Trending In Ed with Mike Palmer

Mike, Brandon, and Dan discuss a recent New York Times article that points out that the digital gap between high and low socioeconomic status is not what we expected it to be. How have the leaders of Silicon Valley changed the way their children interact with screens and devices? How is the use of screen time inverting traditional expectations about use of digital products? Is screen time the learning equivalent of easy access to fast food? We explore our own personal experiences and awareness of time with screens, discuss how screens might influence empathy and social emotional learning, and look ahead to what might be next in the evolving landscape of parenting, education, and time on screens.

On this week's episode, we turn our attention to the top learning gifts to give to kids and life long learners. As the holiday gift-giving season nears, we take a look back at our discussion last year on Magna-Tiles and explore some other great ideas for the young learners in your life. For lifelong learners, our trio of hosts discuss the idea of gifting a subscription to a service like Audible or Blinkist. With Black Friday and Cyber Monday on the horizon, here's to an amazing holiday season where we all explore how the gift of learning can bring joy to those you love.

Following up on our music and learning episode, Mike and Dan sit down with Ken Florence to discuss his own personal experiences with music and learning. As a performer, a composer, and a musical educator, Ken brings multiple perspectives to the conversation. Ken shares his experiences of synesthesia and how that impacts how he interacts with words, numbers, and music. We also discuss the use of music as a study and recall aid and reference the work of Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi as it relates to music, performance, and learning. Dan shares a story of how he used vocal lessons to overcome being monotone when speaking. We hope you enjoy listening and we look forward to hearing more sound from Ken as a he continues to contribute to the show in the future. 

On this week's episode, we explore the complex and multifaceted relationships between music and learning. Mike and Brandon kick off the conversation talking about their own experiences with music and learning while exploring some common myths and misconceptions relating to this topic. Then we introduce a new contributor to the pod, Ken Florence. Ken's a composer, musician, and music teacher from NYC who will be adding new sound to our pods beginning with this episode. Ken talks briefly about how learning music changed the way he learned other subjects. We'll dig in further with Ken during an extra later this week. As we add new music and sound over the course of this week and in upcoming episodes, we'd love to hear more from our listeners regarding what you like about the sound and what you'd like us to continue to improve on in future shows. With that, we'd like to welcome Ken to our crew and hope you continue to enjoy listening.

Mike and Brandon welcome Rohit Bhargava, founder of the Non-Obvious company, back to the podcast to discuss trend curation, predicting the future, and the challenge of being Non-Obvious. Rohit grades himself on his 2018 prediction by reviewing how he did with Lightspeed Learning and Data Pollution in particular. He shares some initial thoughts about new trends that are emerging for 2019 and pays special attention to how this all relates to learning and education. Listen in to get an early read on a few surprising trends that are on the horizon as we prepare to head into the new year.

More from NAB with Mike, Brandon, and Wendy Zukerman of Science Vs, a Gimlet podcast, talking Binge Learning, the Lightning Round, and more. Wendy continues to be awesome. Mike is stumped about Serial Killers (beyond the obvious) but rebounds a bit about Vegans. Maybe he learned something after all. Brandon opens us up for some audience participation. We wrap up an amazing live experience at the NAB New York Conference at the Javits Center. Thanks to Wendy, Gimlet, NAB, Tim O'Shaughnessy, Podcast Movement, and Andy Rosen for their support getting this together!

Live from the National Association of Broadcasters Trade Show in New York City, Mike and Brandon sit down with Wendy Zuckerman, host of the Science Vs podcast from Gimlet Media. The trio goes deep on the importance of science in an era of fake news and a crisis of trust while digging into the topics of many of Wendy's shows. We also explore whether you can be both educational and entertaining at the same time. Wendy shares some of the inner workings of producing an information-rich, entertaining audio experience about Science. Thanks to Wendy, Gimlet Media, Podcast Movement, and NAB for giving us the chance to drive into new formats and approaches to podcasting. Have a listen and let us know what you think. And stay tuned for more from this event which we'll release as an extra later this week!

Mike Palmer sits down with Nancy Lee Sanchez and Alex Borges, a Kaplan Foundation Scholar, to discuss the current transfer landscape for undergraduates in the United States. We talk through Alex's unique story as a US Marine Corps Reservist and get his views on where the process could be improved for transfer students with non-traditional backgrounds. We dig into the benefits of connecting veterans and other non-traditional students with university programs across the US. Nancy gives a few tips covered in Your 2019 Guide to College Transfer. You can check it out at https://yourguidetocollegetransfer.org/

Sans Forgetica is a new font/typset out of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Australia that was designed specifically to aid in memory and retention. The font is designed to be slightly challenging to read and that "desirable difficulty" makes it a surprisingly effective memory aid. On this episode, Dan and Mike catch up with Dr. Joanne Perryman and Dr. Janneke Blijlevens, two-thirds of the research and design team around the new font. We discuss the thought process behind designing the new font, desired outcomes, research to date, and what might be next. What's the best way to use the sans forgetica? Wait, don't tell us...Hang on, we were just talking about this... Just kidding. Listen in on this fascinating conversation to find out!

Mike and Brandon sit down to explore mnemonic tools like "Memory Palaces" and "the method of loci" which are learning performance hacks that have been shown to aid in memory. We use the book Moonwalking with Einstein by Joshua Foerr as a backdrop to our discussion of memory, retention, and recall. How can memory techniques that have been around since ancient times help modern learners capture and retain more knowledge? What does it mean to be a "mental athlete" and what lessons can be learned from their training techniques and performative practices? Mike and Brandon conclude by digging into their own favorite mnemonics and cognitive aids as we aim to help our listeners remember better by leveraging techniques that unlock untapped cognitive potential.