Trending In Ed with Mike Palmer

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.