coming years. It's an episode you won't want to miss. To get more shows like this, visit us and subscribe at Trending in Education.
Mike Iskandar joins Mike on this episode to talk about how he founded Time Travel Journeys to help schools & organizations empower kids to turn self doubt, anxiety, and isolation into self compassion, confidence, & connection. Mike tells the story of how what began as a project of self-discovery in his 40th year evolved into the program he runs today that centers around getting to know yourself across the years of your life and learning to forgive yourself. If you're interested in Social Emotional Learning (SEL), self-discovery, and perspective taking throughout our lives, this is the episode for you.
Howard Blumenthal joins Mike on this episode about reimagining school for the future. Howard's best-known work is Where in the World is Carmen San Diego?, which he created and produced for PBS. Nowadays, Howard's keen interest is in growing up in the 21st century; what children and teenagers learn, and how they learn; global citizenship; social change; and human progress. We explore his big picture thinking about media/technology, behavioral change, public good, and international relationships as we dive into his founding of Reinventing School earlier this year. We also touch on his work with Kids On Earth. Howard's lifelong interest connects play, fun and imagination with curiosity as the primary driver for learning. We hope you enjoy this conversation that explores how to foster global citizenship in kids that is enabled by personal learning, media, and technology. Thanks as always for listening. Subscribe to Trending in Education here.
Kelly Palmer is the author of The Expertise Economy: How the smartest companies use learning to engage, compete and succeed, which focuses on the urgent need to upskill the workforce with the skills needed most for the future of work. She's been published in Harvard Business Review, MIT Sloan Management, Bloomberg, The Financial Times, Forbes, and Fast Company among others. Kelly joins our host, Mike Palmer, to explore how trends with workforce skills and job readiness are reshaping the professional landscape and how smart organizations and individuals are playing with their heads up to get out ahead of what's emerging through automation and digital transformation. Listen up and enjoy! Subscribe to us at https://trendingineducation.com/subscribe or anywhere you listen to podcasts.
Adam Gamwell, a Design Anthropologist and Host of This Anthro Life, returns to Trending in Education to explore the relevance of anthropology and the social sciences to the workplace and business. Adam recounts his experiences teaching anthropology, managing Missing Links Studios, and most recently working with MotivBase on blending AI and Machine Learning with Anthropology. If you're passionate about the value of the social sciences, ethnography, and qualitative research, this is a great episode for you! Thanks as always for listening!
Amrit Ahluwalia is the Managing Editor of The EvoLLLution, the online newspaper developed by Destiny Solutions to create a conversation hub focused on non-traditional higher education and the transforming postsecondary marketplace. On this episode, Amrit joins Mike Palmer to talk about non-traditional learners in higher education, the importance of continuing education, and the need to reframe the focus of higher education to encompass the broader needs emerging in the workforce. Amrit shares what got him to where he is in his career as we explore why the pandemic may be increasing awareness of the importance of continuing education and the wide array of learners who engage with it. We conclude with Amrit's perspectives on what's on the horizon for non-traditional higher education and beyond. Thanks as always for listening!
Zach Silverzweig is the CEO and Founder of TinyIvy, a startup that is focused on helping children and families learn to read English. Zach joins Mike in an exploration of why learning how to read English presents unique challenges and how the TIPS system developed by Zach and team helps make things better. We begin with Zach's origin story before diving into the complexities of English language learning. By adding unique diacritical symbols to letters to clarify pronunciation rules, the team at TinyIvy has borrowed insights from other languages to help crack the code on learning to read English. We get Zach's perspective on how this approach may transform things in the early childhood education system and how he sees things progressing in that space before shifting to get his take on new and emerging trends more broadly. Whether you're a parent, an educator, or someone curious about how learning to read works, there's a lot to gain out of listening to this episode. Thanks for taking the time.
Nicolle Merrill joins Mike to talk about acquiring skills, shifting careers, and overcoming fear and self-doubt. Nicolle is the author of the book Punch Doubt in the Face: How to Upskill, Change Careers, and Beat the Robots. She tells her story of career growth and lessons learned along the way. Nicolle is also the host of a podcast called 50 Conversations in which she explores career shifts, skill development, and the challenges of automation and disruptions in the workplace. Of course, there is talk of robots and some fascinating insights based on Nicolle’s recent experiences as a conversation designer who leverages her writing and creative skills to bring diverse perspectives to her teams that tend to consist of engineers with different skills, biases, and backgrounds. It’s a fascinating conversation that you won’t want to miss. Thanks again for listening.
Dr. Mark Sanders, a Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at UNC Charlotte, returns to the show to talk to Mike and Melissa about student voter engagement, the relevance of philosophy, and the importance of supporting faculty and the broader community. Mark describes the work that is being done by FacNet, the Faculty Voting Rights Engagement Network where he is on the Steering Committee. We explore how to drive student engagement in a way that is non-partisan but doesn't shy away from politically-charged topics. We also dig into how philosophy can help us navigate these difficult times and help hone the media literacy and critical thinking skills necessary the be engaged citizens. If you haven't voted yet, please do so. And from there, the real work of ongoing civic and student engagement can begin..
In a Special Fall 2020 K12 Education episode, Mike is joined by Sarah Darville, Matt Barnum, and Kalyn Belsha from Chalkbeat to talk through trends they've been seeing while reporting on K12 throughout the challenging year that is 2020. Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news organization committed to covering one of America's most important stories: the effort to improve schools for all children, especially those who have historically lacked access to a quality education. Sarah is the Managing Editor for Chalkbeat and she shares a broad perspective on how they've navigated this complex year with a local focus that can coalesce into national themes over time. Matt brings a sharp focus on educational research and policy while Kalyn reports on stories from the perspective of educators, parents, and students. Both Matt and Kalyn are Reporters with the National Desk at Chalkbeat. As we all look ahead towards the 2020 US Presidential Election in the coming week, the Chalkbeat team helps us get out ahead of what might be on the horizon for K12 Education in a rich and engaging conversation that concludes with a few lifehacks, cocktail tips, and a book recommendation from Sarah. In all, a wonderful conversation that you won't want to miss.
For this episode, Dr. Eric T. Weber joins Mike to talk about the importance of educational philosophy, especially in schools of education. Eric is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky. He's also one of the hosts of the radio show and podcast, Philosophy Bakes Bread, where he regularly raises relevant issues to explore with the help of a critical, philosophical mindset. Eric recently authored a 1-sheeter raising relevant philosophical questions about education in a time of crisis with further questions in which education is always in crisis. These questions were designed for a Society of Philosophers in America (SOPHIA) event but they are relevant for any of us grappling with the role of education in these challenging times. Eric provides a heartfelt perspective on what John Dewey would think if he were around today. Eric edited a book of essays by Dewey that is due out at the end of the year. We hope you enjoy this conversation. Thanks as always for listening.
Dr. Lorne Buchman, the President of ArtCenter College of Design and host of the Change Lab Podcast, joins Mike this week to share his experiences as a maker and the leader of an esteemed College of Art and Design. Lorne shares his origin story that is deeply steeped in the practical application of his education in the theater at Stanford University where he earned his doctorate. We touch on the power of humanistic psychology and the importance of building a culture where creatives can truly thrive to do their best work. Then we dive into how Lorne and team have delivered on the mission statement of ArtCenter which is "Learn to Create. Influence Change" both historically and particularly in the context of the challenging year that is 2020. We also get some of Lorne's perspective as a podcaster since he's been hosting Change Lab going on seven seasons now. Lorne is a visionary who to this day still thinks like a theatrical director. We feel privileged to have gotten access to his unique perspective on this episode. We hope you enjoy listening as much as we did pulling this episode together.
Dr. Jonathan Cohen joins Mike this week to explore the global trend of social emotional learning (SEL) and violence prevention in schools. Jonathan recently co-edited the book Feeling Safe in School through Harvard Education Press where he and team studied school climate and violence prevention programs in schools across 11 cultures spanning the globe. In our conversation, we explore Jonathan's origin story before digging into what can be learned by understanding how different cultures conceptualize and address many of the challenges children face by feeling unsafe in their schools. Jonathan explains the work he's doing with the International Observatory of School Climate and Violence Prevention as we tease out what folks are getting right and what they might be missing in the realm of school safety and violence prevention. We're happy to showcase the important work being done here to provide educators and students with the tools and techniques needed to foster safer, more effective learning environments. We hope you enjoy the conversation.
Maria Andersen, the Founder and CEO of Coursetune, joins Mike to talk about the importance of good instructional design and curriculum development to effective online learning. Maria walks us through her extensive and varied experiences ranging from teaching math at a community college, to working at Canvas, the large LMS company, to leading instructional design at Western Governors University (WGU) before founding Coursetune three years ago. We dig into the benefit of having a central place where courses can be mapped to learning objectives and visualized in a way that helps everyone understand with some detail the design thinking that has gone into the course. We conclude with some thoughts about how the pandemic has accelerated movement to online and how this can ultimately be a good thing once we address issues of access and equity. Thanks as always for listening.
Dr. Chad Goldberg, Professor of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, joins Mike to delve into the history and relevance of The Wisconsin Idea in understanding the role of a public university. Chad's written a book called Education for Democracy Renewing the Wisconsin Idea that is due out this Fall and we explore many of the relevant and timely themes covered in the book. Chad catches us up on the history of The Wisconsin Idea which dates back over 100 years and envisions the university's purpose as in service of the public and democracy. While it's called The Wisconsin Idea, the concept is broadly relevant to questions about the role of higher education today. Chad was the Instructor of Record when the course launched in 2016 and he's returned to lead the course again this year. We dive into how things have changed since 2016 and learn how the course design and related conversation have evolved in 2020. The public lecture series is accessible to everyone and can be found here. We hope you enjoy the conversation.
Dr. Neil Heffernan, the William Smith Dean Chair Professor at Worcestor Polytechnic Institute (WPI), joins Mike to talk about how his career interweaves great teaching, computer science, and "ASSISTments" - a set of digital tools designed to make homework assignment and evaluation more efficient. Neil tells us his origin story which includes meeting his wife Cristina while teaching and doing research in K12 Education right through their creation of the ASSISTments Foundation for which Neil serves as the Chair. We talk about the effective blending of artificial intelligence and human teaching to deliver next-level learning opportunities. We dive into the critical importance of the human elements of motivation, coaching, and inspiration in great teaching. We also discuss how Neil and team have been able to leverage a platform built on crowdsourced content to begin to truly scale ASSISTments to reach hundreds of thousands of students and how the pandemic has increased demand and usage. Neil and team are doing fascinating work. We hope you enjoy learning more about it!
Kelly Ryan Bailey, the host of Let's Talk About Skills Baby and the Director of Open Skills at EMSI, joins Mike to talk about the journey that brought her to where she is today as a mother, a podcaster, and a global skills evangelist. After exploring Kelly's personal journey, we dig into the three parts of the job skills marketplace: the employee, the employer, and the educator. How do they relate? And how can we as individuals learn to continue to acquire relevant skills, be grateful for small improvements, and stay motivated to learn throughout our lifecourses? Kelly brings a lot of energy and passion for the world of skill development and we've very happy to have gotten time to dive into this emerging trend with her. We hope you enjoy.
This week, Mike is joined by Prakash Nair, the Founder of Education Design International (EDI) and author of Blueprint for Tomorrow from Harvard Education Press. Prakash describes how the design of K12 schools can and should be completely rethought. School buildings and their institutional designs contribute to a "cells and bells" culture that stifles learning, creativity, and joy. Prakash provides alternative approaches to conceiving of school architecture that are less tied up in the expensive construct of a school building and classrooms. We explore how David Thornburg's four primordial learning spaces: campfire, watering hole, cave, and life can be designed into school environments. We also discuss the power of outdoor learning. Through our conversation with Prakash, we see how we can let go of legacy models of school architecture to genuinely reimagine how and where learning can be done. It's a fascinating conversation. We really appreciate getting a chance to talk with Prakash. We hope you enjoy.
This week Mike is joined by Bryan Alexander, Senior Scholar at Georgetown University and author of Academia Next , to talk about what happens when a Futurist gets a prediction right. In Bryan's recent book, he explores a possible future where a widespread pandemic akin to the 1918 Spanish flu hits and majorly disrupts higher education. Bryan's book was released prior to Covid-19 and it's received a lot of attention since. Although it's tragic and we empathize deeply with those impacted most severely, we use this as a jumping off point to explore how gaming, scenario-based thinking, and "futures work" help build out our ability to think through and manage the novel situations that life continues to throw at us. What does Bryan see on the horizon for Higher Education and the world more broadly? Listen in to find out!
David Adams, the Senior Director of Strategy at The Urban Assembly, joins Mike to explore the many facets of Social Emotional Learning or SEL. David shares his career journey which charts a path through many of the key centers of research in the field along with practical experience in schools in New York City and around the world. He recently co-authored a book titled The Educator's Practical Guide to Emotional Intelligence. David expands on how he's established a cutting-edge SEL program at The Urban Assembly schools in New York and provides tips and insights for educators, parents and the rest of us on how to incorporate emotional learning into the educational experience. We also dig into the role of SEL in navigating a difficult and transformational year like this one. Of course, there are a few Whitney Houston and Star Wars references in there to keep things engaging. David's a tremendous resource in the field and we very much appreciate getting his perspectives on the show. We hope you enjoy and learn from the conversation as much as we did.
Mike Tringe and Sean Graham from CreatorUp, a Digital Media Studio and Training Company, join Mike Palmer to discuss the critical role of visual storytelling and video for brands, universities, and individuals. We explore how CreatorUp leaned into Live Online delivery and educational use cases as the pandemic response required agility and resilience. We conclude with advice for educators from media professionals with a keen understanding of the learning ecosystem. We hope you enjoy.
Evan Gappelberg, the Founder and CEO of NexTech AR Solutions, joins us this week to dive into the emerging megatrend of augmented reality (or AR). Evan describes how NexTech AR Solutions was formed and how it went public as the first publicly traded pure AR play. We then explore how the pandemic response has led to unprecedented growth both in AR and specifically in its educational applications. Evan outlines the recent work NexTech has done with Ryerson University as activities like lab session and other learning interventions have benefitted from use of their Augmented Reality as a Service platform ARitize. Mike picks Evans brain about new and emerging trends to be on the lookout for as we think through the instructional design opportunities that come with new technologies like Augmented Reality. Come join us for an imaginative ride on this week's cutting edge episode!
Warren Kennard, the Founder of ConnectED, returns to the show to describe his recent experience designing and building a crowdsourced 8-week course in EdTech and Strategy for Higher Ed. What problems was he trying to address when conceiving of this course? What elements of design thinking powered the approach? Who is it designed for and how has the COVID-19 pandemic increased the relevance and interest in online learning and innovative leadership in higher education? We answer all of these questions and garner insights from Warren based on his transformative experience building this course. Listen in and enjoy.
Kate Dalton and Dr. Eliot Chayt join Mike to talk about the critical importance of media literacy in today's world. Eliot and Kate are the founders of an EdTech startup called Mucktracker, which provides a platform for students and educators to co-create a critical understanding of news and media drawn from various sources. We discuss the origins of the concept of Muctracker and its ties to the storied history of investigative journalism and the muckrakers as we muse on the notion that all literacy is media literacy. The profusion and democratization of new media of late brings with it a responsibility to educate K12 students, as well as undergraduates and lifelong learners, to develop more mature critical understandings of the media we're all consuming.
Are you ready to get HYPE? We sure are. For the fourth year in a row, the team at Trending in Education digests and breaks down the Gartner Hype Cycle For Emerging Technologies which was recently released for 2020. Mike welcomes Melissa Griffith and Dan Strafford back to the show for the beginning of our fifth season to break down our favorite hype curve. What trends are emerging according to Gartner? How have they been impacted by COVID-19? What are the learning implications to the new and emerging technologies highlighted by Gartner? Which trends are rising to the Peak of Inflated Expectations? Which ones are headed to the Trough of Disillusionment? Listen in to find out!
Dr. Jon Shelton, Associate Professor of Democracy and Justice at UW-Green Bay, joins Mike for a special Labor Day edition where we dive into the history of Labor and Education in the US on today's show. Jon walks us through the history of the Labor Day holiday, expanding beyond barbecues and rules about when it's okay to wear white. From there, we delve into the long history of collective action among educators and other workers over the years. We draw parallels to the recent actions in the NBA and other sports leagues as we explore how Teachers and Teachers Unions have extended the focus of their actions to include acting in service of what's right not just for themselves as workers, but also for what is right for their students and communities. Today's episode will give you plenty to chew on beyond what you might get at your holiday barbecue. Thanks for listening, and we hope you enjoy!
Dr. Terri Givens, CEO of the Center for Higher Education Leadership, returns to join Melissa and Mike in a wide-ranging conversation about what we see on the near-term horizon for Higher Education in the Fall of 2020. We touch on the "Corona Gap Year" phenomenon, put ourselves in the shoes of University Administrators and faculty navigating these uncertain times, and get advice based on Terri's experience as a Professor, an Administrator, and now as the Founder of a company focused on helping Higher Education navigate the complexities of this day and age. It's a Back To School special edition you won't want to miss on Trending in Education!
Youki Terada, Research and Standards Editor at Edutopia, returns to the show to revisit trends in K-12 Educational research in light of the tumultuous year in which we're living. The response to the pandemic has re-emphasized the critical role of social emotional learning along with issues of digital divides and Youki and team have been shifting Eduopia's focus in that direction. As Edutopia continues to provide tools and supports for teachers diving into remote teaching, Youki highlights some of the critical differences with online teaching, particularly with regard to receiving feedback. It's a fascinating conversation and you'll come away thinking of horses doing math problems in an entirely new way. You can find more of Youki and team's great work at edutopia.org . Thanks as always for listening.
In this emergency bonus episode of Running It Back, Tarlin and Mike dive into the transformative events of the past week beginning with the shooting of Jacob Blake and culminating in the walkout of NBA players led by the Milwaukee Bucks. As these actions set off a cascade of similar actions in Major League Baseball, the National Hockey League, and elsewhere, how can we put this into a broader historical context? We run through the long history of athletes as activists who have asserted their power by choosing not to play. Some have set off movements by pulling in others to follow. Others have been ostracized and mostly forgotten. Now as the games have started again in the Bubble, we take a moment to pause and reflect on the historical context of the momentous events of the week as we continue to monitor this developing situation. And fear not, fans of regular episodes of Trending in Education! We've got plenty of great content coming together there as well. Thanks as always for listening.
We open with a quick note on the Jacob Blake incident in Wisconsin and the ripple effects across our culture. It's something we'll continue to cover. Then, in this bonus episode from the soon-to-launch podcast, Running It Back, we transport ourselves back to November 7th, 1991 when Magic Johnson first announced that he had HIV. How do Tarlin and Mike remember this flashbulb event? What lessons can we learn from Magic's approach to sharing the news and leaning into his fight against the virus? How does this tie to COVID-19 and the NBA's design for life in the Bubble in Orlando? And who was on the dais with Magic when he had to share his difficult news? We answer all of this on today's show. And if you like what you're hearing, follow us on twitter and keep an eye on runningitback.fm as we gear up to launch Running It Back later in September.
Kristin Kearns-Jordan, the CEO of The Urban Assembly, joins Mike this week to describe the career-themed approach to public education that is driving social mobility in 23 schools in New York City. We begin by hearing Kristin's origin story and career arc which has led to her current role with The Urban Assembly. From there, we dive into the mission and educational philosophy of the organization and its schools, which is all about career relevance and social mobility. Kristin describes how The Urban Assembly's approach is making an impact in her students' lives by showing them how their public education ties to their longer term college and career paths. We discuss the impact of Black Lives Matter and COVID-19 on public education and emerge with a sense of optimism despite the suffering and genuine peril students and families are facing this year. As we conclude, Kristin spotlights the screening of entry into public schools in New York as something that limits diversity and subverts the true goals of public education. She suggests that in light of the events of this year, there are genuine opportunities to open up access to address many of these inequities and deliver more quality, career-relevant education to all students. Thanks as always for listening. If you want to learn more about Urban Assembly, visit urbanassembly.org .
As a bonus gift, we're bringing you an episode of the upcoming podcast Running It Back. Tarlin Ray and Mike Palmer look to moments in sports history to give insights for our lives today. On this episode, Mike and Tarlin run it back to the 1999 NBA season and the historic run for the 8th-seeded New York Knicks all the way to the NBA Finals. They ultimately lost to the San Antonio Spurs in the Finals marking the beginning of the Tim Duncan and Gregg Popovich dynasty. As we head into the 2020 NBA Playoffs in the Bubble in Orlando, what lessons can be learned by running it back to 1999?
Angela Siefer, Executive Director of the National Digital Inclusion Alliance, returns to the show to join Mike in a conversation about how to open up access to the digital tools many of us take for granted. Last time we had Angela on the show in March, we were still in the emergency phase of the COVID-19 pandemic response. Now as we approach the Fall, there remains plenty of work to do and the focus is shifting. Digital inclusion is important work. You can learn more about what Angela and team are doing at digitalinclusion.org. Listen in to find out how you can help make a difference.
This week Dr. H. Richard Milner IV, Professor of Education at Vanderbilt University, joins Mike to explore how he is thinking about issues of diversity, opportunity gaps, and the mindsets that must be overcome to effectively engage diverse students and classrooms. Rich’s book, Start From Where You Are, But Don’t Stay There was just reprinted by Harvard Education Press to coincide with the 10-year anniversary of its initial printing in 2010. While many of the themes are enormously relevant to this day, several warrant further discussion in light of the Black Lives Matter Movement and the COVID-19 pandemic. Rich is a leading thinker on teacher education and diversity and we very much appreciate getting time with him on today’s show. Enjoy!
Dr. Shannon Clute joins Mike to share his broad and varied experiences in education, innovation, marketing, and digital media. He begins by telling the story of his early experiments with podcasting and other new media to innovate in higher education where Shannon was a Professor of French Literature. In the early 2000s, he launched an enormously successful podcast called Out of the Past: Investigating Film Noir that began as an innovative project for his students but rapidly grew in broader appeal. From this experience, Shannon began to understand the value of pursuing your passion projects and being flexible and opportunistic in your career choices. From there, he transitions to a marketing role at Turner Classic Movies before ultimately returning to academia now leading The Hatchery, The Center for Innovation at Emory University. In a wide-ranging conversation, Shannon reinforces the critical importance of knowing your customers and shifting from push to pull dynamics when it comes to program development and innovation. It's a fascinating conversation and we look forward to staying in touch with Shannon as he grows and evolves the program through great design thinking and product discovery. We hope you enjoy. Thanks again for listening.
Howard Lurie, Principal Analyst, Online and Continuing Education at Eduventures, joins Mike this week to discuss recent research findings from the firm that dives into the mindset and sentiment of adult learners. Eduventures has published findings from two surveys of adult learners--one fielded before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and then a second survey fielded in June 2020. Howard shares his perspective on changes in demand, desired credentials, and delivery mode pre- and post-pandemic. We explore the short-term and longer-term implications of the economic and public health impact on adult learners as we expand the perspective beyond the graduating high school population to begin to wrap our heads around the much larger and more diverse population of adult learners writ large. Howard and Eduventures provide great insights on today's show. If you want to learn more from them, visit eduventures.com. Thanks for listening!
Fresh on the heels of the release of Coursera's second annual Global Skills Index Report, Melissa and Mike break down what's new and noteworthy in the 2020 report. How has the Covid-19 pandemic impacted global trends in course completion on Coursera? What's new and emerging in the key fields of business, technology, and data science and how is the US stacking up on the global stage? It's a fascinating report on the emerging skills that are relevant to career growth, earning potential, resilience, and lifelong learning in these wacky times. Check out the report, have a listen, and let us know what you think on Twitter at @trendingined
Dr. Stephen Kosslyn, President of Foundry College, returns to Trending in Education to discuss a new book he's been working on. The book has the working title of Active Learning in the Digital Age and covers the six key principles that drive active learning. The principles are deep processing, deliberate practice, incentives and consequences, dual coding, chunking, and associations. Join Stephen and Mike as they explore these concepts and how they can be applied to create great learning interventions in these tumultuous times. Thanks as always for listening!
Welcome to the second half of 2020. We made it to July. For this episode, Mike, Dan, and Melissa reflect on the year so far while tracking some of the more sensational stories that are breaking lately. Did Donald Drumpf hire someone to take his SATs? If he did, is that better or worse than Lori Laughlin paying for access to the USC Crew team? What do we think about Betsy DeVos's bookcases for her Zoom meetings? Or the administration's take on getting students back on campus and physically in our schools for the Fall? And how about the near miss of threatening to revoke international student visas for students at schools that are going entirely online? We lean into the crazy a bit this week as we spot emerging trends about class outside and schooling from home as we all agree online and hybrid learning in its varied forms is here for the long haul. Thanks for listening.
UNC Greensboro Chancellor, Dr. Franklin D. Gilliam, Jr., joins Trending in Education to share his experiences leading a university with a long history of opening up access to higher education. Beginning as a women-only university in the late 19th Century, UNC Greensboro has since opened up to non-white students soon after to men. Dr. Gilliam has been Chancellor since 2015 and he tells the story of how he got the job and what he's been able to do since joining the school. UNC Greensboro has eliminated race and ethnicity differences in retention for first-year students. They've nearly eliminated income-based gaps and are now focused on reaching rural students and providing access to the tools necessary for success in these changing times. We discuss the importance of digital inclusion, Dr. Gilliam's transformative experiences leading the university through the COVID-19 response thus far, and responding to the George Floyd murder and related unrest. We dig into the importance of having a mission-based culture and getting comfortable being uncomfortable in the chaotic and uncertain times we live in. We conclude with the Chancellor's take on the new and emerging trends that he's tracking as we head into the 2020s. We hope you get as much insight and inspiration from the conversation as we did putting it together. Thanks as always for listening.
Liz Leiba, an education professional, teacher, and podcast host, joins Melissa and Mike to discuss her personal response to George Floyd's death. In response to this travesty, Liz has become much more active on LinkedIn and on her podcast, The Ed Up Experience, telling her personal story as a black woman in higher ed and the corporate world. Melissa and Liz share their experiences, how their perspectives have changed, and how going along to get along just doesn't cut it anymore. Liz is a powerful voice on this and many other topics and we look forward to having her on again soon. Thanks for listening.
Dr. Terri Givens, the CEO and Co-Founder of The Center for Higher Education Leadership, joins Mike and Melissa this week to explore her experience as a Professor, an Administrator, and now as an entrepreneur focused on transforming higher education. Terri tells the story of her academic career spanning Stanford, UCLA, University of Washington, University of Texas at Austin, and most recently Menlo College. Throughout her journey, she's advocated for the importance of teaching and providing faculty, adjuncts, and graduate students access to leadership development tools to help them navigate their careers. We conclude with a deep dive into the ideas in Terri's upcoming book, Radical Empathy: Finding a Path to Bridging Racial Divides. We very much appreciate having Terri on the show and hope to have her back on again soon. Thanks for listening.
Dr. Mohanbir Sawhney, the Associate Dean for Innovation at the Kellogg School of Management, joins Melissa Griffith and Mike Palmer to explore how the traditional approach to Business School and Executive Education is ripe for disruption. As the McCormick Foundation Professor of Technology at Kellogg, Dr. Sawhney is launching and testing several varied and distinct approaches to providing business education both through the traditional two-year on-campus model and also through hybrid and online models. The Professor engages with Melissa, a Kellogg alum, in a conversation about providing continuous value and lifelong learning to alums through communities of interest, small private online courses (SPOCs), along with access to human-powered services like executive coaching, live webinars, and 1-on-1 office hours. We genuinely enjoyed the imaginative and impassioned perspectives Dr. Sawhney provides on this topic and hope you'll lean in with us to explore how graduate education will accelerate forward in the tumultuous times of the 2020s.
Elise Awwad, Vice President of Strategic Enrollment at DeVry University, joins Mike this week to explore how DeVry has been delivering proactive care as part of its educational philosophy for adult learners. We examine how they were able to respond to the twin challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and the civil unrest in response to the death of George Floyd. DeVry's long history of online learning along with a holistic approach provided the tools to respond to a tumultuous 2020. Elise shares her passion for helping adult learners in need and, as a regular listener to Trending in Education, she reinforces the critical importance of digital inclusion in opening up access to higher education for adults who are ready to advance their careers.
Warren Kennard joins Mike this week to explore the current state of affairs in educational technology. Warren has been working in educational technology for the past 20 years and is the Founder of ConnectEd and the Managing Director of the Cahoot Academy. After defining the distinctions between small private online courses (SPOCs) and massive open online courses (MOOCs), we dig into the importance of delivering people-mediated programs especially as the waves of automation and artificial intelligence can be dehumanizing. Warren draws from his experiences at Get Smarter, the Cahoot Academy, and ConnectEd to round out a more human-centered understanding of what's emerging in the growing field of educational technology.
Melissa and Mike begin with a frank conversation about how we've been responding to the Black Lives Matter protests and related civic and personal upheaval in the aftermath of George Floyd's murder in Minneapolis. What's the best way for organizations to navigate these tumultuous times? How should we think about acts of omission versus those of commission? How do we begin to lean into awkward conversations about race to begin to reach new levels of psychological safety, empathy and understanding. Then Dan Strafford adds his perspective as a father of three and someone who is frequently at a loss when it comes to reaching a clear understanding of what's going on these days. We reference a great Chalkbeat article that captures the perspectives of K12 educators across the US, touch on an article by Dr Howard Stevenson out of U Penn Graduate School of Education on how to talk to children about racial issues, and conclude by referencing a quick Forbes article by Adunola Adeshola that describes 3 Things You Should Not Say to Your Black Colleagues Right Now. We don't reach any tidy answers, but we're happy to begin the conversation and look forward to continuing it.
Vikram Baliga, host of the Planthropology podcast, joins Mike this week to talk about his experiences as a horticulturist, a science communicator, and a podcast host. Vikram expounds on what brought him to horticulture and how the importance of setting has meaningful ramifications to education. As we explore the origin story of the Planthropology podcast, Vikram provides insight into what it means to teach people how to appreciate the plants in their lives. Whether you're officially "Plant People" or just interested in a deeper perspective on learning and the future, you should get a lot out of this week's episode. We hope you enjoy!
We are deeply saddened by the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and many other black men and women at the hands of police. We plan to cover the emerging trends of civil unrest, increased awareness of race and social justice, and how this relates to learning, media, and future trends in future episodes of Trending in Education. For today's show, we're releasing an upcoming episode of Running It Back with Tarlin Ray and Mike Palmer where we break down Blackballed, the new Quibi short-form docuseries about the 2014 Los Angeles Clippers and the Donald Sterling scandal. What leadership lessons can be learned from the Sterling incident and the responses by Doc Rivers, Chris Paul, Adam Silver, and Matt Barnes, among others? What parallels can be drawn between the reaction to the Sterling scandal and the response to George Floyd's murder and the Black Lives Matter movement that have been activated on a global scale today? We don't reach any tidy answers to the current situation, but by running it back to the story of the Clippers in 2014, we gain relevant insights that help grant us perspective on the challenging times we're living in today. Thank you for listening.
As The Eurhythmics say, "sweet dreams are made of this." On today's episode, Ken Florence joins Mike for an expansive and imaginative exploration of lucid dreaming, something Ken's been drawn to since overcoming challenges with sleep paralysis earlier in his life. Ken is a musician and composer who created the original music for Trending in Education and its sister podcasts. We begin by discussing how there have been increased reports of vivid dreaming during the Covid-19 pandemic response citing the research of Deidre Barrett. Then we discuss tactics like dream journals and looking for "triggers" in dreams such as clocks and light switches to help us gain conscious control over many aspects of our dream worlds. We conclude by exploring how dreams relate to psychedelic and VR simulation experiences as the trend towards varied phenomenological experiences continues to grow. We hope you enjoy the ride!
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Brandon Jones returns to Trending in Education in his new capacity as CEO of Triad Behavioral Health to explore emerging trends for behavioral health professionals. How do the expansion of telehealth and the easing of HIPPA requirements impact the delivery of behavioral health services? As we see upheaval in many professions, what's the prognosis for behavioral health and what makes sense for folks curious about embarking on a career in mental health? What's the best way to understand the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and our collective response to behavioral health and the professions that focus on it? Mike and Brandon discuss what's new and on the horizon in the field and showcase the launch of the new podcast Behavioral Health Today. It's great to welcome back Brandon, one of the founding hosts of Trending in Education. We hope you enjoy listening as much as we did recording.
Sharia Huda and Sean Dougherty join Mike for today's show as we explore the importance of accessibility to the thoughtful design of learning technology. Sean shares his perspective as an accessibility specialist with experience at Google and other large technology companies while Sharia adds her views as a former K12 educator and Ed Tech specialist with experience advising startups on this and other topics. How does Universal Design for Learning (UDL) help all users of a learning product? How to you facilitate the shift of mind needed in leadership at an organization to begin to change the culture? How does empathy and good design thinking help us elevate consciousness about the importance of inclusive design of educational products? Listen in to learn more.
Trending in Education partnered with Rohit Barghava and the Non-Obvious Company to host a Virtual Summit on the Future of Learning which we're releasing as today's episode. Join Rohit, Melissa Griffith, Dan Strafford, and Mike Palmer as we discuss what the future might hold for parents, learning professionals, and lifelong learners. In a wide-ranging conversation, we explore how our behavior patterns around learning and life have change in response to Covid-19 and how these pivots will likely play forward in the coming months and years. What do we make of the distinction between learning and education? How will we navigate this unprecedented wave of disruption? As digital learning moves to the foreground, how will we understand the role of higher education, K12 education, home schooling, and online learning? How should we think about digital equity and digital inclusion? And what might things look like as we imagine a post-pandemic world? We cover all of this and more in a fascinating discussion that we hope you enjoy.
Tarlin and Mike run it back covering the final two episodes of The Last Dance, the epic sports docuseries from ESPN covering the 1990s Bulls. This week we cover the legendary battles with Reggie Miller. What can be learned from Reggie's mindset and competitive drive. Was the "Flu Game" actually the "Tainted Pizza Game" - we have some hot takes there. Tarlin talks GOATs, Mike talks conspicuous omissions, and we begin to synthesize what we learned over the 10 hours of The Last Dance. It's been a heck of a run and we're looking forward to continuing the run even though The Last Dance has ended. Stay tuned for more as we figure out how to keep the magic happening. And thanks of course for listening.
Dr Bernard Bull, the President of Goddard College and the Host of EDU Futures Podcast, joins Mike this week to share his perspective and make a few predictions for the coming year. Bernard explains how he is using scenario-based thinking to plan for the possible futures for Goddard, a small alternative college in central Vermont. We discuss Goddard's unique approach to higher education and muse a bit on how new models will likely emerge from these tumultuous times.
Tarlin and Mike are back to break down the penultimate Sunday of The Last Dance docuseries about Michael Jordan and the 1990s Chicago Bulls. What lessons can we take away from Scottie's decision to sit out the final 1.8 seconds versus the Knicks in 1994? What were the games like at the gym Warner Brothers built for Michael on the set of Space Jam? How could we forget the legendary series versus the 1996 Seattle Supersonics with Gary Payton, Shawn Kemp, and Detlef Schrempf? Are there lessons in leadership, teamwork, and assertiveness to be learned? Listen in to find out.
As a Mother's Day Special, Mike is joined by Dr. Robin Naughton, his wife and mother of their son Matthew, to talk about the state of libraries and librarianship in light of the pandemic. Robin shares her perspective as a digital librarian and as an academic focused on user research and the user experience. We also delve into the role of the Academy in understanding public health in New York dating back to the pandemic in 1918 and up to the present day. Then we shift the conversation to talk about introversion, extraversion, and diversity of perspectives in light of the rapid move to digital due to Covid-19. We conclude by wishing a happy and healthy Mother's Day to everyone out there.
Mike and Tarlin are back to break down episodes 5 and 6 of the ESPN Docuseries, The Last Dance, as it chronicles the 1990s Bulls culminating in their final season together in 1998. This week we tackle the middle hump in the 10 episode series as we get to know the darker side of Michael Jordan. His rampant competitiveness and purposeful avoidance of political stands set the stage for a challenging bid for a "Threepeat" in 1993 and we get glimpses of the challenges Michael faced managing his celebrity. We dive into the Kobe-Michael dynamic, the Dream Team and its snubbing of Isaiah Thomas, the Tony Kukoc saga, and even touch on the battles between Jordan's Bulls and the New York Knicks and Phoenix Suns. Sunday nights are alive again with sports and 1990s nostalgia and there are many lessons to be learned from this compelling glimpse into the life of an ultracompetitive superstar and his team as they strive for dominance. We hope you enjoy the ride as much as we do!
Russell Glass returns to Trending in Education to talk about the broader state of behavioral health from his vantage point as CEO of Ginger, an industry-leading behavioral health app. Building on trends we've already been tracking around behavioral health, pre-coronavirus, Russell walks us through patterns of usage that mark a significant shift since broad stay-at-home and social distancing orders have spread across the globe. What can we learn from this data? How can an organization like Ginger navigate this complexity while retaining shared values and collective focus? We discuss all of this and get a few updates about Russell's children's book, Voting With a Porpoise as we grant Russell his official "Friend of Show" bona fides. Hope you enjoy.
As a Bonus Trending in Education Extra, we're releasing the first of a series of shows on The Last Dance, the must-see ESPN docuseries on the final season of the legendary 1990s Chicago Bulls. Tarlin Ray and Mike Palmer dissect the first four episodes of the 10-episode series and draw relevant lessons to life, management, leadership, and team chemistry in the 2020s. We'll be back with more soon as we continue to Run It Back to review, critique, and learn from must-see TV like The Last Dance. We hope you enjoy! And don't fret, we're continuing to pump out your regularly scheduled Trending in Education shows as we venture into new spaces with shows like this one. We hope you enjoy!
Ray Belli joins Mike for today's episode exploring the power of language and audio in the evolution of culture and human understanding. Ray hosts a language and etymology podcast called Words for Granted and he's also a founding member of the Lyceum team. We explore the dynamic nature of word meanings using a few examples from the King James Bible. From there, we touch quickly on Shakespeare and the notion of poetic license before concluding with some musings on how new audio formats like podcasting and technologies like Speech-to-Text are bringing renewed life to the oral tradition with significant implications for linguists and lovers of language everywhere.
Mike welcomes Melissa Griffith and Dan Strafford back to the show to analyze Mary Meeker's new report that explores the new trends that are emerging in light of the Covid-19 pandemic. Which trends will remain and which will fade? How will organizations, schools, educators, parents, and learners grapple with the new normal? How might we adapt to thrive amid the widespread, pervasive sense of disruption and uncertainty? We discuss all of this as we digest and begin to synthesize the esteemed Mary Meeker's latest report on Covid-19.
Stephen Kosslyn joins Mike to explore the transformative power of synchronous learning as the world rapidly moves online. Countering the perception that online learning is asynchronous, Stephen outlines his experiences first as Dean at the Minerva Schools startup and most recently at Foundry College. In both cases, the curriculum and the technology that powers it is designed with synchronous and active learning as a central pillar in the instructional design. Stephen explains the power of teaching hacks and heuristics to adult learners at Foundry with the goal of advancing them in their careers while preparing them for the future of work. Humans will continue to thrive doing meaningful work that leverages our unique ability to understand emotion and context in ways that won't soon be automated. Foundry College exists to power this evolution. It's a fascinating discussion and we thank Stephen for his time and look forward to continuing the conversation in the future.
On today's episode, Jenna Spinelle joins Mike to talk about civics, the gig economy, and the sudden shift to remote teaching. Jenna is a writer, instructor, and podcaster in higher education who recently launched a new course focused on teaching undergrads how to engage in the gig economy. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, she had to quickly shift from delivering the course face to face to teaching remotely. Jenna shares her experiences and perspectives on emergency remote teaching (ERT) as we dive into the growing importance of the gig economy in our professional lives these days. After touching on the importance of pursuing one's passions, building a portfolio, and developing the entrepreneurial skills needed to be.a gig employee, we conclude by exploring Jenna's work in teaching civics through her podcast, Democracy Works, and through the network of podcasts she founded called The Democracy Group. We hope you enjoy listening to this wide-ranging and relevant conversation about the rapidly evolving landscape of higher education..
Mike is once again joined by Tarlin Ray to talk about generational zeitgeists in light of the coronavirus pandemic. As two GenXers, we wonder what the global pandemic means to the oft-forgotten, former latchkey kids of the 70s and 80s. Then we explore the challenges faced by Boomers and Millennials before shifting to the rising GenZ and “Alpha” generations. What are the financial implications? Will this make generational differences seem more parochial and trivial as we all grapple with a shared, global experience? What are the educational implications and the impact to the workforce, organizational leaders, and hiring managers? We explore all of this and once again thank the first responders and frontline workers in the worldwide battle against the virus. Be safe and be well. And thank you for listening.
Mike and Dan break down our 2020 March Madness for Learning Trends tournament. We begin by reflecting on how crazy a month it was and by thanking all the frontline workers who are leading our response to the covid-19 pandemic. Then we talk through the trends that deserved more love while analyzing each successive round in our brackets. We then culminate the festivities with our takes on the Final Four, the Finals, and then announce the winner. And you know we get zeitgeisty along the way as we try to make sense of the transformative period in which we're living. Which learning trend wins the day? Listen in to find out. Thanks as always for listening. Despite the pandemic, we won't stop podding and we hope you won't stop listening. Take that coronavirus! Please be safe out there.
Mike is joined by Helen Lee Bouygues, the Founder of the Reboot Foundation, to discuss the research her foundation has published about critical thinking. We begin by exploring what drove Helen to found Reboot and why critical thinking is so essential to a healthy, relevant, and fulfilling life in these confusing times. Helen shares research into the adverse impact of social media use on understanding of the realities relating to the Covid-19 pandemic and provides tips and tools for parents who are trying to instill good critical thinking in their children beginning at an early age. Helen also warns of the dangers of fake news and deep fakes as it becomes increasingly tempting to seek instant gratification when searching for answers in the digital world. Helen and the Reboot Foundation are doing fascinating and relevant research and we're happy to help raise awareness of the essential importance of critical thinking skills in human development in the turbulent age in which we are living. We hope you enjoy listening.
Mike is joined by Zachary Davis, the President and Founder of Lyceum, an educational podcasting platform that is launching now. Zachary is also the organizer of the Sound Education conference and the host of the podcast Ministry of Ideas. He's also the host of a new podcast called Writ Large that is debuting now with the launch of Lyceum.. Zachary tells the story of how he became focused on educational audio after working at HarvardX, one of the early MOOCs associated with EdX. Despite doing great work there, he was frustrated by the low completion rate of the early MOOCs and eventually gravitated to podcasting as a way to make amazing educational content more broadly accessible to a global audience. This has led to the recent launch of Lyceum which is a curated educational audio platform with community features that allow for deeper engagement with folks who listen to educational podcasts. We explore why audio is such an emotionally powerful and affordable format and how in many ways it is a rising trend that is more flexibly available than video and more intimate and emotionally resonant than the written word We also explore some of the ideas discussed in Writ Large which dives into the impact that key books have had on the world around them after the ink has dried. Finally, we conclude with Zachary's thoughts about how the broader trends towards audio may signal the dawn of a new audio age in which longer form lectures and conversations may begin to supplant print formats in the future. It's a fascinating conversation and we hope you enjoy listening.
In today's episode, Angela Siefer, Executive Director of the National Digital Inclusion Alliance, joins Mike to revisit the topic of digital inclusion in light of the new, stark realities of the Covid-19 pandemic. When we're told to shelter at home and engage in social distancing, what does this mean for those on the other side of the digital divide? Angela and her not-for-profit provide information and resources at digitalinclusion.org and they are looking for help from those of us who understand the digital world we're living in to help bridge in the elderly, those suffering from poverty, and anyone who for whatever reason does not have the tools, skills, and access necessary to engage with the digital world. What was once about digital equity is now about public health and safety. When you don't know how to access information and resources digitally, you're much more likely to seek those things by leaving your home and in light of the pandemic, that is a truly dangerous proposition. Angela and team are doing what they can to help in this global crisis. We thank them for their service as we grapple with new challenges to bridge the digital divide while respecting the new rules of social distancing.
Mike catches up with Adi Hanash, a virtuoso online instructor with deep experience in teaching, training teachers, and managing online programs for large organizations like General Assembly and Kaplan. In light of the rapid shift to remote learning (and teaching) driven by the covid-19 pandemic, Adi is running a series of webinars to provide teachers and learning leaders with insights from over 12+ years of experience providing amazing online experiences. We dive into much of this in today's show. While lamenting how the traditional conception of "webinars" is limiting, we explore how teaching online unlocks new opportunities to drive accountability and engagement. We also talk about the transformative power of taking a platform-agnostic and decidedly non-technical approach to innovating around synchronous learning. We close by exploring how the response to the coronavirus is a forcing function and potentially a watershed moment in the understanding of what can be done online. In the process Adi shares some tips and tricks on how to make the most of the rapid global shift to teaching online. Hope you enjoy the listen.
Mike engages in a fascinating discussion with Dr. Paul Reville, a Professor of Educational Policy at Harvard Graduate School of Education, Founder of the Education Redesign Lab, and former Secretary of Education for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Paul recently wrote a book titled Broader, Bolder, Better: How Schools and Communities Help Students Overcome the Disadvantages of Poverty. We discuss why we have historically avoided the topic of poverty when establishing educational policy in the US. We also explore how reframing the context for education as something broader and more community-based opens up opportunities to fundamentally change how we think about education. This will help prepare the rising generations for the transformation of work that is on the horizon with the onset of the new industrial revolution we are beginning to see with the advent of automation and machine learning. Paul walks us through several case studies that expand the focus beyond the traditional triangle of Teacher, Student, Content which has been prevalent in education in recent years. Thinking more broadly (and more boldly) opens up opportunities to address educational challenges in ways that are more holistic and integrated into the support systems of the community. It's an important conversation and we very much appreciate the opportunity to speak with Dr. Reville about this critical topic to the future of education.
As part of our ongoing coverage of the. coronavirus, Mike sits down with Bryan Alexander, a noted futurist who focuses on Higher Education, to talk about the potential directions the outbreak may take. Using a wide-ranging collection of examples from both science fiction and our history, Bryan walks us through where there should be concern and where there may be hope as we brace ourselves to battle Covid-19. Bryan also points out critical resources to find good information on the virus and its impact on higher education which he curates on his blog bryanalexander.org. Which schools have canceled classes altogether and which ones have moved online? How might this play forward as we head towards the completion of the academic year in the US? As always, Bryan brings a thoughtful and informed perspective to a complex and evolving situation with a meaningful impact on our lives and the educational landscape of higher education in the US.
Melissa, Dan, and Mike regroup to discuss the cancellation of SXSW which hit us close to home at Trending in Education. We were planning to head to Austin to record a live podcast episode for SXSW EDU but were thwarted by the cancellation of SXSW by Steve Adler, the Mayor of Austin. How are we holding up in light of the cancellation? What does this signal about the response to the virus? What can conferences, cities, companies, and educational institutions do to maintain public health and safety while retaining what we value in our lives and lifestyles. We work through our grieving process and explore how we can continue to cover the trends and transformations that may be driven by the unprecedented response to Covid-19. And be on the lookout for more on this as we bring in more experts to understand the impact on education as an increasing number of schools are canceling classes and/or moving them offline. The world has changed fast and we'll be here to track it with you. As Mike says in the show, "If we stop podcasting due to this, the coronavirus wins!" So we'll keep podding. And we're hoping you'll keep listening and begin to spread the word. As the World Health Organization officially declares Covid-19 a pandemic, thanks again for listening to our podcast which is both safe and most likely good for you! Be safe out there.
Mike sits down with Ulrich Boser, the Founder and CEO of the Learning Agency and the Learning Agency Lab, to lean into a wide-ranging conversation about the science of learning and how it relates to social emotional learning, AI and Natural Language Processing, Cognitive Load and much more. You can learn more about what the Learning Agency Lab is doing at https://www.the-learning-agency-lab.com/ Thanks again to Ulrich for a fascinating conversation.
We'd like to wish everyone a happy International Women's Day. In honor of the day, Melissa and Mike discuss an article in Forbes by Blake Morgan that spotlights 50 Leading Female Futurists. Do Mike and Melissa consider themselves futurists? How can we break our habits and biases to include a broader range of guests? We have at least one idea to pursue here. Listen in to find out more.
Mike and Dan break down the first-round matchups in Trending in Education's 4th Annual March Madness Brackets. Beyond listening, we'd love to get your perspective on these trends. You can vote on these trends by going to the polls you can find in the pinned tweet at our Twitter account @TrendinginEd where we'll be tracking the tourney to its conclusion throughout the month. This year, we've expanded the field and are beginning with 12 first-round matchups which we'll describe and analyze on this episode. You gotta be in it to win it and we'd love to get your input as we try to make sense of where the world of learning, media, and education is heading as we enter the 2020s.
It's March and that means it's time for Trending in Education's Fourth Annual Learning Trends March Madness Brackets. And to help kick off the festivities, we spend time with Dan, Melissa, Brandon, and Mike as they remember tourneys past and gear up for an amazing March Madness for 2020. Plus, we hype our upcoming live show at SXSW EDU later this month and give some insider's takes on smart picks to take the prize this year. Be sure to follow us on Twitter at @trendingined throughout March to vote in polls and make predictions in the pursuit of excellence in learning prognostication. Lots of stuff happening and we'd love to hear more from our listeners about where we see the world of learning and education heading in 2020.
Mike welcomes old friend, Brandon Jones, back to the show to talk about Steve Brown's prediction that we'll see more disruptive innovation in the next 10 years than we've seen in the previous forty. Layering in the likelihood that human creativity and lateral thinking will outstrip AI's capabilities in that regard for the next 10 years, how should we take a longer view when making plans for the future everything? Mike and Brandon aim to bring some 2030 Farsight to bear as we peer into possible futures for the 2020s on this week's show. Play with your head up, avoid stagnating danger zones, and have a listen!
Mike and Melissa talk about the idea espoused by futurist, Steve Brown, that the next ten years will see more innovation and disruption than the previous forty. This is driven in part by advances in artificial intelligence and sensors which will allow for a transformation in healthcare that we dig into a bit. The pair also explore a recent Fast Company article by Tim Schwiesfurth and Rene Chester Goduscheit that purports that human intelligence will likely continue to be more creative than AI for the foreseeable future. What are the potential implication of all of this to the future of work, the world, and everything? Listen in to find out how to stay sharp and frisky in the transformative decade that is just beginning.
Mike connects with Andrea Samadi, the host of the Neuroscience Meets Social Emotional Learning podcast, and the two talk about the brain, how it connects to social and emotional aspects of human behavior, learning, and cognition. Andrea recounts her background as an educator who formed a consultancy, AchieveIT360.com, and has recently launched a podcast on this fascinating intersection between the latest research in neuroscience and its potential application in the classroom. We hope you enjoy the conversation.
Following up on our previous show on Kobe, The Impeachment Trial, and Everything, today we explore the ins and outs of the Coronavirus which is receiving tremendous media attention. Mike works through his version of Michael Jordan's "Flu Game" as we once again explore how to engage and/or turn off the Mass Hysteria Spectacle Machine when things like the new variant of the coronavirus happen. What do we need to know about the new coronavirus? How do we stay engaged enough without falling prey to all the hype? You can start by listening to this episode.
This week Mike engages with noted author, speaker, and futurist, Bryan Alexander to discuss the challenges and potential futures emerging for higher education focusing on the US. Bryan has recently authored a book called Academia Next in which he explores trends and describes multiple possible futures for the higher ed ecosystem. What are the threats that are emerging to the traditional model of higher education in the US? How do adjuncts fit into the picture? Is Clayton Christensen's concept of The Innovator's Dilemma relevant to the future of higher education or are there reasons why it doesn't apply? We explore all of these questions and get Bryan to describe several of his possible futures during a free-flowing and imaginative conversation about where the world of higher education is heading. And we also talk a bit about science fiction for good measure. In all, we got a lot out of the conversation and hope you find value in listening.
Dan and Mike regroup to reflect on the relentless media barrage that is life in 2020. We take time to talk about the tragic death of Kobe Bryant, his daughter, and seven others in a helicopter crash. Despite the tragic nature of the story, was it somehow a wake-up call for the importance of family? Our leading #girldad weighs in. At the same time, the Impeachment Trial approaches its conclusion as global fears of the coronavirus pick up, how does one find balance and focus amid all of this? Needless to say, the collective zeitgeist is fraught these days, but we have some recommendations based on learning science that steer us towards quiet time to reflect and consolidate things into long term memory. Yes, we’re living in interesting times in 2020, The key is to control what you tune in and tune out amid the spectacle. Embracing a little JOMO can help. Thanks for listening.
Melissa, Dan, and Mike dive into the complicated topic of implicit bias and the spate of recent training programs based on the concept. Does raising awareness of unconscious biases drive positive change or is it a necessary, but not sufficient, component in a diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging program? A lot comes down to how you measure success and how much the program is integrated into the broader organizational culture. So it turns out, it’s complicated. We hope you enjoy joining us as we begin the conversation.
Following up on our recent show covering the educational research highlights of 2019, Mike sits down with Youki Terada from Edutopia who authored the article. Youki is the Research and Standards editor for Edutopia which means he reviews and edits contributions from Edutopia's writing staff to ensure it's evidence-based, well-designed, and relevant to Edutopia's target audience of K12 Educators. We talk about areas of research that Youki has found particularly interesting and explore several examples with an eye towards practical application for educators. We also talk about the importance of curation and the risks of fast or sloppy research when looking for good applications of emerging learning research.
This week, Mike sits down with Frank Britt, CEO of Penn Foster, to talk about the future of work from the perspective of "middle-skilled" employees. Middle-skill jobs require a high school degree and some additional training, but do not require a bachelors degree. Middle-skill jobs account for roughly half of the jobs in the US, and that figure is not expected to change much in the 2020s. Frank explains the impact of automation on middle-skill jobs and the importance of empathizing with this part of the workforce and the social impact of providing training to this workforce to protect their ability earn. We also touch on "outskilling," "first-mile" services, and some forward thinking about how the middle-skills educational marketplace will transform in the next decade.
This week, Mike, Dan, and Melissa explore what’s new and noteworthy coming out of the Consumer Electronics Show 2020 which recently concluded in Las Vegas. We discuss the highlights from the show itself and also take time to dive into a recent critique by Cindy Gallop of Cosmopolitan magazine that focuses on the patterns of sexism and “bro culture” that have pervaded CES since its inception in the late 1960s. CES is trying to respond but is it enough? And of course, we explore the pros and cons of a new wave of cute, therapeutic, SEL-friendly robots. What’s good and what might be the first steps on the road to dystopia? Listen in to catch up on the tech and some varied perspectives. Enjoy!
In this cybersecurity extra, Mike dives into a fascinating conversation about the skills gap and workforce development with Simone Petrella, Jung Lee, and Sam Meisenberg from the cybersecurity training company, CyberVista. How does the field of cybersecurity understand the skills needed to be an effective professional? Are there basic competencies that are foundational to advancing in cybersecurity? How should we think about developing the right mix of technical capabilities combined with the communication skills and domain expertise needed to thrive in cyber in the 2020s? We dig into all of this and begin to brainstorm ideas for a cybersecurity screenplay on this week's extra. Hope you enjoy!
This week, Mike sits down with best-selling author Rohit Bhargava to talk about Rohit's new book Non-Obvious Megatrends which launches this week. We discuss what it's been like to put together a trendspotting book each year for the past ten years and how shifting the focus to Megatrends this year has provided new perspective heading into the 2020s. Then we dig into a few of Rohit's Megatrends from the book to talk about how Instant Knowledge and Attention Wealth, among others, relate to learning and education in 2020. We hope you enjoy the conversation about where the world of learning may be heading in the near and further distant future.
We ring in the new year with a fascinating conversation with world renowned author and speaker David Meermam Scott heading into the release of his new book, Fanocracy, which launches this week. What can we learn from our shared experience of fandom? How do concepts like mirror cells and our understanding of physical space provide clues into become a more effective instructor or presenter? How is being a fan part of what it means to be human? And can all of this help us to be optimistic heading into the new decade? We cover all of this and explore the power of releasing true ownership to the fans in a fascinating conversation to kick off 2020. We hope you enjoy!
Mike and Dan welcome Brandon Jones back to Trending in Education to get his quick takes on trends to be on the lookout for in 2020. Mike and Dan gear up for prediction season which will cover both 2020 Vision and 2030 Farsight! Welcome to the conversation. Here’s to an amazing year and an even better decade! Let the prognostication commence!!
Dan and Mike dig into an Edutopia article by Youki Terada outlining the key findings in educational research in 2019. What sorts of findings jump out and which stories did we cover on Trending in Education? We take some time to look back as we gear up to peer forward into 2020 and the decade to come on this week’s episode. We hope you enjoy!
Dan and Mike welcome Brandon Jones back to the show to talk through the best gifts for kids and lifelong learners this holiday season. What toys and games make sense for kids and what sorts of gifts might work for adults who want to stay sharp and fresh in this modern day and age? We also take some time to step back from the commercialism of the shopping season to explore how to model generosity and empathy as we engage with those we love this holiday season. We hope you have a wonderful season and we’re very grateful that you are listening.
Mike, Dan, and Melissa discuss the work of Dr Douglas Belshaw on “digital literacies” based on a recent talk Mike attended at the Ithaka The Next Wave Conference on the future of Higher Education in New York Is “digital literacy” a monolithic, binary thing or is it a set of mindsets and skillsets that are best understood on continua? How does this relate to “surveillance capitalism” and the pervasive revenue models of many of the dominant digital platforms of the 21st Century? How much of this is learnable and teachable and who is best-positioned to provide education about all of this? We dig all of this on this week’s show and look forward to diving back in more in the future.
For this week’s extra, Mike is joined by Design Anthropologist and Podcaster, Dr Adam Gamwell, to explore how robots, science fiction, and anthropology are interrelated. In a free flowing and imaginative conversation, we explore how the narratives and secular myths of pop culture and our collective consciousness provide insights into how we understand what it means to be human, how we engage with the Other, and how we grapple to understand how new technologies are driving profound changes to the world around us. Listen in for an illuminating conversation. We hope you enjoy!
Mike sits down with Sarah Daniels, the CEO of Blue Canoe, an English Language Learning (ELL) company specializing in professional spoken English. Sarah walks through the brain science behind the techniques they’ve incorporated into the Blue Canoe App to ensure their learners can master the nuances, vagaries, and seeming inconsistencies of spoken English. There’s a lot to be learned and we get in our share. We hope you enjoy listening.
Mike and Dan welcome Tarlin Ray back to the show as the trio breaks down the recent sensation associated with the phrase Ok Boomer. We trace the trend back to its origins on Tik Tok to its “jump the shark” moment in New Zealand Parliament to its recent appearance at a protest that halted the start of The Game, Harvard and Yale’s yearly football matchup. How does the Ok Boomer phenomenon impact our broader thinking about generations? How does this tie to research about generational differences, stereotypes, and metastereotypes? We connect this conversation to research and insights about group dynamics, decision-making, and diversity in a fun and free-flowing conversation. We hope you enjoy.
This week Mike dives into a conversation about entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial education with Sergei and Vadim Revzin, the hosts of The Mentors podcast. We begin by exploring each brother’s origin story of how they got involved in entrepreneurship and mentorship for aspiring entrepreneurs. How do storytelling, asking for help, and having drive contribute to being a successful entrepreneur? How much can be taught and what techniques work best when mentoring? We also explore how entrepreneurship and thinking like an entrepreneur is relevant to just about everyone, whether you’re pitching to venture capitalists or simply trying to stay relevant, inspired, and creative in your professional life. There’s plenty to learn from and be inspired by in this show and from The Mentors. Thanks again to Vadim and Sergei for joining. We hope you enjoy listening!
Mike and Dan explore the concept of gratitude from a few different angles as we gear up for Thanksgiving in the US. How can we learn to be more grateful and what kinds of gratitude work best? Can we be more other-pleasing with our gratefulness and can we learn to be grateful even for the hard times and the challenges of desirable difficulty. We’re very thankful for our listeners and hope you enjoy this Thanksgiving bonus edition!
Mike sits down with Russell Glass, the CEO of Ginger, the behavioral health app. We dig into the importance of coaching and proactive, preventative mental health as ways to address the growing mental health crisis in the US. Can an app help address the emerging epidemic of social isolation? Does digital help open up access to help in new and surprising ways? Or does it reinforce our addiction to screens? And how do mindfulness and gratitude factor into the equation? Have a listen, focus on your breathing, and find out!
Mike shares his experiences with Dan after attending the HolonIQ Global Summit on the Future of Learning and Talent which was recently held in New York City as part of a Global tour. We dive into where the world of education is heading from a venture capital and investment lens based on Mike's impressions from the summit. In particular, we explore how companies like Western Governors University, Penn Foster, and Cluster, among others, are investing in new models to reach learners who may not easily fit into traditional models of post secondary education. We also revisit themes we covered on our recent show based on HolonIQ's Education 2030 report which looks at broader growth and investment trends in education which we're expecting to continue through the next ten years. We hope you'll listen in and enjoy.
This week, Mike is joined by Colonel Chris Mayer, Associate Dean for Strategy & Initiatives at West Point, to talk about teaching strategic leadership in a VUCA world. As a quick disclaimer, the views expressed herein are those of Chris, our guest, and do not reflect the official policy or position of the United States Military Academy, the Department of the Army, or the Department of Defense. We begin by breaking down the concepts behind the VUCA acronym as we explore how best to lead in an increasingly Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous world. Chris imparts insight based on his experience teaching cadets at the military academy as we share perspectives on the ideas outlined in the first chapter of Bob Johansen's book, The New Leadership Literacies. In a world where SNAFUs go FUBAR on the regular, how should we evolve our leadership thinking from traditional command-and-control hierarchies into dynamic, responsive, shapeshifting organizations? What roles does positivity have to play and why is it good to embrace fear and think about possible futures ten or more years out? Engage your strategic mindset and lean in to hear a fascinating conversation with an outstanding guest. We hope you enjoy! If you enjoy what you're hearing, subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts and visit us at TrendinginEducation.com
We give ourselves an overall grade of "It's Complicated" as Mike and Dan dig into the results of the 2019 NAEP exams, aka our "National Report Card." The news isn't great on the Reading front with 2019 US Reading Scores dropping 1 point on 4th Grade Reading and 3 points on 8th Grade Reading versus 2017 scores. US Mathematics Scores for 2019 were flatter with 4th Grade Mathematics scores up 1 point and 8th Grade Mathematics scores down 1 point versus 2017 scores. This launches us into a discussion of what inferences we can and cannot make based on these results, and we caution against gravitating to the more provocative and clickbaity angles on the story. We also return to earlier conversations we've had about growth versus proficiency and charter schools / school choice to see where they are and are not related to the results of the most recent NAEP exams. We conclude by shifting the focus to the types of reading interventions that might turn around this short term dip while remembering that the overall trend has been positive since the NAEP was first introduced in the early 1990s. Hope you enjoy!
As an extra this week, Mike and Dan spend time with Jaye and Adam Fenderson, the filmmakers behind the new documentary, Unlikely. The film explores the problem of low graduation rates among US college entrants through the stories of 5 students and their families. We explore why this problem hasn't yet elevated to the national consciousness despite the fact that the US trails major industrialized nations with a college completion rate of less than 50%. This is made evident through an exploration of the challenges faced by "non-traditional" students balancing their educational needs with other financial, familial, and professional demands in 21st Century life. Rather than dispiriting, however, the film is ultimately inspirational by spotlighting innovative programs like the iPromise School, the Starbucks/ASU College Achievement Plan, and Year Up, among others, that are opening up access to opportunity for students who our higher ed system might have otherwise forgotten.
This week, Mike and Dan spend time with friend of the show, Dr Mark Sanders, discussing civic engagement as Election Day 2019 approaches. Mark describes the ways in which he's been engaging with students and the community at UNC Charlotte where Mark is a Philosophy professor. What lessons can be learned about civic engagement during an off-year election like this one? Beyond voting and serving on jury duty when called, what else is essential to civic engagement in the 21st century? How can philosophy provide us with techniques and ways of thinking about problems that elevate our understanding and drive more critical engagement with civic matters? We model good critical thinking and civil discourse as we think ahead to a year from now and grapple with yet another complex spate of issues on this week's show. Have a listen and enjoy!
In an emerging Trending in Education Halloween tradition, we take time to talk brains, BCIs in particular. Building on our recent episode about Data Privacy, the team dives into an exploration of recent news about Brain Computer Interfaces (BCIs). Over the summer, researchers at Carnegie Mellon demonstrated that non-invasive BCIs could enable the generation of simple commands in computers through use of helmets or other wearable tech. No surgery or implanting of chips required. We take a moment to celebrate the levels of access technology like this will open up before digging into some scarier hypotheticals that tie back to topics of cyber security, ethics, and informed consent. Oh and we talk a bit about how the Terminator's back once again on a very special Halloween Extra. Enjoy!
Mike and Dan catch up on the developing story that is Operation Varsity Blues. With Felicity Huffman serving 11 days of her 14-day sentence while Lori Loughlin and her husband are fighting their charges, we explore how the ongoing coverage of this scandal hints at a deeper sense of simmering cultural unease about fairness, equity, and college admissions. A Lifetime movie is already out and James Van Der Beek was tweeting about this long before he was Dancing With the Stars. It’s everywhere in the zeitgeist, so we try to make sense of this education story that is one part reality tv, one part morality play, and a whole lot of myth-making. We stay mostly on the frothy surface story but at times try to plumb the depths on this week's show. We hope you enjoy your listen.
For this week's extra, Mike is joined by Ron Reed and Greg Rosenbaum from SXSW EDU to talk about trends in learning and education over the past 10 years as the conference gears up for its 10th anniversary run in March 2020. What has changed over the years and what has remained the same? What's it like to run a learning conference as part of SXSW? How is SXSW EDU operating in a way that is inclusive and representative of the community and how does it continue to explore the cross disciplinary nature of the education landscape in the 21st Century? You'll hear about all of this and also get some news about the launch of a dedicated Podcast Stage featuring a live recording of Trending in Education which is on tap for SXSW EDU in the coming Spring. Have a listen to learn more! And join us next March in Austin if you can https://www.sxswedu.com/attend/ !
A Complex Nexus: Melissa Griffith is back with Mike and Dan as we dive into the complex and highly relevant topic of data security and data privacy with special attention to the learning implications for consumers, brands, and educators. We focus on recent research from Pew and elsewhere that indicates that a majority of Americans don’t understand key terms and concepts in data privacy and cybersecurity. You can read up more about this topic in a recent article by Nicole Lindsey from CPO Magazine: https://www.cpomagazine.com/cyber-security/new-pew-research-study-a-majority-of-americans-know-little-about-digital-security-and-privacy/ Questions Covered in Today's Show: What is GDPR and why is it relevant? How do the different ways in which the US, China, and the EU address data privacy and data innovation set the stage for an emerging AI Race? Do private companies have a fiduciary responsibility to their customers to protect their data? Is government regulation the answer or will it stifle innovation? How does cybersecurity factor into the conversation? And what's the best way to learn and develop emerging skills to help navigate all of this? If you like spirited conversations from varied perspectives on topics like this, we think you'll enjoy. Have a listen.
Mike and Dan recap their time at the Sound Education conference and explore some of their key takeaways. How does our own podcast fit into the growing learning audio ecosystem? How might new entrants like Luminary, Himalaya, and Lyceum change the way we understand educational audio? Is there a freemium model that will allow learning podcasts to remain free but allow for more growth and sustainability? We discuss all this and more on our latest Trending in Education.
Mike is joined by Chris Ryan and Dr Jeff Koetje to explore several key concepts in learning science and social and emotional learning (SEL). How can mindfulness help manage the self-doubt of the Impostor Syndrome? How is Growth Mindset a key reminder that there is discomfort and desirable difficulty when learning? And how do these concepts relate to emerging thinking around equity, diversity, and inclusion? We explore these concepts and try to connect them to real life experiences as learners, teachers, and education professionals.
This week, Mike and Dan dive into everything there is to know about the world of edutainment. What does edutainment mean and what are some alternative portmanteaus that also might foot the bill? We talk through the history of edutainment in the US ranging from the early days of Children's Television right on through the present day. We conclude with several recommendations of excellent examples of contemporary edutainment in the emerging world of learning media. If you like to add some fun to your learn, this is the show for you. Listen in and enjoy!
For those of you who just can’t get enough of Trending in Education’s breakdown of the 2019 edition of the Gartner Hype Cycle, we’re providing a bonus edition with Melissa Griffith. Mike and Melissa dive into the trends and spend time thinking about the future of learning and education based on the trends identified (and omitted) in the 2019 Report. Listen in and enjoy!
Mike and Dan dive into the maelstrom of activity coinciding with the launch of a formal Impeachment Inquiry in the US House of Representatives. We talk about the amount of noise this will generate and how it will become increasingly important to find reliable primary sources to understand what’s going on. We also discuss the growing need to turn off the 24-hour news cycle and find time to reflect. How do civics and legal education relate to the emerging zeitgeist? How do we create safe places to learn in a world where manipulated outrage is turned viral by social media and the need for hot takes? How do we stay informed without being consumed by our chaotic and cacophonous times? We don’t have too many answers but we grapple a bit with some big questions on this week’s show. Enjoy!
This week Mike and Dan are joined by old friend Brandon Jones to dive into the 2019 installation of the Gartner Hype Cycle. What's emerging on the curve and what has disappeared? Is the Hype Cycle itself past the peak of inflated expectations? In addition to a hot take or two, the squad breaks down the five larger themes outlined in the 2019 edition of the Hype Cycle with some detail. What are the implications of all of this to learning? How will the classrooms and learning environments of the future leverage these emerging technological advancements? And how does access and equity fit into the conversation? We explore all of this along with a few peaks of inflated expectations and troughs of disillusionment as we attempt to cut through the hype and get a read on where we're heading as we begin to look ahead to the 2020s. Listen in and enjoy!
This week, Mike and Dan are joined by Holly Garner, one of the Editors for the Journal of Applied Testing Technology, to examine the news that LinkedIn has launched skills assessments as part of their platform. How should assessments like these be designed? Does passing an exam truly signal proficiency or mastery? As this type of credentialing matures, what might be the implications for higher education? Will you be quizzed on all this? Maybe a lil bit. But it should help you learn a little. Enjoy!
Dan and Mike catch up on a recent new book release, The MVP Machine: How Baseball's New Nonconformists Are Using Data to Build Better Players, and accompanying Harvard Business Review article, What Baseball Can Teach You About Using Data to Improve Yourself. What techniques from the advanced metric and quantified self approach of players like Trevor Bauer can be leveraged for everyone's personal and professional growth? How do the themes of grit and growth mindset fit into this discussion? Is there a true tension between the folklore and history of baseball metrics and the new revolution sabermetrics and next-level analytics? Get the peanuts and crackerjacks and get ready to come back for more Trending in Education.
This week Mike and Dan are joined by Angela Siefer and Xandi Wright to discuss Digital Equity and Inclusion. Angela is the Executive Director of the National Digital Inclusion Alliance and has been focused on providing access to digital resource for those who may not have this in their homes. Xandi recently studied Digital Inclusion in graduate school and is beginning her practice in the field. We explore the concepts of digital inclusion, digital equity, digital readiness, and the homework gap and provide recommendations on how to learn more and get engaged in beginning to raise awareness and bridge these divides around access to and awareness of technology as an enabling force in the lives of students and adults.
In yet another Back to School Extra, Mike sits down with journalist, author, and teacher, Robert Pondiscio to discuss his provocative new book, How the Other Half Learns: Equality, Excellence, and the Battle Over School Choice. Robert shares his experiences from spending a year embedded in the Bronx 1 school in the Success Academy charter system. We touch on the discipline and commitment required of students, parents, and teachers to gain access and to stay in a Success Academy school. And we also explore challenging questions of fairness and equity that arise when some families gain access to programs like Success Academy while others do not. We wind up raising more questions than answers about this complex set of issues and look forward to continuing to examine what is the impact to those in these programs as well as those who don’t get in or get bounced for various issues. And with dedicated families exiting public schools for programs like Success Academy, what are the implications for public schools who must provide education to all students and families? Listen in and let us know what you think!
Mike and Dan sit down with Dennis Morgan, a member of the District 3 Community Education Council in Manhattan, to discuss how parents can become engaged and activated in their local schools. Using Dennis's story as an example, we discuss how Dennis became actively engaged in his children's public school to address challenges we face in New York and across the US. We follow Dennis’s story from when he was first connecting with other parents when his son was in Universal Pre-K to where he is now building programs to encourage parents of all backgrounds to keep their children in the public schools of Harlem. Listen in to hear a one parent’s journey as we explore the real challenges of engaging parents in the educational lives of their children.
This week, Mike sits down with Kate Eberle-Walker, CEO of Presence Learning, to explore the emerging field of teletherapy. Kate explains the history of screen-based therapy and related interventions and the growing role that organizations like Presence Learning are playing in bridging access gaps to licensed professionals in underserved schools through live online delivery. How might this help address the growing mental health crises kids, families, and K-12 schools are facing these days? Listen in to find out.
This week we have the pleasure of welcoming world renowned author and thinker, Michael Horn to the show. Michael recently authored Choosing College: How to Make Better Learning Decisions Throughout Your Life in which he and co-author, Bob Moesta, identify the five jobs that learners hire college to do for them. Michael is a cofounder and distinguished fellow of The Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation and is Head of Strategy for the Entangled Group. In addition to Choosing College, Michael has also written Disrupting Class and Blended and he has explored many topics relevant to the future of education and disruption. On this week's show, Mike sits down with Michael to dig into how to make great learning decisions about college and ongoing education throughout our lives. We discusses the benefits and drawbacks of a Gap Year, the importance of understanding the differences between intrinsic and extrinsic rewards, and exactly when college is and is not the best choice for individuals. The conversation covers themes relevant to learners of all ages, their parents and friends, and professionals in the learning and ed tech industries. Listen in and enjoy!
In a letter just released in August, the Business Roundtable, a lobbying group made up of many of the nation’s leading CEOs, may have changed the course of corporate America. The letter asserts that a business’s purpose is more than generating profit for its shareholders. Instead it is to deliver value to all of its stakeholders. Generating profit and shareholder value have been the prime directive of large corporations since the days of Milton Friedman. Is this signaling a change? Maybe Gordon Gecko was wrong. Greed may not be good if it isn’t tied to a purpose. But as we explore a scorecard beyond the bottom line, how should we track this newfound sense of success in business? Mike, Dan, and Tarlin dive into what this could mean for the future of corporations, workforce engagement, and professional development as explore the potential impact of this memo from the 181 on this TiE Extra!
What is an "Inverted Yield Curve" and why was it trending on Twitter of late? We take a stab at providing a little financial education as we explore this trend and what it means to all of us. How have the recent forecasts of a potential recession been amplified by social media? Has social media helped educate people on what's going on or simply fed mass hysteria and panic? How might we teach personal finance and other financial matters in K12, at home, and throughout our lives? Get out your crystal ball as we try to get a read on the financial future while digging into a once arcane economic concept, the Inverted Yield Curve.
Mike Palmer and Frank Jones revisit a hot topic from earlier this month on what a group of eight to 11 year-olds want to be when they grow up. Are American kids no longer fascinated by space travel? Is it all Youtube and Vlogging from here forward? Frank shares his perspectives on this topic as we continue to dig into the recent attention generated by a survey launched by Harris Polling and Lego. Is this pointing to bigger trends in learning and education? Listen in to find out.
This week Mike and Dan are joined by Tarlin Ray, Melissa Griffith, and Frank Jones as we explore Starbucks College Achievement Plan (SCAP) which has just granted degrees to its first 3000 graduates. Through a partnership with Arizona State University Online, Starbucks provides access to tuition-fee bachelors programs for its employees. The squad digs into the topic from various angles as we continue to explore new models of workforce development, public-private partnerships, and online post-secondary education. Get ready for a venti-sized serving of knowledge on this week’s show. Enjoy!
This week Mike and Dan are joined by Melissa Griffith to explore the topic of pay equity inspired by the US Women’s Team’s magical run to a World Cup Championship. We use this as a jumping off point to dive into all aspects of the zeitgeisty issue of the gender pay gap. As a learning podcast, we think through what can be learned and what can be taught about this complex issue. We also get some advice on negotiation and interview and interviewing skills from Melissa and squad. Listen in and enjoy!
This week, Mike sits down with bestselling author, keynote speaker, and disruptive storyteller Erik Qualman, aka Equalman, to explore how best to manage one's digital brand in the 21st Century. Drawing from examples from Erik's life, we dig into how privacy is eroding and how a thoughtful understanding of one's digital stamp, a combination of your digital footprint and your digital shadow, is key to success in modern life. Erik imparts nuggets of wisdom as only a motivational speaker can as he and Mike explore what life is becoming in a post-privacy world. If you want to get motivated to unlock your inner superpowers, then this is the episode for you!
A recent survey of 3000 children between the ages of eight and 11 showed that a majority of US and UK children are more interested in becoming a YouTube star than an astronaut. In China, the majority of respondents preferred to pursue a career in space, with Vlogger as the least popular option. We welcome Brandon back as a guest to discuss all this, plus Legos, AsCans, Space X and more. Strap on your virtual (or actual?) space helmet and get ready for liftoff with a midsummer Extra from your friends at Trending in Education.
On the heels of recent coverage in The Wall Street Journal and Wired, the team digs into the news that a new form of Poker AI named Pluribus, has been winning in games versus poker pros. The surprising secret to Pluribus’ game? Surprisingly, it’s bluffing! Mike and Dan begin the conversation and are joined by an old friend to explore what this can teach us about human intelligence, machine learning, and game theory. We also pitch a few development ideas for a human/AI poker tournament along the way. Push all in on one more poker show with us on this week’s installment of Trending in Education.
As we’ve said on numerous occasions, you need 21st Century skills to pay those 21st Century bills. To that end, Coursera, the online learning platform, recently released its inaugural Global Skills Index, billed as "data-driven insights into the world’s top career skills.". Dan and Mike are once again joined by Melissa Griffith as we dive into the global insights this report has to offer. What skills are most sought after by Coursera’s users? How might this data be interpreted to understand global upskilling trends? Are there any gaps or biases in the data that Coursera is working with and how might future 'GSI' reports look as Coursera refines this report? What other learning platforms could add broader context to what’s happening with global skill development? How does the United State stack up against the rest of the world and how should we interpret those comparisons? We cover these questions and tie the conversation to broader trends in workforce development and the future of work on this week’s show. Enjoy!
Amazon announced they'll be investing over 700 million dollars in upskilling and reskilling a large portion of their current workforce between now and 2025. Over the next six years, the retail giant will be providing training in AWS, machine learning, and other areas of work within the organization. Mike and Dan are joined by Melissa Griffith to dive into what this could mean to the future of work at Amazon and beyond. We also explore the implications to the broader field of workforce development as AI and automation intersects with human upskilling. How is Amazon choosing which employees will receive this training? What sort of data might Amazon collect to measure the efficacy? Should that data be open or proprietary? How might this training scale to other companies? Get primed and ready to go as you dive into this episode on what’s emerging in workforce training at Amazon.
This week, we dive into the learning myth of "summer learning loss." Based on a recent article from EducationNext.org, we discuss the history of summer learning loss, where the current mythology stands, and how we might move forward with a better understanding of school calendars, summer assignments and more. If you’re in search of summer learning gain, this is the podcast for you!
Have you ever felt like you don't have one true calling? When asked what you wanted to be when you grew up, did multiple answers spring to mind? On today's extra, we dive into the idea of multipotentiality, spurred by a recent TED talk by Emilie Wapnick. In a world where much of the discussion around talent and career advancement has focused on deep specialization, what role can sharp, flexible generalists play in the future of work? How is the latest research pointing to the benefits of pairing experts with generalists to drive towards creativity and a good blend of both vertical and lateral thinking? We discuss these topics and reflect on our own perspectives on talent on our latest extra. Enjoy!
We’re “all-in” this week, as we welcome Annie Duke, author of Thinking In Bets and retired poker pro, to the show. Annie begins by sharing the long, winding path she took to become an author and expert in decision science. From her time as a PhD student in cognitive science to her introduction to poker as a novice, to her inspiration to write her books, Annie provides great detail on all of the influences throughout her life that have come together to write Thinking In Bets. We also dive into the non-profit, The Alliance for Decision Education, that Annie co-founded in 2012 and discuss how she hopes to push decision education at scale to millions of students in K12. How do we get decision-making wrong? How often do we worry about the result, see Pete Carroll’s play-calling in Super Bowl XLIX, rather than the process that led to the decision? If we were to teach students the basics of good decision-making, how might this improve their ability to decide quickly and adapt to a variety of environments and novel contexts critical to learning and the future of work? We discuss all that and more on this week’s episode. Pull up a seat, ante up, and join us for an engaging conversation!
Following on the heels of our conversation with the researchers who studied the impact of environmental factors, including temperature, on performance, here we dive in to get more reactions from Dan, Mike, and a few friends of the show. The most buzzworthy component of the research has been the findings that women, on average, perform better on cognitive tasks in warmer temperatures while men, on average, tend to perform better in cooler temperatures. We welcome Dr Erika Blumenthal to the show for the first time to get her takes on this hot topic, and bring back friend of the show, Kristen Smith, to help round out the conversation. Find a microclimate to listen optimally, turn up the volume, listen in and enjoy.
You most likely saw a news article or morning television show covering a recent study on temperature and performance. Mike and Dan chat with the researchers behind the story! Debates have raged for decades on office temperature and how it might change the way we work. This research shows that women do perform better in warmer temperatures, while men perform better in cooler temperatures. We talk with Dr. Agne Kajackaite, WZB, Berlin Social Science Center and Dr. Tom Chang, Associate Professor of Finance and Business Economics at USC about the process, results, and potential implications of their project. How might educators and test proctors better understand how a shared environment can be best set up for everyone? Can students use this sort of information to prepare themselves for better performance on test day? We discuss all this and what other factors, such as pollen levels, might truly change one's ability to perform at top levels.
On a very special Fourth of July extra, we share some news about co-host Brandon Jones. We talk through some of the highlights of Trending in Education over the past two-and-a-half plus years. We also discuss what topics we look forward to revisiting as the show accelerates into the future. We also bring back an old feature of our podcast, the quiz! Dan quizzes Brandon and Mike on July 4th history. Light your sparklers and tune in!
We revisit the Meeker report after our high-level discussion last week, to drill down on Mary Meeker's outlook for education and online education throughout the world. The world is changing at an ever increasing pace. How is online education attempting to keep up? We take a look at the intersection of public and private partnerships with MOOCs. Have MOOCs made the move up the Gartner Hype Cycles' Plateau of Productivity? As more colleges and universities move online, have we solved for the proper credentialing of future students? Are these schools moving their brick and mortar curriculum online properly and what should students and life-long learners be aware of as they seek out learning tools? Finally, how does a player like YouTube influence the space and what might their own platform look like in the future? We discuss all that and more on our latest. Tune in and join the conversation on Twitter and Facebook @TrendingInEd.
What might the global landscape of learning and education look like in 2030? We dive into a recent dynamic report from HolonIq.com on five key trends to watch for over the next 10 plus years. In a global market place that is set to reach over 10 trillion dollars in the year 2030, how might the world of learning and education evolve? Will learning be most influenced through regional change or will a global big bang in learning and education change the state of play? What demographic and technology changes will influence the space? We dive into the five macrotrends highlighted in the report and get all futuristic in our mindsets for this week's show. Listen in and enjoy.
It's that time of year again! Join us as we dive into the 2019 Meeker Internet Trends Report. Mike and Brandon take a high level look at the report in its entirety and explore what trends Mary Meeker thinks are most important. For the first time, over 50% of the world has access to the internet and that number should continue to climb. What does that mean for education, learning, and connectivity around the globe? How has our consumption of digital media changed and how important are mobile devices in that consumption? In a world where more and more content is created each day, how do we, as consumers, adapt to it all? How important will curation of content be as we’re all “drinking from the firehose” of modern life? We have all that and more on this first episode of two diving into the Meeker report!
A recent "click-bait" story out of the Washington Post describes a study in Italy that explores using Twitter to study a novel. The study, done at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan, split students into two groups: one group used more standard classroom approaches to reading and understanding a novel while the other group used Twitter to learn about the book. The results showed that the students on who studied on Twitter struggled in retention and understanding of the novel. Does this prove that Twitter is, in fact, "eroding our intelligence" as the WaPo headline decries? Do studies like this help or hurt the cause of those trying to fight against Fake News and social media's shortcomings? Can using Twitter be a positive in certain contexts, lesson plans, and content domains? We talk about all of this and more on our latest episode. Tune in and feel free to tweet about it!
A recent study out of Stanford University shows that a new creation, Quizbot, proves to be more effective in students' knowledge retention than old school flashcards. We dive into how the Quizbot works and why it appears to be a welcomed addition to a student's studying tool box. How can the Quizbot's interactivity help students where analog study aides may fall flat? How might something like the Quizbot help augment study aides already in use? With chat and other text-based formats already popular across the web, how easily could this sort of instruction be introduce to students? And how does this relate to the blending of great human teaching with emerging innovation in technology and new media? Listen in to find out more and enjoy!
Happy Father's Day! On this extra, we tackle a news story out of Canada about the implementation of robot babies as a study tool for onboarding and training medical professionals. How might robot babies better prepare healthcare professionals for everything that could happen during the early days of life? Where might screen-based simulations be a better learning tool than a robot? Will future medical trainees get lost and creeped out in the uncanny valley? Listen in to hear all this and more.
As IQ has been thrust into the mainstream news with folks measuring each other based on obscure psychometric quotients, we take some time to look at what it's supposed to represent and what exactly can be understood by this number. We touch on Howard Gardner's work on multiple intelligences and raise some questions about whether IQ is an idea past its prime. What value do we get from IQ numbers and is it something that is fixed or changes over time? We explore the weaponization of IQ and the downside of pigeon-holing someone based on their IQ. How do EQ (Emotional Quotient) and AQ (Adaptability or Adversity Quotient) relate to IQ and which quotient(s) are most germane to life in our modern world? How does the math behind IQ, (your mental age over your actual age) remind us that life-long learning truly is important? We discuss all these things and more on our latest episode. Listen up and enjoy!
Octochamps? Octochamps! This year's Scripps Spelling Bee finished in an eight way tie. We discuss the fallout from the way it all ended and attempt to conjure up new innovations to the Spelling Bee and to Bees in general. We hit on some of the history of the National Bee along the way.. What went wrong at this year's spelling be too cause an eight way tie? How has spelling bee prep changed the game for some of the brightest spellers in the country? Would a few simple tweaks to the rules and preparation help change the results? We conclude by musing over whether it's it time to ditch the Spelling Bee and replace it with a multievent Beecathalon? Tune in for all that and more. You'll be gladiolus you did!
If you step into a classroom today, you're likely to hear the tap tap of keyboards and cell phones, as students attempt to type down as many notes as possible from the lecture. While technology in the classroom can help push students forward, does technology win out on note-taking or does the "old school" paper and pen(cil) approach win the day? This week we dive into the digital v analog note-taking debate! Recent studies have shown that retention rates are higher for students who take notes with a pen and paper. What is it about the "old school" approach that proves better? How can students resist the pull of technology to take better notes? Should note-taking, notes management, and other studying techniques be something schools focus on with younger students? What technology can be used to get the best of both worlds? All that and Mike works on a sketch of Dan live on the show! Get your notepads and pens ready as you listen in and enjoy!
Inspired by Robert Smith's announcement that his family would help pay off the debt of the 2019 Morehouse College graduating class, we dive into commencement season. We look at what makes a great speech to graduates. Looking at speeches from this year and hearkening back to the best from the past few years, what common themes tie them together? Do the best speeches combine compassion and humor? Mike muses about working on his own commencement speech and what that might entail. Brandon shares a story of his own brush with commencement greatness. Dust off your cap and gown and have a listen!
On our latest episode of the Citadel, Brandon, Mike, and Dan break down the final episode of Game of Thrones. We talk through the all the major plot points, discuss what's next for those characters that are still with us, and share what we think could have been better. SPOILER ALERT!!! We talk about the conclusion of GoT in the show and in the rest of the description! Was Jon and Dany's final scene on par with the death of the Night King? Did the show runners deliver on story lines that have been building since season one? What should we think of the future of the monarchy in Westeros? Which future stories are the most compelling? We discuss all that and discuss the potential for spinoffs along with the prequels already in production. Tune in and join the conversation on Twitter using @TrendingInEd.
Why did the engineer teach the robot to tell a joke? To see if they could be funny, clearly. On our latest episode, we dive into a recent article on teaching artificial intelligence to tell jokes and puns. The Wired article we dig into describes the work of He He, a postdoc candidate at Stanford, who is attempting to teach robots how to construct and tell puns and jokes. How might a world where robots can tell good jokes change what we find funny? How does a shared human experience inform how we understand enjoying humor? How might AI work in conjunction with humans to write better jokes and comedies? We also share some of our favorite jokes and puns about robots, as well as a tease out another topic on chat bots. Tune in and enjoy!
Our fifth episode of the final season of The Citadel breaks down The Bells, Episode 5 of Season 8 of Game of Thrones. Be forewarned, we discuss numerous details of the show so if you're not a GoT fan or if you haven't seen the third episode of Season 8, steer clear for fear of spoilage. Brandon, Mike, and Dan try to find bright spots in a season that's been headed in the wrong direction. We check in on the downward trend on Rotten Tomatoes and hope the final episode can correct the fall before the end of the series. How should we interpret Dany's actions? We see the prophecy of Varys' demise come true as he is put to death by the Dragon Queen and then she attacks King's Landing. Is she now, truly, the 'Mad Queen' or were these actions a necessary step to take Westeros and make it her own? Why didn't she lay waste to the Red Keep first, sparing the city? Will Jon's loyalty be put to the test with her actions? Jaime and Cersei are reunited and we get a brutal fight between the Hound and his brother the Mountain. Were these ends truly satisfying or rushed for the final run? We discuss all of these things and what the significance of Arya and the white horse may be on our latest episode of the Citadel. Tune in and let us know what you think!
This week, we welcome Jeanne Allen, Founder and CEO of the Center for Education Reform, to the show to discuss school choice, innovation, and more. We dive into CER's history and goals on a national, state, and local level. Jeanne shares her views on what's wrong with our education system and how CER believes these problems can be fixed. She discusses where her organization spends its resources and time, as well as how they may find common ground they with folks on the other side of complex issues in educational policy and reform. We talk through what school choice means as CER sees it and what could help to provide all students with high quality education. As CER celebrates its 25th anniversary, how might the next 25 years play forward for this organization and for learning and education as a whole? Tune in to find out!
Our fourth episode of the final season of The Citadel breaks down, The Last of the Starks, Episode 4 of Season 8 of Game of Thrones. Be forewarned, we discuss numerous details of the show so if you're not a GoT fan or if you haven't seen the third episode of Season 8, steer clear for fear of spoilage. Brandon, Mike, and Dan make their way through what's been seen as a disappointing episode four of season eight. We begin in Winterfell for the victory toasts and celebrations, make our way through an uneven meeting betwen Bronn, Jaime, and Tyrion and a 'surprise' attack from Euron, and a meeting of the queens. Will Danaerys continue to be the chosen leader of those opposing Cersei or has Jon's revelation and popularity started to show cracks in her support? Have the show-runners lost their way? Rotten Tomatoes reviews continuing trend downward might answer that question for us. We talk through the coffee cup on set, Jaime and Brienne's time together, and much, much more.
First, we say thank you to all the teachers out there as we celebrate Teacher Appreciation Day! Then, we dive into the latest wearable technology, hearables. As Fitbits and Apple Watches continue to flood the market, what is the latest technology available for our ears? Apple's Air pods are a popular example of the growing product area of smart, wearable audio devices known as hearables which are changing media consumption and have broad implications to learning. How can hearables be used for learning and personalization? How can clarity controls and amplification created for those suffering from hearing loss make audio lectures and learning in crowded spaces more engaging for everyone? Are our ears a pathway to tracking our brain functionality and health more closely and dynamically? Find out how a Stanford Neuroscientist describes the possibilities. How long until cochlear implants combine with hearables to further blend humans with smart tech? In sum, we get futurist with our learnholes this week. What more could you ask for? Tune in and enjoy!
Our third episode of the final season of The Citadel breaks down, The Long Night, Episode 3 of Season 8 of Game of Thrones. Be forewarned, we discuss numerous details of the show so if you're not a GoT fan or if you haven't seen the third episode of Season 8, steer clear for fear of spoilage. We begin by checking in with Mike and Dan to set the stage for the podcast now that everyone has had time to digest and process this epic episode. Then we share highlights from our Sunday night live stream that included Brandon, Frank Jones, and Ken Florence, in addition to Mike and Dan. Ken is the composer of all the great music you here in our theme music and on each Citadel episode. We close out the show by getting more perspective now that the dust is settling with friend of the show, Kristen Smith. We talk through the Battle of Winterfell and those who were lost, and those we did not lose, in the battle versus the Army of the Dead. Where did the over/under come in on the number of major characters who died in this episode? How did the darkness at the top of the show influence people's viewing experience? What comes next for Daenerys, Jon, Cersei, and everyone else vying for the throne? We discuss all those things along with a whole lot more on this week's episode. Listen in and enjoy!
This week we dive into the topic of Summit Learning and some of the backlash it's seen in school districts across America. We react to a recent New York Times article that explores a spate of recents cases of community opposition to this program at high schools in Kansas. How is local activism intersecting with broad educational initiatives like Summit Learning which is back by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI)? How much of the reaction is in part driven by the perceived foreignness of Silicon Valley edtech and how much is tied to a mistrust of screen-based education? What's the role of the educator and how important is buy-in at all levels to the success of advancing ed tech and personalized learning in the classroom? We engage in a spirited discussion of a topic that we're expecting to remain an important part of the broader conversation about evolving our learning and educational models. Listen in and enjoy!
Our second Episode of The Citadel breaks down Episode 2 of Season 8 of Game of Thrones, "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms." Be forewarned, we discuss numerous details of the show so if you're not a GoT fan or if you haven't seen the second episode of Season 8, steer clear for fear of spoilage. This week we dive into the details of the episode that sets us up for the big battle of Winterfell that seems to be imminent heading into Episode 3. What was the significance of Jenny's Song? What happens now that Jon Snow revealed his news to Daenerys? Which characters are most likely to leave us next episode and what's the "over/under" on major character deaths in Episode 3? How did Episode 2 and the season overall thus far deliver against expectations? What's coming next in what is purported to be the most legendary battle sequence in television history? Have a listen to this show to find out all this and much more on this week's installment of The Citadel.
On this week's episode we tackle the topics of cryptomnesia and multiple discovery. Cryptomnesia occurs when a forgotten memory returns without it being recognized as such by the subject, who believes it is something new and original. Multiple discovery is the theory that most scientific discoveries and inventions are made independently and more or less simultaneously by multiple scientists and inventors. What does it mean to be creative if we're really just pulling from our own experiences without being consciously aware? Does intent mark the difference between plagiarism and new work? With technology available, is it incumbent on the creator to confirm their new work hasn't been done before? How does curation factor into creativity and invention? We discuss all that as well as Twitter jokes and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers on a quick-paced, fun episode. Tune in!
We're back! Your friends at Trending in Education are relaunching our Game of Thrones breakdown show, aka The Citadel, to coincide with the final season of the legendary television series. Be forewarned, we discuss numerous details of the show so if you're not a GoT fan or if you haven't seen the premiere of Season 8, steer clear for fear of spoilage. This week, Brandon and Mike are joined by friend of the show, Frank Jones, to discuss the intricacies of Season 8, Episode 1, Winterfell. In addition, we make predictions about what will happen next as the narrative arc of the show enters into the end game. If you want to get the lowdown on the first episode and begin to flex your predictive prowess forecasting the rest of the final season, listen in and enjoy!
This week, we dive back into one of our favorite topics, robots. Researchers at Case Western Reserve University have created and refined a robot who can sense and respond to human emotion in real time. While "Woody" is still being fine-tuned, his existence opens up questions of how socially and emotionally aware robots might further empower a human-led classroom? While it's easy to wax dystopic on the topic of robots, we find some positive signs in the emergence of this new age robot that senses human feelings. Why does this excite our imaginations? How else can robots like this help us relieve suffering and care for the elderly? Can therapeutic robots be used to combat an emerging loneliness epidemic? We touch on all of this and even sing a little Whitney Houston on this week's show. Listen in and enjoy.
Were you a student who was frustrated by the amount of homework you had to do? Are you a parent who continually argues with your children about getting their homework done? Is it all worth it? On this week's episode, we dive into the debate on the true importance of homework for younger students. Should homework be banned in elementary school? Is homework truly helping reinforce what's happening in the classroom? Does the National PTA and National Education Association have it right that 10 minutes of homework per grade level (ie 10 minutes for first grade, 90 minutes for ninth grade) is the right amount? We tackle this and more as we discuss a recent Salon article on the subject. We also discuss the potential that homework at an early age helps prepare students for what's to come later on in their schooling. Tune in to find out our points of view and be sure to let us know what you think about the importance of homework!
This week, we close out our 2019 Learning March Madness tournament. Over four rounds and 15 games, 16 of our favorite trends and topics were voted on by our listeners and now it’s time to dig into the results. Could JOMO make a Cinderella run from the 16-seed at the bottom of the bracket? Did Mindful Learning earn a coveted spot in the finals? How did Kidsolving fare defending its crown? We take some time to walk through some of the early-round matchups and discuss the tournament overall. How does this year's group stack up against those from years past? What topics do we see as having lasting power throughout 2019? How can we best track or "score" these predictions to see which truly comes out ahead as the year ends? We conclude by revealing the winner of this year's Championship Game with a little Moonlightesque panache. The finals pitted Interactive Everything against Human-centered STEM. Which topic won out and claimed the top trend spot in our 2019 tournament? Tune in to find out!
Dan and Mike chat with Russell Glass, co-author of Voting with a Porpoise. Voting with a Porpoise is a new children's book focused on fostering a discussion around civic engagement and voting with younger kids. The authors describe the purpose of the book as: to help change the culture around elections and voting. To that end, 100 percent of the profits for Voting With a Porpoise will be donated to 501(c)(3) non-partisan voting-related causes focused on getting more people of all backgrounds to the polls, such as Rock the Vote, Vote.org, TurboVote, and others. We talk to Russell about his own background and drive to write this children's story. He discusses his own experiences with voting and his family which helped shape his desire to join this conversation. How did he and co-author Sean Callahan decide on marine animals as the focus? How hard was it to land on a rhyming meter that worked? What are the long term goals for the book? Will Petey the Porpoise swim into our lives in a sequel? All that and a great podcast pun awaits you on this land and sea adventure.
Mike sits down with Rohit Bhargava, author and Founder of the Non-Obvious Company, to discuss the 2019 edition of the Non-Obvious guide. Rohit, as a friend and influencer of our show, always provides surprising and insightful takes on where the world is heading and this year is no exception. Mike and Rohit engage in a free-flowing conversation that covers Non-Obvious 2019 trends like Strategic Spectacle, Muddled Masculinity, and Deliberate Downgrading and attempt to assess the relevance of many of these trends to the world of learning and education. In addition, they explore how the learnability and teachability of being non-obvious. How much of it is a mindset and how much of it can be developed by adopting a more omnivorous approach to consuming inputs, collecting insights, and curating trends? Listen in to find out!
In this episode, we dive into the edutainment value of Game of Thrones as we gear up for the final season of the show which debuts in just a few weeks. We discuss how GoT provides good foundations for political science, leadership and management, language learning, and even epidemiology curricula. What are the advantages of using timely, relevant entertainment content when designing instruction? How has Bruce Craven of Columbia University incorporated the blockbuster HBO show and George RR Martin novels into a popular leadership and management course. Can we learn from the leadership styles of the characters in this story or is designing lesson plans around GoT the instructional equivalent of clickbait? Do popular narratives like this series provide learners with hooks to which they can affix new learning or do they add too much distraction and cognitive load that interfere with learning? Then we dig into a fascinating Smithsonian article about Australian epidemiologists who are predicting the outcomes of the final season using best practices in their field. What do gender, highbornness, even silk versus boiled-leather-collar jobs increase or decrease the likelihood of a character's demise on the show? How does the development of an entire world, full of culture, languages, and more, change the way we interact and learn and how is this all reminiscent of JRR Tolkien's classic The Lord of the Rings? Is the Song of Ice and Fire an elaborate pro-literacy vehicle? Listen in to hear all of this and get some early takes on the upcoming zeitgeisty media phenomenon that will coincide with the final season of this epic show. Is this the end of appointment television? What's next for this media and entertainment juggernaut? How should learners and educators engage or find JOMO in this phenomenon? We explore all of this and set up for our sister show, The Citadel, which will launch with the premier of Game of Thrones Season 8 in mid April. As they say in Westeros, Winter is here!
Mike Palmer is joined by Frank Jones and Kristen Smith to discuss the sprawling college admissions scandal known as Operation Varsity Blues. What does this scandal say about the current state of selective higher ed admissions in the US? How is this scandal and its coverage a reflection of broader trends we’re seeing in our society? Why are Aunt Becky from Full House and Felicity Huffman from Desperate Housewives the “poster moms” for this scandal and how does it all tie to “bulldozer parenting” and “affluenza?” We also take the time to discuss how the collective outrage in response to the scandal can be harnessed for more positive outcomes. What steps can we all take to help ensure individuals who deserve the opportunity get a fair shot at an undergraduate education? Tune in for a lively discussion on a trending educational topic that will likely remain in the zeitgeist for quite some time.
This week, we tackle the topic of "unlearning." We begin by defining what unlearning has meant across psychology, organizational change, and in the classroom and dig into the debate about whether it is truly part of the learning process. Can we truly "unlearn" something or do we build upon or reframe our understanding as new data and insights come to light? How much of a part does our own humility play in being able to learn new things? Which fields could benefit the most from the concept of "unlearning" and how might it tie to growth mindset, addiction, and related ideas? We discuss all of this and tie back to previous shows and related themes as we talk through this deep and interesting topic. Listen in to begin to figure out how, when, and whether to get your unlearn on!
Mike Palmer and Melissa Griffith sit down with Aaron Dignan to talk about his new book, Brave New Work. Aaron walks us his story of writing the book before focusing in on what isn't working in current organizational environments and how anyone within any organization can help bring about the type of change that is so desperately needed. Aaron discusses getting to the heart of organizational, department, or team issues and working on change by focusing on the people. What's the difference between complicated and complex systems? What parallels can be drawn to world of learning and education? Why is Aldous Huxley so important to all of this? Aaron, Melissa, and Mike have an engaging, entertaining, and illuminating discussion around all of this and more. Listen in to enjoy!
We take you to our live presentation of our podcast at SXSWEdu 2019. Mike and Brandon were joined on stage by Ashley Mannka-Suydam, Director, Learning Products at ACT to talk about the top trends at the conference. We also discussed through our brand new March Madness bracket. After our live show, you'll hear two interviews from the Expo floor. Dan talks to a company called In My Shoes. They are looking to use video and in-person mentors to help at-risk and minority students visualize themselves as successful in the business world. Mike then catches up with Vincent Routhier, CEO of LU Interactive, to discuss their interactive physical education technology. Can a re-imagined gymnasium help keep kids get active and reinforce classroom concepts? Tune in for a sense of what’s emerging at SXSW EDU.
We had the great pleasure of sitting down with Ron Reed, Founder and Executive Producer, and Greg Rosenbaum, General Manager, of the learning conference SXSW EDU. Ron and Greg share the origin story of SXSWEdu and explore the emerging trends they've seen over the first nine years of the conference. We talk about community building, the power of convergence zones, and the ways in which innovation in learning and education is evolving. We also touch on mindfulness, social and emotional learning, and the whole teacher movement as core parts of the emergent zeitgeist of the festival. If you made it to SXSW EDU this year, this is a wonderful capstone conversation for the experience. If you didn't make it, listening is a fantastic way to get a sense of what Greg and Ron are trying to accomplish and how it feels to be a part of it.
If you like what you’re hearing, follow us at TrendinginEducation.com and wherever you get your podcasts!
It's time for our 2019 Learning and Education March Madness! Mike and Brandon draft eight topics each to go head to head in round one of this year's tournament. Which of our best episodes made this year's field? What didn't make the cut? Tune in to find out how we break down the field for this year's tourney! Join in the fun by entering your predictions.
After much ado, fanfare, and aplomb, it's finally time for our hosts to put forth their own predictions for trends in learning and education for 2019. What important topics do we see on the horizon that will change the way students and lifelong learners acquire knowledge and skills in the year ahead? Brandon shares his thoughts on Education2020 and how politics, the presidential race, and education will all intertwine throughout this year into next. Mike hypes the rising importance of the Whole Teacher Movement as well as Mindful Learning as the key trends he's tracking this year. And Dan shares his thoughts on the new MA (M&A) in higher education, merger and acquisitions as his key trend to track this year. All this and more on a great look forward to prognosticate what is on the horizon for the upcoming year in learning and education. Tune in to hear where we think things are heading on this week's episode!
In this week's extra, Mike catches up with new author Logan Thompson on his book Beyond the Content: Unlocking the Other Half of Test Prep with a Tailored Mindfulness Approach. Logan talks about his own path to becoming more mindful and self-aware and how good mindfulness practices have helped to shape who he is as a teacher and a person. Logan discusses how performing on a standardized test doesn't just involve understanding the content and the strategies, it also involves managing one's cognitive and emotional states. Throughout the conversation, Mike and Logan explore the analogy of consciousness as both a Driver and Passengers. Logan provides techniques to manage the presence of the interruptive, distracting, or self-limiting thoughts, aka Passengers, without giving them too much power or attention, while empowering the Driver to get to where she wants to go. We also discuss how Logan's focus on mindfulness and being present connects to social and emotional learning, cognitive and emotional empathy, and the Whole Child and Whole Teacher movements. Listen in and enjoy!
We dive into learning and education trends to watch in 2019. Using two Forbes.com articles as our jumping off point, we talk trends in STEM, K-12, and higher education. How will teacher shortages influence the learning and education landscape? Does STEM help lead the way on the whole child learning experience? Can national and local legislation help change the higher education space in the US? Are income-share agreements a viable solution to ballooning student-debt? We discuss all of these topics and more. Listen in and enjoy!
Just in time for Valentines Day, we're joined by KS Wiswell, author of Full Frontal Nerdity - Lessons on Loving and Living With Your Brain. In addition to being an author, KS is also a screenwriter, an improv performer, and also a Kaplan instructor. We dive into the thought process behind her launching a blog and how that grew into publishing her first book. How did a background in improv help her connect topics that few others see as common? What is it like to share personal stories about love and life for everyone to see? How is improv like teaching and how can we use surprise, narrative, and relevance to make instruction more entertaining and compelling. KS walks us through all this and much more with plenty of laughs along the way.
We take a look at some of the emerging media trends to watch for in 2019. Mike dives into the Gimlet and Anchor acquisitions by Spotify and how audio will continue to be a focal point for advertisers. We also take a look at how small a portion of advertising podcasts currently garner. Does the in-house content creation Spotify is paying for mirror a Netflix and it's approach to video content? Brandon dives into Super Bowl commercials and #RoboChild. How are robots, or maybe even our fear of robots, shaping the commercials and media we are consuming? It's getting Zeitgeisty, to be sure. Mike and Dan close with some late-breaking insights into the recent news around Jeff Bezos and the parent company of the National Enquirer and the recent scandal and its implications for media. We talk about all this and more media trends to keep an eye out for in the coming year. Enjoy!
We tackle a recent article from BuzzFeedNews.com that explores Millennials as the 'Burnout Generation'. Does Anne Helen Peterson's work paint with too broad a brush or do younger generations face a tougher road? How does burnout change the way we might be open to learning? Brandon discusses how every generation faces tough decisions about where their careers might go as they enter college. Mike explores how burnout and pressure around visual identity and online social comparison may be leading to new problems for teens and young people as it relates to their mental health and well-being. We close with Dan and Mike digging into the growing prevalence of mindfulness and social emotional learning as a potential way to provide coping mechanisms to counter some of the more negative aspects of these trends. It's an important discussion we hope to continue to explore in future episodes.
We take a look back at some of the hottest gadgets at CES 2019 and discuss where some potential crossover to learning may exist. Mike points out the lack of education and learning categories / focus at the trade show. Brandon focuses in on wearables and the tracking of individual data that could help shape how we understand personalized learning. We also discuss the explosion in sensors and how growth in that technology could apply to education and learning. Can sensors help track brain waves and teach us more about how we learn? What could teachers do with a better understanding of their students' engagement and mental readiness? And of course, if it's our CES show, you know we talk robots as we revisit the Uncanny Valley, robot butlers, and so much more. Join us for a fun listen for the latest and greatest from CES 2019.
The team takes a look at interactive media and interactive video with Netflix's recently released Black Mirror episode Bandersnatch as a backdrop. We talk through how interactive media has grown and developed over the years from Choose-Your-Own-Adventure books and Role Playing Games to interactive video experiences like what Netflix is now offering. We discuss the positive and negative use cases for interactive media. How does an interactive experience change the creative process? Are traditional cinematic auteurs as well-suited for interactive media as say game designers? Regarding Bandersnatch specifically, did Black Mirror and Netflix get the interactive experience right and the content wrong? We touch on our own reactions to the movie and share where we see similar content in the future growing and even recite some of Lewis Carroll’s Jabberwocky - the genesis of the term Bandersnatch - before we’re through. Listen in and enjoy!
The crew dives into a wide range of emerging macrotrends concerning teachers at the start of 2019. We begin by taking a look at a recent Wall Street Journal report on the current 'quit rate' in the teaching profession. What could be behind the all-time high in teachers leaving the field seen in 2018? Could the gig-economy and financial pressures be leading some teachers to leave their profession? We also take a look at upcoming strikes in Los Angeles, Oakland, and Virginia and examine how these types of work stoppages can influence learning and provide opportunities to explore civic engagement among students and teachers alike.
We're back with a brand new episode and this week we talk about parenting. More specifically, we discuss proud new papa Mike's first few days on the job and how we learn to be parents. Are there enough formal education opportunities for expecting parents? Do certain societal norms keep us from studying up before we're responsible for another person? How can a parent who wants to learn seek out verified, high-end instruction and avoid the fads? We discuss that and each of our own experiences throughout this episode!
On our first show of 2019, we look back to some of the great guests we had throughout 2018 with this highlight show. Mike and Dan kick off the conversation with a big announcement from Mike and a discussion around the guests you'll hear from through this episode. We'll hear highlights from our conversations with Wendy Zukerman, Rohit Barghava, Tarlin Ray, Melissa Griffith, Debbie Berebichez, and Katie Nielson. Thank you to everyone who listened in 2018. We look forward to growing in 2019, hearing more voices, and engaging with an even broader audience.
Mike, Dan, and Brandon kick off our review by discussing our favorite episodes and topics covered throughout the year. We touch on some of the great guests we’ve had on the show and some of the predictions we made that came true (e.g., Kidsolving). We then catch up with friend of the show, Matt Cooper, CEO of Skillshare. We explore what trends might have emerged since last we spoke. Matt talks about the gig economy, his vision for digital learning, and more. Next, we bring back one of the great teachers we spoke to back in May as part of National Teachers Week. UNC Charlotte Philosophy Professor Mark Sanders discusses civic engagement around the 2018 elections and what he sees as challenges in keeping individuals active in government. Mark also touches on some trends he’s seeing in higher education and what's in store for 2019. And we round out this episode talking with Samantha Jeklinksi, our 2018 March Madness listener bracket winner! Samantha showed us she has some trendspotting mojo by picking 15/16 correct in our yearly March Madness extravaganza. Listen in to hear what's on Samantha’s radar in 2019. We wish everyone a very Happy New Year and look forward to great things to come in 2019. Here’s to continuing to get our learn on and having some fun while we do it!
Mike and Dan welcome two great guests, Dr. Bror Saxberg and Glenn Whitman, to discuss the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI), The Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning (CTTL), neuroscience and learning, and how a holistic approach to education applies to teaching and teacher development. Phew! Bror, Vice President, Learning Science at CZI, discusses the mission of the organization and how it recently invested in CTTL. Glenn describes the work that's been done on a local level at the St. Andrew's Episcopal School in Maryland and how that work is being scaled across the US and globally through CZI. Can training teachers on how the brain works make them more effective in the classroom? We talk often about teaching the whole student, but can we miss out on reaching the whole teacher? CTTL has done some great work in the field and has partnered with CZI to build NeuroTeach, which is set to launch broadly in January. Tune in for a wide-ranging discussion on neuroscience, learning engineering, growth mindset, microlearning, and much more. We may even debunk a few neuromyths before we’re done. Enjoy! If you like what you’re hearing, follow us at TrendinginEducation.com and wherever you get your podcasts!
On this week’s episode, Mike, Brandon and Dan tackle the importance of math! How does learning math benefit a student? Has science isolated the parts of the brain most used when learning and applying math? Math, in all its forms, has long caused anxiety and fear amongst students and life-long learners. Why does math cause so many issues for some learners and how can they learn to adopt a growth mindset when it comes to math rather than a self-defeating one? Tune in for a wide ranging discussion on math and learning! Join in the conversation by leaving a comment wherever you listen to podcasts or on Twitter by following us @TrendingInEd.
Mike and Dan sit down with Dr. Susan Sanders, Vice President of Nursing at Kaplan Test Prep, to discuss health and nursing education and what’s new and emerging in the space. Susan brings a wealth of experience in the nursing field and recent work with the healthcare simulations like Kaplan iHuman product to the discussion. How do nurse educators tackle topics like the importance of self-care and burnout / compassion fatigue? Can students get as much out of simulations as they can real life interactions? Where can this sort of technology bring us in the future? Join us as we cover these and other important questions.
You've probably heard that we only use 10% of our brain. And 64% of us believe that's true, at least according to a 2014 study. Where did this myth begin and why are people so likely to believe it? How do pop culture references and science fiction movies help to perpetuate this false statement? Join us as we debunk this myth once and for all.
Mike, Brandon, and Dan discuss a recent New York Times article that points out that the digital gap between high and low socioeconomic status is not what we expected it to be. How have the leaders of Silicon Valley changed the way their children interact with screens and devices? How is the use of screen time inverting traditional expectations about use of digital products? Is screen time the learning equivalent of easy access to fast food? We explore our own personal experiences and awareness of time with screens, discuss how screens might influence empathy and social emotional learning, and look ahead to what might be next in the evolving landscape of parenting, education, and time on screens.
On this week's episode, we turn our attention to the top learning gifts to give to kids and life long learners. As the holiday gift-giving season nears, we take a look back at our discussion last year on Magna-Tiles and explore some other great ideas for the young learners in your life. For lifelong learners, our trio of hosts discuss the idea of gifting a subscription to a service like Audible or Blinkist. With Black Friday and Cyber Monday on the horizon, here's to an amazing holiday season where we all explore how the gift of learning can bring joy to those you love.
Following up on our music and learning episode, Mike and Dan sit down with Ken Florence to discuss his own personal experiences with music and learning. As a performer, a composer, and a musical educator, Ken brings multiple perspectives to the conversation. Ken shares his experiences of synesthesia and how that impacts how he interacts with words, numbers, and music. We also discuss the use of music as a study and recall aid and reference the work of Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi as it relates to music, performance, and learning. Dan shares a story of how he used vocal lessons to overcome being monotone when speaking. We hope you enjoy listening and we look forward to hearing more sound from Ken as a he continues to contribute to the show in the future.
On this week's episode, we explore the complex and multifaceted relationships between music and learning. Mike and Brandon kick off the conversation talking about their own experiences with music and learning while exploring some common myths and misconceptions relating to this topic. Then we introduce a new contributor to the pod, Ken Florence. Ken's a composer, musician, and music teacher from NYC who will be adding new sound to our pods beginning with this episode. Ken talks briefly about how learning music changed the way he learned other subjects. We'll dig in further with Ken during an extra later this week. As we add new music and sound over the course of this week and in upcoming episodes, we'd love to hear more from our listeners regarding what you like about the sound and what you'd like us to continue to improve on in future shows. With that, we'd like to welcome Ken to our crew and hope you continue to enjoy listening.
Mike and Brandon welcome Rohit Bhargava, founder of the Non-Obvious company, back to the podcast to discuss trend curation, predicting the future, and the challenge of being Non-Obvious. Rohit grades himself on his 2018 prediction by reviewing how he did with Lightspeed Learning and Data Pollution in particular. He shares some initial thoughts about new trends that are emerging for 2019 and pays special attention to how this all relates to learning and education. Listen in to get an early read on a few surprising trends that are on the horizon as we prepare to head into the new year.
More from NAB with Mike, Brandon, and Wendy Zukerman of Science Vs, a Gimlet podcast, talking Binge Learning, the Lightning Round, and more. Wendy continues to be awesome. Mike is stumped about Serial Killers (beyond the obvious) but rebounds a bit about Vegans. Maybe he learned something after all. Brandon opens us up for some audience participation. We wrap up an amazing live experience at the NAB New York Conference at the Javits Center. Thanks to Wendy, Gimlet, NAB, Tim O'Shaughnessy, Podcast Movement, and Andy Rosen for their support getting this together!
Live from the National Association of Broadcasters Trade Show in New York City, Mike and Brandon sit down with Wendy Zuckerman, host of the Science Vs podcast from Gimlet Media. The trio goes deep on the importance of science in an era of fake news and a crisis of trust while digging into the topics of many of Wendy's shows. We also explore whether you can be both educational and entertaining at the same time. Wendy shares some of the inner workings of producing an information-rich, entertaining audio experience about Science. Thanks to Wendy, Gimlet Media, Podcast Movement, and NAB for giving us the chance to drive into new formats and approaches to podcasting. Have a listen and let us know what you think. And stay tuned for more from this event which we'll release as an extra later this week!
Mike Palmer sits down with Nancy Lee Sanchez and Alex Borges, a Kaplan Foundation Scholar, to discuss the current transfer landscape for undergraduates in the United States. We talk through Alex's unique story as a US Marine Corps Reservist and get his views on where the process could be improved for transfer students with non-traditional backgrounds. We dig into the benefits of connecting veterans and other non-traditional students with university programs across the US. Nancy gives a few tips covered in Your 2019 Guide to College Transfer. You can check it out at https://yourguidetocollegetransfer.org/
Sans Forgetica is a new font/typset out of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Australia that was designed specifically to aid in memory and retention. The font is designed to be slightly challenging to read and that "desirable difficulty" makes it a surprisingly effective memory aid. On this episode, Dan and Mike catch up with Dr. Joanne Perryman and Dr. Janneke Blijlevens, two-thirds of the research and design team around the new font. We discuss the thought process behind designing the new font, desired outcomes, research to date, and what might be next. What's the best way to use the sans forgetica? Wait, don't tell us...Hang on, we were just talking about this... Just kidding. Listen in on this fascinating conversation to find out!
Mike and Brandon sit down to explore mnemonic tools like "Memory Palaces" and "the method of loci" which are learning performance hacks that have been shown to aid in memory. We use the book Moonwalking with Einstein by Joshua Foerr as a backdrop to our discussion of memory, retention, and recall. How can memory techniques that have been around since ancient times help modern learners capture and retain more knowledge? What does it mean to be a "mental athlete" and what lessons can be learned from their training techniques and performative practices? Mike and Brandon conclude by digging into their own favorite mnemonics and cognitive aids as we aim to help our listeners remember better by leveraging techniques that unlock untapped cognitive potential.
On this week's episode, Mike, Brandon, and Dan take on the latest internet sensation, Gritty the new mascot for the Philadelphia Flyers. The Flyers introduced Gritty as their new mascot late in September and since then, he(?)'s been feagured across multiple news channels and media outlets. As Mike might say, Gritty is "Zeitgeist-y!" Our trio of hosts explore whether it's merely a coincidence that Gritty hails from the same city as Angela Duckworth, the author of the landmark positive psychology book, Grit. We also look at the cross-section of learning and mascots. Do mascots enhance memory? Why are they so prevalent in programming (and advertising) for children? How does this all tie to recent books like Sapiens by Yuval Harari, and Moonwalking with Einstein by Joshua Foer? Be sure to save room in your memory palace for Gritty. Listen in for a fun and surprisingly informative conversation.
Mike sits down with Katie Nielson, the Chief Education Officer for Voxy.com. Katie talks about what it's like to be the other kind of CEO. We talk about Voxy's approach to teaching English to non-native speakers and the challenges for both individual learners and larger groups of students. We reminisce a bit about the early days of e-learning and explore some common missteps taken in developing instruction for online learning. What trends in language learning and online education is Katie tracking? How applicable are lessons learned from her experiences teaching english to non-native speakers at Voxy to the broader space of online learning end education? Tune in to find out.
This week, Mike and Brandon are joined by David Niemi, Kaplan's VP of Measurement and Larry Rudman, Kaplan's VP of Instruction to discuss David's recently published book, Learning Analytics in Education. David explains what went into creating the book, which he Edited and Co-Authored, as the group takes a critical look at how to think about measurement and learning analytics our rapidly changing digital world. How should we think about learning analytics in a burgeoning sea of Big Data? What can be gleaned from new troves of clickstream data? We talk about how this new field has the potential to increase learner success through a deeper understanding of the academic, social-emotional, motivational, and meta-cognitive context each learner uniquely brings. In particular, we dig into the problem of persistence to explore how data and learning analytics can help inform motivational interventions and other tactics to reach learners at risk of dropping out of high school or college. Listen in to get a taste of the fascinating concepts covered in depth in David's book Learning Analytics in Education.
Mike, Brandon, and Dan welcome in Dan Gonzalez, co-founder of District C, to the show. Distric C is a non-profit focused on workforce training and real-life learning for high schoolers through partnerships with local businesses. We discuss what employers and managers say most new hires are missing and how students can get a head start on workforce preparedness. Dan Gonzalez discusses how important using real world businesses problems and teaming with diverse teammates is to the learning experience of District C scholars. What can students learn from these encounters? How can intergenerational connections help grow the students’ and their corporate partners’ perspectives? All that and more on this week's Trending in Education.
On this extra, Mike and Dan dig into a few recent articles on GenZ and their preferred learning modes and platforms. Spoiler alert: research is showing GenZ prefers visual, video content and Youtube. How does this differ from Millennials and older generations? Along similar lines, we explore the decision by the New York Times Magazine to go audio and visual (text free) for this weekend's Sunday Magazine. Are new media trends unique to the younger generations or are they part of broader trends? How can we build towards approaches and platforms that facilitate cross-generational diversity and engagement so we can better learn from and listen to each other? Listen in to hear all about it.
The squad sits down with Jean Ellen Cowgill, the GM of Tic Toc Media, the social arm of Bloomberg Media, to explore how media consumption patterns are changing and how media (and learning) companies are evolving to meet the change. Jean Ellen explains how Tic Toc was formed and how they think about creating "nutirent-rich" short-form videos to share on Twitter and the inherent challenges therein. The group explores the complexities around fake news and problems of trust which apply to both news context but also to learning and media more broadly. Whether you're an educator, a media professional, or someone curious about how news and media are evolving, there's a lot to gain by listening in to this week's show. Enjoy!
Mike and Brandon sit down with Professor Nicholas Tampio of Fordham University to discuss his recent Aeon article on "looking up from your screens." Professor Tampio argues in favor of limiting screen time amongst school age children and getting out in nature more. The conversation covers the drawbacks to too much screen time, how parents can manage devices and more, and how schools are utilizing computers and tablets. Can screen time be limited, or all together restricted or do instructors and parents need to integrate the emerging technologies in more thoughtful ways? Tune in to find out.
On this week's episode, we discuss a recent article from Dr. Maryanne Wolf, Director of the Center for Dyslexia, Diverse Learners, and Social Justice in the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies at UCLA. The article breaks down the changes Dr. Wolf has seen in how technology has lead to further skimming from readers. She discusses the changes happening to our brains as well as the differences in comprehension and retention of information. How does skimming compare to audio books and podcasts? What could the future of reading be as skimming becomes more and more of a reality? Tune in to find out.
Mike, Brandon, and Dan welcome Scott Jaschik, Co-Founder and Editor of Insidehighered.com, to the show. The group walks through a wide variety of topics concerning colleges and universities, from discuss dwindling enrollments and population changes in the Northeast to challenges emerging around international students. What are some of the biggest issues emerging on campuses today? Listen in to find out.
It's that time of year again! Mike, Brandon, and Dan take a look at the newly released Gartner Hype Cycle. Our trio of hosts breaks down how the cycle works, some of their favorite technologies featured this year, and some of the year over year changes. They also discuss what an education and EdTech hype cycle might look like. What do you think should make it on? Get hyped!
Mike sits down with Larry Rudman, VP of Learning Science and Instructional Design at Kaplan, to engage in a free-flowing discussion about the problems inherent in applying learning science findings in real life contexts in the modern world. Larry shares his personal experiences from a long and varied career in the field while summoning up fascinating examples of researchers, educators, and learning engineers grappling with the thorny problems we're all wrestling with in learning and education today.
Mike, Brandon and Dan dive into a recent article by Eli Sheldon of Edsurge titled "How Data Science Adds Computational Thinking - and Fun - To Gym Class." The trio walks through the use of statistical analysis and data science to expand gym class beyond the physical and explore the concept of SABRLearning, one of Mike's predictions for 2018. Can sports bridge into math through real life applications of next level computational analytics? There's reminiscences of middle school sports careers, discussions about Data Captains, and some interesting thoughts for educators and learning professionals curious about designing lesson plans that resonate with the future of work.
Mike Palmer sits down with Matt Cooper, CEO of Skillshare, to talk about subscription-based education, curating learning content, the need for creative skills, and how Skillshare stays on top of new education trends. The discussion covers the Netflix model and things to learn from other subscription models, as well as how often their best students often turn into their best teachers. Matt also discusses what he calls "forced serependity.” Tune in to find out what he means and so much more.
In Part 2 of our Learning from Netflix series, Brandon, Dan, and Mike take a look at subscription-based educational platforms. Skillshare, for example, just received 28 million dollars in funding and provides an "all you can eat" approach to education with a monthly or yearly subscription fee. What challenges might subscription-based educational platforms face? What benefits will learners gain from having access to curated collections of learning content? And how does all of this relate to the evolving expectations of learners in the golden age of top-notch on-demand media in which we're all living today? Listen in to get our hosts takes on the topic. Also, catch a sneak listen to Friday's extra, where Mike sits down to discuss this topic with Matt Cooper, CEO of Skillshare.
On this extra, we welcome back Tarlin Ray, co-founder of Kaplan Labs, to discuss what lessons we might learn from how the NBA engages their millennial workforce. What can we learn from the Golden State Warriors structure and engagement? How did a simple moment of listening by Steve Kerr work to his advantage? All that and more on the latest extra from Trending In Education
On this week's episode of Trending In Education, Brandon, Mike, and Dan take a look at the recent announcement from LeBron James about the creation of the I Promise school within the city of Akron. What life experiences of the former Cleveland Cavalier influenced the school? How will students and families alike benefit from availability of training, food pantries, bicycles, and technology? How do our trio of hosts see this influencing other school districts? Can any of the hosts find anything bad to say about LeBron? All that and more on this week's Trending in Education.
Dan and Mike are joined by Kristen Smith, who leads a team of Student Brand Ambassadors at Kaplan Test Prep, to talk about the concept of "ghosting" and how it relates to the hiring lifecycle. We discuss the evolution of the term and how hiring managers are encountering it as a growing trend. Along similar generational lines, the trio takes a look at a recent New York Times article on how higher education is shifting to meet the changing needs of Generation Z (or iGen).
In the first of a two-part episode, Mike, Brandon, and Dan discuss a recent Harvard Business Review article by Bill Taylor focused on the Netflix business model. They discuss the power of data and big ideas, the need to continually disrupt yourself, and how important culture is to a successful business model.
Mike sits down with Michael Fitzpatrick, President and COO of Pullstring to discuss Voice Assistant technology and it's applications in education and in life. They walk through the history of interactive audio and related simulation and explore the balance between data privacy and convenience. HAL 9000 would be so proud!
Mike, Brandon, and Dan discuss the growth of the voice assistant in every day life. How do we interact with Alexa, Siri, and other voice assistants? What amount of privacy are we willing to give up for the ease of use with voice? What are the applications of this emerging technology in learning and education? We dive into all that and discuss the Uncanny Valley, the Turing Test, and much, much more on this week's episode.
In a special live presentation of the podcast, Brandon, Mike, and Dan explore how companies, managers, and employees alike can help grow a learning culture by fostering inclusion, interaction, and great communication amongst all employees. What's one of the biggest skill gaps that companies see emerging within their workforces? How might a culture of learning address this and other emerging challenges in modern work life? Tune in to find out!
Mike, Brandon, and Dan take a trip to Westworld to discuss the popular HBO show. Is the show must-watch television for developers and coders? How can educators incorporate programming like Westworld into their curricula? What can we learn from the series about artificial intelligence and machine learning? How does the Delos Corporation's focus on data relate to themes from contemporary life in 2018? Our three hosts kick off the discussion with these questions and explore themes we will dig into further in an upcoming pop culture analysis spinoff called The Cradle (CR4-DL).
Mike, Dan, and Brandon celebrate the ~100th episode of Trending In Education. We take a little time to reflect on and celebrate the ride thus far. From Bror Saxberg to Tarlin Ray to Early Childhood Education to Torobo-Kun, we've covered a wide range of topics, articles, and ideas across our first 100 shows. This week we thank our guests and listeners and provide updates on some of our favorite topics as we explore what's on the horizon for the next 100 episodes. Thanks again for listening and here's to building on and expanding the conversation!
This week, Brandon, Mike, and Dan revisit Massive Open Online Courses, or MooCs. Are Blockbuster MooCs the way forward for online courses? How important is having well-known teachers lead these courses? How have universities leveraged their best teachers for long-lasting content? What kinds of roles are emerging for people passionate about teaching? And what sorts of courses are attracting the most learners and why? Have a listen to learn more.
Mike sits down with Andy Temte, the President of Kaplan Professional, to explore the future of corporate education, the emerging Skills Gap, and the blend of behavioral and technical competencies essential to leaders in the 21st century. Andy provides guidance and insights drawn from a long and successful career in education and management to help lifelong learners and aspiring leaders prepare to navigate the changing dynamics of the workplace of the future.
On this week's episode, Mike, Brandon, and Dan dive into the recent release from the World Health Organization recognizing Gaming Disorder. Following up on our recent episode on eSports, we look deeper into the disorder and potential now for treatment. We also discuss the educational ramifications of this announcement. How might schools and institutions learn from game design while still ensuring the health and growth of their students? That and much more on this week's show.
Brandon, Dan, and Mike jump onto the pitch with this look at the 2018 World Cup. We talk predictions from mystical animals as well as artifical intillegence. Does Mystic Marcus the Pig have the final four teams locked up or do AI's 100,000 simulations prove Spain and Germany will be the last teams standing? We touch on Random Forest simulations and Poisson distributions as we explore the various ways in which humans make predictions. Ane we wrap it all up with a quick dive into a great set of resources from TheirWorld.Org which breaks down the teams and their respective countries based on relevant educational statistics. All that and more on the latest Trending In Education.
Following up on recent episode on Sleep and Learning, Mike and Dan talk to Dr. Kimberly Fenn, Associate Professor and Lead Researcher for The Sleep and Learning Lab, Michigan State University. Dr. Fenn provides more insight and detail regarding chronotypes, circadian nadirs, napping, and insomnia. We explore her research into the important role sleep plays in memory consolidation as we track the growing awakening (see what we did there) to the importance of sleep to health and cognitive performance. In all, it was an especially impressive team performance considering it was recorded during the siesta hour. Enjoy!
Mike, Dan, and Brandon take a look at how sleep influences our learning. The myth of learning while you sleep (hypnopaedia) may have been debunked long ago, but sleep greatly influences being ready to learn. According to recent studies, sleep is also a time your brain works to consolidate long term memories. Our trio digs into that and much, much more.
Dan and Mike spend some quality time with Sean Swidersky, a former professional Halo (video game) player who has since retired and is now producing gaming content for Microsoft and Halo. Sean shares his story of becoming a professional gamer at age 13 in the early days of eSports . We explore how the world is changing with more and more young folks spending time, generating income, and building careers in the growing gaming industry. We examine the challenges both kids and parents are facing in a rapidly changing world of streamers, gaming, and new media.
Mike, Dan, and Brandon take a look back at the Starbucks nationwide implicit bias training that took place across over 8000 stores and reached more than 175-thousand employees in last week. We explore the approach Starbucks took to design their trainings and provide feedback and insight into what was included. We dig into the policy changes that are taking effect and explore how this ties to a long history of limiting access to public space and Starbucks' mission of providing a Third Place.
Mike and Dan sit down with Melissa Griffith, Vice President of Analytics and Strategy at Kaplan Test Prep, to discuss the newly released 2018 Meeker Report on Internet Trends. We dive into the growth of the internet, expansion of mobile access, the importance of data privacy, and more. How does China's population view the sharing of their data in comparison to that of the United States? What does the report have to say about life-long learning and the future workforce? How do Fortnite and Slack relate to all of this? Tune in to find out.
This week, Mike, Dan, and Brandon welcome Tarlin Ray, co-founder of Kaplan Labs and former president of Dev Bootcamp. We talk generational learning and the future of work. What's the biggest issue facing managers and new workers? What does GenZ need to succeed in the work place? How important is open communication and feedback? Listen in to find out.
This week we explore the Laurel v Yanni phenomenon before diving into the psychology of spoiling and how it relates to the Zeigarnik effect, a pyschological phenomenon describing a tendency to remember interrupted or incomplete tasks more easily than tasks that have been completed. We talk about the recent Marvel Cinematic Universe blockbuster The Avengers: Infinity War. Mike and Brandon gradually expose some spoilage potential for the movie for Dan. The first part of the show is spoiler-free. By the end of the show, however, let the listener beware. Caveat audiens, lest ye be spoilt!
Have you ever had a student say "I can't learn by reading?" Have you ever opined "This would be a lot easier if I could listen to it?" Do you consider yourself a kinesthetic or visual learner? This week on the show we explore the myths of learning styles, teaching styles, VARKO the AARPVARK, and much much more.
We close out our celebration of Teacher Appreciation Week and National Teacher Day (on Tuesday) by interviewing Kaplan's Teacher of the Year, Craig Harman. Mike and Dan talk with Craig about his path to teaching, engaging with students in an online classroom, the diversity of an online classroom, and more.
We continue our celebration of Teacher Appreciation Week and National Teacher Day by talking to a friend of the podcast. Mark Sanders is a professor of philosophy at the University of North Carolina - Charlotte. Mike and Dan sit down to chat with Mark about a wide range of topics in higher education and the larger learning field. Mark discusses some of the challenges of teaching philosophy, digital and anaolog citzenship, the generation/class of students, difficulties with reaching certain students, and the future of higher ed.
We continue our Teacher Appreciation Week celebration by talking to Allison McDonald, an early childhood educator. We dive into the early education space, her focus on thematic lesson planning, and how to handle screen time with the pre-k population.
Happy National Teacher Day and Teachers Appreciation Week. Today’s episode kicks off our week of interviews and spotlights on teachers from all across the learning spectrum. At the top, Mike, Dan, and Brandon discuss teachers who were influential on their lives and then our co-hosts talk with Steven Anderson, education technologist, lecturer, and innovator. They discuss a variety of topics with Steven, including the creation of the hashtag EdChat, growth of innovation in the classroom, student activism and so much more.
Mike sits down to chat with Lev Kaye, Founder and CEO of CredSpark.com. They talk through a variety of topics including the emerging crisis of trust in social media, ACT's SEL venture, unbundling learning opportunities, and much, much more.
This week, we focus on what's trending in the EdTech Venture space. Brandon recaps his trip to ASU-GSV, a conference that focuses on "elevating dialogue and driving action around raising learning and career outcomes through scaled innovation." The crew explores the current state of disruption in higher education and K12 and grapples with how to understand how Workforce Readiness fits into EdTech innovation and investment.
Mike, Brandon, and Dan take a look at Starbuck's plans to shut down over 8,000 stores and train over 175,000 employees on unconcious-bias training on May 29th. They discuss the arrests that led to a social media outcry as well as how Starbucks is going about putting this training together. Has Starbucks planned on how to assess whether or not this training works? Will this focus be part of their new employee training moving forward? Is this anything more than a PR move by the coffee chain? Listen in to join the conversation!
This week, Mike, Dan, and Brandon dive into the Congressional hearings held on the recent Facebook data privacy issues stemming from the 2016 Presidential Election, Cambridge Analytica, and more. They discuss Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, appearing before committees from both the House and Senate, as well as their own usage of the platform. What sort of influence can Facebook usage and data have on education and edtech platforms like Quizlet? Tune in to find out.
Mike and Brandon dive into the smash hit film Black Panther and explore its cultural implications, perspectives on technology and the future, and portrayals of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). The duo dig into what they learned by watching the film and how it points to broader trends in the collective consciousness.
Mike and Brandon put a bow on the 2018 March Madness bracket. They take the opportunity to look back at the topics, lessons learned, and to assess some of Trending In Education's own ability to spot trends and shine a light on important changes in education. Listen in to learn the Winning Trend for the Year!
After going through our Sweet Sixteen and Elite voting on Twitter, we present our Final Four and our finals match-up. Tune in to find out who moved forward from the Social Emotional Learning versus Fake News as well as number one overall seed Kidsolving taking on Laughing & Learning.
We dive into this year's gathering at SXSWEdu in Austin, Texas. Brandon, Mike and Dan break down two of the keynotes and some high level takeaways. The first topic is Michael Sorrell's keynote, discussing Paul Quinn College's focus on real-world problems in the classroom and experiential education on urban campuses. Next, they discuss Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos' panel discussion focused on innovation in education and learning. Finally, we hear from Mari Kent and Walker Williams on their time in Austin, their favorite sessions, and how likely they are to attend again.
Let the madness begin. Brandon, Mike, and Dan discuss 21 topics from the past year of Trending In Education. Brandon and Mike then draft their own eight-topic teams to go up against one another in our Sweet Sixteen March Madness bracket. Who will come out on top? Stay tuned for our final four-episode later this March.
On this extra edition of Trending In Education, we celebrate International Women's Day. We welcome four inspiring women to discuss their education, careers, and experiences. We're joined by Deborah Berebichez, Chief Data Scientist at Metis, Nancy Lee Sanchez, Executive Director for the Kaplan Educational Foundation, Esther Lee, Director of Program Development for Kaplan Test Prep's Digital Media team, and Rochelle Rothstein, Executive Vice President, Innovation & Product Strategy at Kaplan Test Prep to talk about women, education, mentorship, access, and more. 00:55 - Deborah Berebichez with Mike Palmer & Brandon Jones 17:56 - Rochelle Rothstein with Dan Strafford 32:18 - Nancy Lee Sanchez & Esther Lee with Mike Palmer
The crew takes a look at the evolution of emojis in recent history and tracks the broader trend right up into the recent announcement of the upcoming release of 157 new emojis. Are emojis a new and emerging visual language, or are they a frothy distraction from serious learning? How can emojis be leveraged in the classroom to connect with students to foster better communication without devolving into something superficial? Esther joins the discussion to add her point of view on using emojis for learning and how they may be able to assist in breaking down language barriers through a Universal Design for Learning (UDL) orientation.
This week, Brandon, Mike, and Dan are joined by Amjed Saffarini, CEO of CyberVista, to discuss the cybersecurity industry and cyberlearning. Amjed sheds some light on the deep and dark web as the group stumbles through a questionable cybertrivia quiz. We talk threat surfaces, Mr Robot, and more than one Sandra Bullock film. Oh and War Games, of course.
We open this week's episode with some brief thoughts on the tragic events in Parkland, Florida before turning the episode to our previously recorded topic of the Winter Olympics. This week our trio of co-hosts turns their focus on the Winter Olympics. They take a look at the education and e-learning product used to bring production staff up to speed on the Winter Games and Pyeongchang, South Korea. What happens to elite Olympic athletes after their time performing at the highest levels is done? Mike, Brandon, and Dan all take a guess at which sport they think they'd have a chance at competing in. Brandon shares a childhood story of using the Olympics as classroom curriculum.
Mike catches up with Rohit Bhargava to talk about the latest edition of the Non-Obvious Trends 2018. They discuss key trends to track this year including Manipulated Outrage, Enlightened Consumption, and Virtual Empathy. In addition, the pair explore the process Rohit and his team use to cultivate, curate, and crystalize their topics. They recommend seeking out multiple and various inputs and staying curious to spot non-obvious trends and counter-trends in everyday life.
If you like what you’re hearing, follow us at TrendinginEducation.com and wherever you get your podcasts!
Brandon, Mike, and Dan take a look in their respective crystal balls for what topics will be trending in learning and education this year. We offer up two predictions each on subjects we think will "get some action" in the coming year. What new portmanteau does Brandon roll out? How do you "nappuccino" and why is Mike all in? Why will Social Emotional Learning go digital according to Dan? :10 - Welcome 1:48 - Mike discusses time hacks 6:52 - Brandon introduces kidsolving 11:28 - Dan pitches SEL going digital 14:39 - SABRLearning and the quantified self from Mike 17:00 - Brandon talks strengthsing in 2018 22:38 - Dan rounds out the predictions with Grassroots Play
The crew takes a look at Slate's decision to focus on audio and text and related pivots away from video as more brands and media companies explore the power of podcasting and audio. They discuss the power of mixed media and omnichannel and question whether the focus on video, that's been all the rage of late (esp at Facebook), makes sense in all contexts.
Mike, Brandon, and Dan take a second look at CES 2018 to discuss some great review articles and the awards handed out. Mike shares one of his favorite stories that tugs at Brandon's heartstrings. The trio breaks down some more robot talk and Forbes' top 18 trends from the event.
We take a look at the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas and try to find what trends are most exciting. From the blackout to the robots and beyond, we have you covered. What dating app is trying to get into the business networking world? How did LG’s kitchen robot presentation fail? All that and a trip outside the walls of CES for an unexpected robot art installation.
We turn our attention to the new year and what trends might be hottest in 2018. Brandon discusses his move away from a social media platform, Mike discusses some macro trends around attention economy, and the trio tackle the latest predictions from NPR on Education.
We take a look back at our own best of with this clip show from 2017's best guests. On this show, you'll hear from Bror Saxberg, Nancy Sanchez, Rohit Bhargava, Esther Lee, and Kisha Henry. They all brought great content to the podcast and each of their episodes is available wherever you listen.
We put a bow on 2017 in our final episode of the year. We take some time to look back on our favorite topics, episodes, and guests. We also look forward to 2018 and discuss which topics we think will be most important and the biggest trends in the year to come.
On this week's podcast, we turn our focus to the world of trivia. We talk about the fast rising app, HQ Trivia, Jeopardy, pub trivia and more. We look for the reasons why we enjoy trivia so much and what ties it may have to education. We debate the ethical issues with googling of trivia answers and more.
One of the top trends we are looking forward to track in 2018 is digital citzenship. What does it mean to be a digital citizen in the 21st Century? How does it fit into our current curriculum in schools? How can adult learners put their best foot forward on the digital space? We discuss our own experiences and what we think will be the necessary skills in 2018.
What sorts of gifts do you give to the lifelong learners in your life? We explore several options and stumble onto insights about the power of teaching, listening, and learning from others.
Tis the season! Dan, Mike, and Brandon discuss some potential gifts for the young learner in your life. What are some of the more popular STEM focused gifts this holiday season? What gift combines the best digital and real world applications? Brandon also discusses a product very popular at his daughter's pre-school.
Why was six afraid of seven? On this week's episode, Mike, Brandon, and Dan tackle the use of humor in the classroom. Can a good joke help students feel more at ease? How about a timely or topic-driven pun or funny turn of phrase? Can too many jokes makes students feel uneasy? Tune in for our thoughts on laughing and learning.
Mike, Brandon, and Dan take a look at different approaches to language learning and education. Are apps like Duolingo and Blue Canoe making foreign language learning easier through gamification? Can language education be harder when binge learn? How important is the language used in a podcast title to get you to listen? All that and more on our latest Trending In Education.
We take a trip to Hawkins, Ind and The Upside Down to dig into Season 2 of Stranger Things. Be forewarned, Thar Be Spoilers! The squad begins by going deep on binging patterns and the way media consumption has changed. Brandon theorizes about themes involving science, the gap between childhood and adulthood. A good time is had by all.
This week, we look at disruption in edtech and education. We talk about the Innovator's Dilemma and look to see where the much discussed education disruption may come to fruition. We also grade a recent list of "10 disruptions that will revolutionize education" from Peter Cookson Jr at Edweek. Where did our trio fall in grading out the predictions? Which did Brandon see as incomplete? And which did Mike give an A for aspirational?
On this week's Trending In Education, Mike, Brandon, and Dan discuss creativity and brain chemistry. What does it mean to be in a rut and how can creative thinking help push your way out of it? We also find out how to properly pronounce the word "macaque" while discussing recent research with monkeys.
Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more great content.
This week we welcome special guest Nancy Sanchez, author of the just released book Your 2018 Guide to College Transfer. Nancy provides insight into the transfer process and how access to premium institutions don't always take the same path. What do you need to know about transferring for your children or students? How can you plan the way forward in education that best suits you? For more on the guide, visit www.yourguidetocollegetransfer.org.
Mike, Brandon, and Dan discuss the intersection of sports and education. What can lessons can be learned in how and why we play sports that could be beneficial in the classroom? Does learning a new sport later in life help you as much mentally as it does physically? We also look at the latest venture from Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and how he's discussing the total athlete preparation.
Following up on our Fake News episode, Mike Palmer and Esther Lee sit down to chat with Kisha Henry. Kisha is a teacher from the Bronx who engaged students on fake news and media literacy via a chat bot they were already using in the classroom. Listen to how Kisha integrated the new lessons and challenged her students to question what they read online.
Dan, Mike, and Brandon are back and this week they tackle #fakenews. What can happen in our classrooms to help educate students, and adults, on how to process and spot fake news? What can adult learners do to better prevent the spread of fake news?
Dan, Mike, and Brandon are back on the latest Trending in Education talking smart phones in the classroom. How should educators be leveraging smart phones for learning? What data can be collected for better learning experiences? What does the new Apple X have to offer that could help learners in the future? All that and more on the latest TiE.
Dan, Mike, and Brandon explore the story of Torobo-kun, a robot designed to take tests to gain entry into Todai University in Japan. The squad digs into the rich narrative of a robot designed to pass a test that very nearly reached its goal, before pivoting to industrial use. Beyond Torobo's story (and related screenplay ideas), the team dives into the research of Noriko Arai and how we're using AI research to gain insight into the complex relationship between human cognition and machine learning.
Dan, Mike, & Brandon tackle talk about influencers in the classroom. Are there ethical boundaries being crossed? Can educators work as ed tech influencers in their classrooms without raising ethical considerations? What do state attorneys general have to say? Listen in to find out.
Mike and crew discuss one of their favorite topics, the Gartner Hype Cycle. What's new to the curve? Can Augmented Reality climb out of the trough of disillusionment? What exactly is 4-d printing? All that and more on this week's trending in education.
Brandon, Mike, and Dan look back at the first year of Trending In Education. What were their favorite shows? What topics stood out? Where do they see the show going in the next year? Tune in to look back and forward with the TiE crew.
Mike & Brandon break down the final GoT episode of Season 7. What comes next for those in the North awaiting the White Walkers? Can Daeneyrs & Jon move forward with their, umm, partnership in light of the final scenes of the episode? What does blue fire look like on screen? All that and more in this breakdown!
Brandon and Mike dig into the emerging media platform that is podcasting. Mike recaps the trends and themes he encountered at the Podcast Movement conference he attended in Anaheim. Long form, short form, highly produced, or live-to-tape, podcasting has multiple ways to pull you in. How will the medium evolve and how should we understand its implications on learning? Listen up to learn more.
Mike breaks down Beyond the Wall, the most recent episode of Game of Thrones, with help from Robin his special guest and GoT "viewing partner." While we agree that the entertainment value of recent episodes has been high, the two explore whether we're witnessing GoT "jump the shark" as we hurtle towards the completion of the first half of season 7.
Mike and Brandon are reunited with Dan and it feels so good. We go deep on Facebook Watch and what Mark Zuckerberg has described as the "megatrend" towards video. We take a critical look as some of the initial programming ideas that have been released and we speculate on what Zuck and team have in store for us. Is Facebook Watch just the "tip of the Zuckerberg?" Tune in to find out.
Mike, Brandon, and Dan breakdown Eastwatch, the most recent episode of Game of Thrones. An episode focused on plot exposition and setting things in motion for the final two shows of the season. Jon and team plan to go north of the wall and bring back what?!?! Cersei continues to play the game of thrones while awaiting Daenerys advances.
Mike sits down with Rohit Bhargava, Best-Selling Author and founder of the Non-Obvious Company to discuss 2017 Trends and the process he uses to identify and curate trends. We dig into Fierce Femininity, Desperate Detox, and other new and emerging trends as we look ahead towards 2018 trend-spotting and beyond.
Brandon and Mike breakdown Spoils of War, the most recent episode of Game of Thrones. Thar be dragons and the action is heating up. Both Mike and Brandon share a few "hot takes" and dive into a breakdown section on the history and mythological underpinnings of all things Dragon. Drogon would be proud.
Brandon and Mike dig into the topic of workforce readiness and what it means today. As the world continues to change and evolve at increasing rates, what's the best way to understand upskilling and staying relevant. How does online learning come into play and what does this all have to do with ski instructors? Listen up to find out.
Welcome to The Citadel! Brandon and Mike break down what we're learning through Game of Thrones Episode 3. To avoid being "spoilt" be sure to watch Episode 3 of GoT Season 7 before listening. This week we go deep on Diana Rigg, aka Lady Tyrell, aka Emma Peele from The Avengers series from back in the day. We also explore Tyrian's generalship, try to connect Season 7 to NBA Superteam, and much much more. And rest assured, our regular Trending in Education will continue to drop on Tuesdays.
Mike and Brandon discuss the gig economy and its implication on learning and workforce readiness. Are you a casual earner, a free agent, a reluctant or a financially strapped? Listen in to find out. Getting giggy with it!
Join Mike and Brandon in Trending in Education's first Extra on what we're learning through Game of Thrones. To avoid being "spoilt" be sure to watch Episodes 1 and 2 of GoT Season 7 before listening. And fear not, regular Trending in Education fans who may not be into Game of Thrones, we'll be back with our regularly scheduled episode as we normally do next week!
Mike and Brandon (and a picture of Dan) talk about the latest in edutainment. Should the retro-window and nostalgia of today look back at the best edutainment had to offer? Mike sings some of the hits from School House Rock.
Brandon and Mike sit down to talk about the great Game of Thrones season seven debut and how it relates to learning. Be forewarned, this podcast is short and full of spoilers!
Mike, Dan, and Brandon discuss a recent article on St John's University, from QZ.com, focused on how "The Program" teaches each student the same thing across their time on campus. Could it be the future of college education? Does it go too far in ignoring 21st century skills training?
Mike, Dan, and Brandon dive back into a favorite topic, the future. They discuss one of Elon Musk's latest business, Neuralink and the possibility of humans connecting with computers to help repair damaged bodies and more.
If you like what you’re hearing, follow us at TrendinginEducation.com and wherever you get your podcasts!
Dan, Mike, and Brandon discuss their favorite pieces of information from the 2017 Meeker Report on internet trends. They focus on gaming but also discuss wearables, cell phones, & more.
If you like what you’re hearing, follow us at TrendinginEducation.com and wherever you get your podcasts!
Mike, Brandon, and Dan discuss a recent New York Times op-ed by David Leonhardt. They discuss the dwindling funding available for Pell Grants and other ways for lower-income students to attend four year colleges and universities. They also talk through economic diversity on college campuses.
If you like what you’re hearing, follow us at TrendinginEducation.com and wherever you get your podcasts!
Mike and Brandon sit down to talk about memes, #memegate at Harvard, social media, and how trends can become part of our every day life. Come for the meme analysis, but stay for covfefe and Harambe.
If you like what you’re hearing, follow us at TrendinginEducation.com and wherever you get your podcasts!
Mike, Dan, and Brandon discuss one of the latest fads in the classroom. Are fidget spinners an aid to learning or just a distraction to classrooms? Can distracted learning really work? Also, Brandon shares a story of being the lead importer of slap bracelets at his middle school.
If you like what you’re hearing, follow us at TrendinginEducation.com and wherever you get your podcasts!
Dan and Mike recap their trip to BrightCove play. They discuss one of the keynote speakers, Rohit Bhargava, and his Non-Obvious trends for 2017.
If you like what you’re hearing, follow us at TrendinginEducation.com and wherever you get your podcasts!
This week we announce the winner of our March Madness Education Trend Brackets and dig into a recent article, "The Myth of a Superhuman AI" by Kevin Kelly. How does all of this tie to Centaurs, Chess, and Gary Kasparov? Listen in to find out.
If you like what you’re hearing, follow us at TrendinginEducation.com and wherever you get your podcasts!
Brandon recounts his time at the 2017 ASU+GSV Conference and what were some hot trends in education, technology, and venture capital in Salt Lake City.
If you like what you’re hearing, follow us at TrendinginEducation.com and wherever you get your podcasts!
Mike, Brandon, and Dan talk about The Inevitable, a 2016 nonfiction book by Kevin Kelly that forecasts the twelve technological forces that will shape the next thirty years.
Becoming
Cognifying
Flowing
Screening
Accessing
Sharing
Filtering
Remixing
Interacting
Tracking
Questioning
Beginning
If you like what you’re hearing, follow us at TrendinginEducation.com and wherever you get your podcasts!
Mike, Brandon, and Dan are back again to talk about Elon Musk. A recent Quartz Media article looked at what makes Musk a great innovator and how he learns. The key, it seems, is "learning transfer!"
If you like what you’re hearing, follow us at TrendinginEducation.com and wherever you get your podcasts!
Mike, Dan, and Brandon dive into an emerging trend in the 21st century classroom, Social Emotional Learning. They take a first look at the topic, discuss how programs have begun to emerge, and just how technology and SEL might work together. Dan also quizzes Brandon and Mike on their emotional knowledge. If you like what you’re hearing, follow us at TrendinginEducation.com and wherever you get your podcasts!
Mike and team look back at the 2016 World Economic Forum report on the 21st skills needed to be successful in the classroom and at work. If you like what you’re hearing, follow us at TrendinginEducation.com and wherever you get your podcasts!
We take a peek at the behind-the-scenes audio Mike and team recorded with Dr. Bror Saxberg, Kaplan’s Chief Learning Officer. We cover a wide array of topics including instructional design, podcasting, story-telling, and growth mindset.
If you like what you’re hearing, follow us at TrendinginEducation.com and wherever you get your podcasts!
Mike and crew are once again joined by Dr. Bror Saxberg, Kaplan's Chief Learning Officer. This time, we dive into the future of work. What does automation and artificial intelligence mean for the way we work and how work gets done? Tune in to find out.
If you like what you’re hearing, follow us at TrendinginEducation.com and wherever you get your podcasts!
Mike, Dan, & Brandon welcome Dr. Bror Saxberg, Kaplan's Chief Learning Officer, to the podcast. Bror helps bring the topic of learning engineering to life. Why doesn't education have more individuals focused on building the learning experience and understanding how everything ties together? Find out what Bror, and the rest of the crew, have to say on that and much more.
Dan, Brandon, & Mike are back for another edition of Trending In Education. Brandon recaps his trip to SXSW EDU. What was trending in Austin during Brandon's four-day visit? How many of the topics you've heard on this very podcast were discussed throughout the event? Tune in to find out! Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more insightful conversations about what’s new and emerging.
Dan, Mike, and Brandon are back to break down the bottom of the Trending In Education bracket. The last four matchups have some great matchups. Mike and Brandon break down each side of the debate. Who wins? Who Loses? Vote this week for your favorites to move on to round number two.
Mike, Dan, & Brandon do some bracket breakdowns around their 16 team March Madness tournament. Mike & Brandon debate each match-up in the top half of the bracket. Which overdog has the easiest run through the first round? Which lower seed has a chance to make some noise? Tune in to find out.