Trending In Education

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

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

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 cutti

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

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. D

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 ot

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

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 Longevity 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

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

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 pers

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 agr

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 t

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 c

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 episo

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 educati

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