Happy National Teacher Day and Teachers Appreciation Week. Today’s episode kicks off our week of interviews and spotlights on teachers from all across the learning spectrum. At the top, Mike, Dan, and Brandon discuss teachers who were influential on their lives and then our co-hosts talk with Steven Anderson, education technologist, lecturer, and innovator. They discuss a variety of topics with Steven, including the creation of the hashtag EdChat, growth of innovation in the classroom, student activism and so much more.

Mike sits down to chat with Lev Kaye, Founder and CEO of CredSpark.com. They talk through a variety of topics including the emerging crisis of trust in social media, ACT's SEL venture, unbundling learning opportunities, and much, much more.

This week, we focus on what's trending in the EdTech Venture space. Brandon recaps his trip to ASU-GSV, a conference that focuses on "elevating dialogue and driving action around raising learning and career outcomes through scaled innovation." The crew explores the current state of disruption in higher education and K12 and grapples with how to understand how Workforce Readiness fits into EdTech innovation and investment.

Mike, Brandon, and Dan take a look at Starbuck's plans to shut down over 8,000 stores and train over 175,000 employees on unconcious-bias training on May 29th. They discuss the arrests that led to a social media outcry as well as how Starbucks is going about putting this training together. Has Starbucks planned on how to assess whether or not this training works? Will this focus be part of their new employee training moving forward? Is this anything more than a PR move by the coffee chain? Listen in to join the conversation!

This week, Mike, Dan, and Brandon dive into the Congressional hearings held on the recent Facebook data privacy issues stemming from the 2016 Presidential Election, Cambridge Analytica, and more. They discuss Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, appearing before committees from both the House and Senate, as well as their own usage of the platform. What sort of influence can Facebook usage and data have on education and edtech platforms like Quizlet? Tune in to find out.

Mike and Brandon dive into the smash hit film Black Panther and explore its cultural implications, perspectives on technology and the future, and portrayals of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). The duo dig into what they learned by watching the film and how it points to broader trends in the collective consciousness.

Mike and Brandon put a bow on the 2018 March Madness bracket. They take the opportunity to look back at the topics, lessons learned, and to assess some of Trending In Education's own ability to spot trends and shine a light on important changes in education. Listen in to learn the Winning Trend for the Year!

After going through our Sweet Sixteen and Elite voting on Twitter, we present our Final Four and our finals match-up. Tune in to find out who moved forward from the Social Emotional Learning versus Fake News as well as number one overall seed Kidsolving taking on Laughing & Learning.

We dive into this year's gathering at SXSWEdu in Austin, Texas. Brandon, Mike and Dan break down two of the keynotes and some high level takeaways. The first topic is Michael Sorrell's keynote, discussing Paul Quinn College's focus on real-world problems in the classroom and experiential education on urban campuses. Next, they discuss Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos' panel discussion focused on innovation in education and learning. Finally, we hear from Mari Kent and Walker Williams on their time in Austin, their favorite sessions, and how likely they are to attend again.

Let the madness begin. Brandon, Mike, and Dan discuss 21 topics from the past year of Trending In Education. Brandon and Mike then draft their own eight-topic teams to go up against one another in our Sweet Sixteen March Madness bracket. Who will come out on top? Stay tuned for our final four-episode later this March.