Trending In Ed with Mike Palmer

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 discuss the critical role of visual storytelling and video for brands, universities, and individuals. They highlight their journey with CreatorUp, the challenges they faced in 2020, and the rise of live online interactions. They also discuss the importance of training presenters for online formats and explore the potential of blockchain-based accreditation in education.

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.