Trending In Ed with Mike Palmer

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!uGbqPz7OMCeMU7lX1cpm

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.