Trending In Education

This week, Mike and Dan are joined by Holly Garner, one of the Editors for the Journal of Applied Testing Technology, to examine the news that LinkedIn has launched skills assessments as part of their platform. How should assessments like these be designed? Does passing an exam truly signal proficiency or mastery? As this type of credentialing matures, what might be the implications for higher education?Will you be quizzed on all this? Maybe a lil bit. But it should help you learn a little. Enjoy!  

Dan and Mike catch up on a recent new book release, The MVP Machine: How Baseball's New Nonconformists Are Using Data to Build Better Players, and accompanying Harvard Business Review article, What Baseball Can Teach You About Using Data to Improve Yourself. What techniques from the advanced metric and quantified self approach of players like Trevor Bauer can be leveraged for everyone's personal and professional growth? How do the themes of grit and growth mindset fit into this discussion? Is there a true tension between the folklore and history of baseball metrics and the new revolution sabermetrics and next-level analytics? Get the peanuts and crackerjacks and get ready to come back for more Trending in Education.

This week Mike and Dan are joined by Angela Siefer and Xandi Wright to discuss Digital Equity and Inclusion. Angela is the Executive Director of the National Digital Inclusion Alliance and has been focused on providing access to digital resource for those who may not have this in their homes. Xandi recently studied Digital Inclusion in graduate school and is beginning her practice in the field. We explore the concepts of digital inclusion, digital equity, digital readiness, and the homework gap and provide recommendations on how to learn more and get engaged in beginning to raise awareness and bridge these divides around access to and awareness of technology as an enabling force in the lives of students and adults. 

In yet another Back to School Extra, Mike sits down with journalist, author, and teacher, Robert Pondiscio to discuss his provocative new book, How the Other Half Learns: Equality, Excellence, and the Battle Over School Choice. Robert shares his experiences from spending a year embedded in the Bronx 1 school in the Success Academy charter system. We touch on the discipline and commitment required of students, parents, and teachers to gain access and to stay in a Success Academy school. And we also explore challenging questions of fairness and equity that arise when some families gain access to programs like Success Academy while others do not.  We wind up raising more questions than answers about this complex set of issues and look forward to continuing to examine what is the impact to those in these programs as well as those who don’t get in or get bounced for various issues. And with dedicated families exiting public schools for programs like Success Academy, what are the implications for public schools who

Mike and Dan sit down with Dennis Morgan, a member of the District 3 Community Education Council in Manhattan, to discuss how parents can become engaged and activated in their local schools. Using Dennis's story as an example, we discuss how Dennis became actively engaged in his children's public school to address challenges we face in New York and across the US.  We follow Dennis’s story from when he was first connecting with other parents when his son was in Universal Pre-K to where he is now building programs to encourage parents of all backgrounds to keep their children in the public schools of Harlem.  Listen in to hear a one parent’s journey as we explore the real challenges of engaging parents in the educational lives of their children. 

This week, Mike sits down with Kate Eberle-Walker, CEO of Presence Learning, to explore the emerging field of teletherapy. Kate explains the history of screen-based therapy and related interventions and the growing role that organizations like Presence Learning are playing in bridging access gaps to licensed professionals in underserved schools through live online delivery.  How might this help address the growing mental health crises kids, families, and K-12 schools are facing these days? Listen in to find out. 

This week we have the pleasure of welcoming world renowned author and thinker, Michael Horn to the show. Michael recently authored Choosing College: How to Make Better Learning Decisions Throughout Your Life in which he and co-author, Bob Moesta, identify the five jobs that learners hire college to do for them. Michael is a cofounder and distinguished fellow of The Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation and is Head of Strategy for the Entangled Group. In addition to Choosing College, Michael has also written Disrupting Class and Blended and he has explored many topics relevant to the future of education and disruption. On this week's show, Mike sits down with Michael to dig into how to make great learning decisions about college and ongoing education throughout our lives. We discusses the benefits and drawbacks of a Gap Year, the importance of understanding the differences between intrinsic and extrinsic rewards, and exactly when college is and is not the best choice for individuals.The

In a letter just released in August, the Business Roundtable, a lobbying group made up of many of the nation’s leading CEOs, may have changed the course of corporate America. The letter asserts that a business’s purpose is more than generating profit for its shareholders. Instead it is to deliver value to all of its stakeholders. Generating profit and shareholder value have been the prime directive of large corporations since the days of Milton Friedman. Is this signaling a change?Maybe Gordon Gecko was wrong. Greed may not be good if it isn’t tied to a purpose.  But as we explore a scorecard beyond the bottom line, how should we track this newfound sense of success in business? Mike, Dan, and Tarlin dive into what this could mean for the future of corporations, workforce engagement, and professional development as explore the potential impact of this memo from the 181 on this TiE Extra!

What is an "Inverted Yield Curve" and why was it trending on Twitter of late? We take a stab at providing a little financial education as we explore this trend and what it means to all of us.  How have the recent forecasts of a potential recession been amplified by social media? Has social media helped educate people on what's going on or simply fed mass hysteria and panic? How might we teach personal finance and other financial matters in K12, at home, and throughout our lives?Get out your crystal ball as we try to get a read on the financial future while digging into a once arcane economic concept, the Inverted Yield Curve. 

Mike Palmer and Frank Jones revisit a hot topic from earlier this month on what a group of eight to 11 year-olds want to be when they grow up. Are American kids no longer fascinated by space travel? Is it all Youtube and Vlogging from here forward?Frank shares his perspectives on this topic as we continue to dig into the recent attention generated by a survey launched by Harris Polling and Lego. Is this pointing to bigger trends in learning and education? Listen in to find out.

This week Mike and Dan are joined by Tarlin Ray, Melissa Griffith, and Frank Jones as we explore Starbucks College Achievement Plan (SCAP) which has just granted degrees to its first 3000 graduates. Through a partnership with Arizona State University Online, Starbucks provides access to tuition-fee bachelors programs for its employees. The squad digs into the topic from various angles as we continue to explore new models of workforce development, public-private partnerships, and online post-secondary education. Get ready for a venti-sized serving of knowledge on this week’s show. Enjoy!

This week Mike and Dan are joined by Melissa Griffith to explore the topic of pay equity inspired by the US Women’s Team’s magical run to a World Cup Championship. We use this as a jumping off point to dive into all aspects of the zeitgeisty issue of the gender pay gap. As a learning podcast, we think through what can be learned and what can be taught about this complex issue. We also get some advice on negotiation and interview and interviewing skills from Melissa and squad. Listen in and enjoy!

This week, Mike sits down with bestselling author, keynote speaker, and disruptive storyteller Erik Qualman, aka Equalman, to explore how best to manage one's digital brand in the 21st Century.Drawing from examples from Erik's life, we dig into how privacy is eroding and how a thoughtful understanding of one's digital stamp, a combination of your digital footprint and your digital shadow, is key to success in modern life. Erik imparts nuggets of wisdom as only a motivational speaker can as he and Mike explore what life is becoming in a post-privacy world.If you want to get motivated to unlock your inner superpowers, then this is the episode for you!

A recent survey of 3000 children between the ages of eight and 11 showed that a majority of US and UK children are more interested in becoming a YouTube star than an astronaut. In China, the majority of respondents preferred to pursue a career in space, with Vlogger as the least popular option.  We welcome Brandon back as a guest to discuss all this, plus Legos, AsCans, Space X and more. Strap on your virtual (or actual?) space helmet and get ready for liftoff with a midsummer Extra from your friends at Trending in Education.

On the heels of recent coverage in The Wall Street Journal and Wired, the team digs into the news that a new form of Poker AI named Pluribus, has been winning in games versus poker pros. The surprising secret to Pluribus’ game? Surprisingly, it’s bluffing!Mike and Dan begin the conversation and are joined by an old friend to explore what this can teach us about human intelligence, machine learning, and game theory. We also pitch a few development ideas for a human/AI poker tournament along the way. Push all in on one more poker show with us on this week’s installment of Trending in Education. 

As we’ve said on numerous occasions, you need 21st Century skills to pay those 21st Century bills. To that end, Coursera, the online learning platform, recently released its inaugural Global Skills Index, billed as "data-driven insights into the world’s top career skills.". Dan and Mike are once again joined by Melissa Griffith as we dive into the global insights this report has to offer. What skills are most sought after by Coursera’s users? How might this data be interpreted to understand global upskilling trends? Are there any gaps or biases in the data that Coursera is working with and how might future 'GSI' reports look as Coursera refines this report? What other learning platforms could add broader context to what’s happening with global skill development? How does the United State stack up against the rest of the world and how should we interpret those comparisons?We cover these questions and tie the conversation to broader trends in workforce development and the future of work on this week’s show

Amazon announced they'll be investing over 700 million dollars in upskilling and reskilling a large portion of their current workforce between now and 2025. Over the next six years, the retail giant will be providing training in AWS, machine learning, and other areas of work within the organization.  Mike and Dan are joined by Melissa Griffith to dive into what this could mean to the future of work at Amazon and beyond. We also explore the implications to the broader field of workforce development as AI and automation intersects with human upskilling. How is Amazon choosing which employees will receive this training? What sort of data might Amazon collect to measure the efficacy? Should that data be open or proprietary? How might this training scale to other companies?  Get primed and ready to go as you dive into this episode on what’s emerging in workforce training at Amazon.

This week, we dive into the learning myth of "summer learning loss." Based on a recent article from EducationNext.org, we discuss the history of summer learning loss, where the current mythology stands, and how we might move forward with a better understanding of school calendars, summer assignments and more. If you’re in search of summer learning gain, this is the podcast for you!

Have you ever felt like you don't have one true calling? When asked what you wanted to be when you grew up, did multiple answers spring to mind? On today's extra, we dive into the idea of multipotentiality, spurred by a recent TED talk by Emilie Wapnick. In a world where much of the discussion around talent and career advancement has focused on deep specialization, what role can sharp, flexible generalists play in the future of work? How is the latest research pointing to the benefits of pairing experts with generalists to drive towards creativity and a good blend of both vertical and lateral thinking? We discuss these topics and reflect on our own perspectives on talent on our latest extra. Enjoy!

We’re “all-in” this week, as we welcome Annie Duke, author of Thinking In Bets and retired poker pro, to the show. Annie begins by sharing the long, winding path she took to become an author and expert in decision science. From her time as a PhD student in cognitive science to her introduction to poker as a novice, to her inspiration to write her books, Annie provides great detail on all of the influences throughout her life that have come together to write Thinking In Bets. We also dive into the non-profit, The Alliance for Decision Education, that Annie co-founded in 2012 and discuss how she hopes to push decision education at scale to millions of students in K12. How do we get decision-making wrong? How often do we worry about the result, see Pete Carroll’s play-calling in Super Bowl XLIX, rather than the process that led to the decision? If we were to teach students the basics of good decision-making, how might this improve their ability to decide quickly and adapt to a variety of environments and no