Erin Lewellen is the CEO of Global Citizen Year , a non-profit that is addressing our current global challenges by changing the composition, operating system, and impact of the next generation of changemakers. She joins host Mike Palmer in a conversation about how transformative experiences abroad can shape the pathways and perspectives of rising leaders. Erin tells of her origins in the logging culture of rural Oregon that led to her time as an undergraduate at the University of Oregon where sh...
Feb 09, 2023•25 min•Season 7Ep. 528
Aaron Hillegass is an author, the Founder of Big Nerd Ranch , and Director of Applied Data Science at New College of Florida . He’s also the Executive Director of the Kontinua Foundation . He joins host and fellow New College alum Mike Palmer in a wide-ranging conversation about the blend of skills and digital competencies in machine learning, data, and AI that are becoming increasingly essential for professional success and career growth. We begin by hearing of Aaron’s roots including his exper...
Feb 06, 2023•39 min•Season 7Ep. 527
James Nottingham and Dr. Carmen Bergmann from The Learning Pit join host Mike Palmer to explore how understanding the "pit" of the struggle ultimately helps us learn how to learn better. James shares his origin story of struggling in school before finding his way as an education. After years of teaching this ultimately resulted in him founding The Learning Pit. We delve into the importance of embracing uncertainty and setbacks in the learning process and explain how this helps students develop a...
Feb 02, 2023•40 min•Season 7Ep. 526
Sabari Raja is the Cofounder of Nepris which is now part of Pathful , the college and career readiness platform. She joins host Mike Palmer in a conversation about building career pathways into K12 education. We begin by hearing Sabari's origin story which starts on a coconut farm in India and has culminated with her recent successes in EdTech and Career Readiness. We explore the value of exposing students to career paths as early as possible and throughout their educational journeys. Sabari pro...
Jan 30, 2023•29 min•Season 7Ep. 525
Dana Gastich French is the founder and lead consultant for UpRiver Education , a company focused on multilingual learners and the educators who teach them. She joins host Mike Palmer in a conversation about how an asset-based, inclusive understanding of English language learning is the key to overcoming the challenges that ESL continues to face in the US and beyond. We hear Dana’s origin story which begins with studying abroad in Chile where she learned how it felt to not be comfortable with the...
Jan 26, 2023•34 min•Season 7Ep. 524
Dr. Patricia Okker is the President of New College of Florida , the innovative honor’s college in the Florida system. She joins host and New College alum Mike Palmer to talk about what makes a New College education unique and how a liberal arts education can prepare you for the world of work and community engagement. Note: this episode was recorded in December prior to the recent appointments to the Board of Trustees . We hear Pat’s origin story, beginning in New Jersey before spending many year...
Jan 23, 2023•31 min•Season 7Ep. 523
Dr. Jennifer Forristal is a Naturopathic Doctor and school wellness specialist who is focused on pediatric well-being. Founder of the Umbrella Project and author of The Umbrella Effect , she is creating a profound paradigm shift in the understanding of our personal well-being and that of our children. Jen joins host Mike Palmer in a discussion of developing coping skills in children, parents, and schools so that we're better equipped to endure trauma and ideally grow in the process. Beginning wi...
Jan 19, 2023•35 min•Season 7Ep. 522
Beth Rudden, the Chairwoman and CEO of Bast.ai , rejoins host Mike Palmer for a conversation about ChatGPT and other large language models as we enter a new phase of readily accessible generative AI tools. Why is ChatGPT prone to mansplaining? How might this relate to the Dunning Kruger effect? And how might a more ecological understanding of an "honorable harvest" as described in Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer help us rethink our relationship with data and its harvesting? We tackle ...
Jan 17, 2023•27 min•Season 7Ep. 521
Beth Rudden is the CEO and Chairwoman of Bast.ai , a company that leverages emerging technology to build custom conversational AI tools or CATs for clients. Prior to founding Bast, Beth worked at IBM for 20 years, founding their Data Science practice and working with numerous clients to design and implement large scale solutions leveraging machine learning and training folks in data science. We hear Beth's origin story and draw from her experience at IBM and beyond to paint the picture of a new ...
Jan 17, 2023•29 min•Season 7Ep. 520
Esther Lee has over 14 years of experience in learning, culture building, DEIB, and leadership development across different industries. She returns to the podcast to join host Mike Palmer to share her wisdom around how to navigate layoffs in the current market on both sides of the impact. You can check out her recent LinkedIn article to get more from her on this topic. We learn how Esther is telling her story while building community and relying on her network to get through the challenges of re...
Jan 13, 2023•23 min•Season 7Ep. 519
Mike Palmer and Virtual Cohost Nancy are back to talk about our 23 Learning Trends for 2023. We divide the trends up into three groups: Emerging Technology, Durable Mindsets, and New Sets and Settings, and dive in. How does Chat GPT and Generative AI fit into the equation? What are the Mindsets that equip us to thrive in disruption? And how will the new and different contexts for learning impact our thinking about the emerging post-pandemic learning ecosystem? Listen in to find out. Don’t miss i...
Jan 11, 2023•29 min•Season 7Ep. 518
Chester E. Finn, Jr. is a Distinguished Senior Fellow and President Emeritus at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute and a Senior Fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution. He's the author of Assessing the Nation's Report Card: Challenges and Choices with the NAEP . He joins host Mike Palmer in a conversation about the history of the NAEP , its challenges and opportunities, and the importance of having a shared set of standards for educational performance across the nation. You can learn mor...
Dec 19, 2022•29 min•Season 7Ep. 517
Jennie Magiera is the Global Head of Education impact at Google. She's also the author of the best-seller, Courageous Edventures: Navigating Obstacles to Discover Classroom Innovation . She joins host Mike Palmer to talk about Part 1 of Google’s The Future of Education Report - Preparing for a New Future which was recently released. We begin by hearing about Jennie’s impressive career path beginning as an award-winning Math teacher in New York and Chicago before rising through a number of admini...
Dec 15, 2022•38 min•Season 7Ep. 516
Aaron Rasmussen is the Founder and CEO of Outlier.org . He's also a Cofounder of Masterclass and an award-winning game designer. He joins host Mike Palmer in a conversation about how the team at Outlier is designing a product experience built to disrupt higher education by providing affordable access to highly engaging, accredited online courses and certificates. We begin with the story of Aaron's roots in rural Oregon where he taught himself with books from local libraries before gaining access...
Dec 12, 2022•34 min•Season 7Ep. 515
With the recent release of ChatGPT , host Mike Palmer dives into the implications of this technology for the world learning. Nancy, our virtual cohost, joins Mike in the conversation this time powered by the new dialogic AI toolset powered by OpenAI . We begin by learning what this technology is in its own words before hearing which trends ChatGPT sees as most impactful to the future of education. Then we explore the risks and opportunities emerging with new and widely accessible AI tools like t...
Dec 09, 2022•23 min•Season 7Ep. 514
Roger Spitz is the President of Techistential and the Chairman of Disruptive Futures Institute . He's also the lead author of The Definitive Guide to Thriving on Disruption whose first volume is now available. Roger joins host Mike Palmer in a conversation about the insights provided in the Guide and how they connect to the world of learning. We begin by hearing Roger's origins in investment banking and M&A before shifting to his focus to futures thinking and the Disruptive Futures Institute...
Dec 05, 2022•43 min•Season 7Ep. 513
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...
Dec 01, 2022•38 min•Season 7Ep. 512
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...
Nov 28, 2022•29 min•Season 7Ep. 511
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 to talk 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 cul...
Nov 21, 2022•37 min•Season 7Ep. 510
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, w...
Nov 17, 2022•29 min•Season 7Ep. 509
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 t...
Nov 14, 2022•20 min•Season 7Ep. 508
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 s...
Nov 07, 2022•35 min•Season 7Ep. 507
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 desi...
Oct 31, 2022•21 min•Season 7Ep. 506
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...
Oct 27, 2022•27 min•Season 7Ep. 505
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 colleg...
Oct 24, 2022•31 min•Season 7Ep. 504
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 ...
Oct 17, 2022•30 min•Season 7Ep. 503
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...
Oct 13, 2022•32 min•Season 7Ep. 502
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 ...
Oct 10, 2022•26 min•Season 7Ep. 501
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...
Oct 03, 2022•34 min•Season 7Ep. 500
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 wh...
Sep 29, 2022•27 min•Season 7Ep. 499
