A Quick Look Back at March of 2020

Mike Palmer returns from SXSW EDU to reflect on what it was like producing Trending in Ed back in early 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic was just hitting. Through excerpts from three episodes of Trending in Ed, we transport ourselves back to that challenging time to help put the past into perspective as we prepare to lean into the future.

We begin by hearing sound from an episode with Dan Strafford and Mike in early February where we speculate about what’s happening in Wuhan, China and how it may have a broader impact across the globe. Then we hear some of Mike’s March 2020 interview with Bryan Alexander, the noted futurist who famously explored the possible impact of a plague on higher ed in his book, Academia Next: The Futures of Higher Education. It was zeitgeisty then and it still is now. Mike concludes with sound from his interview with Angela Siefer, the Executive Director of the National Digital Inclusion Alliance later in March as the first wave was taking root and Angela and team were rapidly shifting practices to respond to the critical public health aspects of digital access and inclusion.

It’s a thought-provoking retrospective you won’t want to miss.

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Episode References