65: Immersive Learning Experiences with Award-Winning Producer and Founder of Meridian Treehouse, Wesley "Wes" Della Volla

0:06 Welcome back to America's leading higher education, podcast Network. The edip Experience where we make education your business. This is Ed up edtech dedicated to interviewing leaders at the front, end of technology and innovation in education hosted by the amazing, the outstanding. The Able Holly Owens. Now let's get to it and hear from your host Holly Owens. But first, a quick word from this episode sponsor colleges and universities shouldn't have to choose between rare credible, resources and Innovative technology with Gail. You can offer Both academic Librarians across the globe Hartman with Gail, to connect students and faculty to authoritative digital sources with built-in tools, the drive effective research and learning with Gail primary sources. Scholars, can explore full-text searchable, archives covering literary political and social topics of the last 500 years. Combining these exclusive sources with a powerful tool. I Gael digital scholar lab empowers researchers to a Actively analyze texts and make new discoveries. Push past the boundaries of traditional research, expand the possibilities of digital

1:38 Humanities and Advance the skills of every learner with Gail learn how you can make knowledge, more accessible across campus at girl.com GA Ellie.com all by calling, 1-800 870 Gail. Hello everyone, and welcome to another fantastic episode of Ed up. Ed Tech. My name is Holly Owens and I'm your host. And I'm super pumped today about the guest that I have on the show. His name is Wesley, Della woola and he is the founder and executive producer of Meridian Treehouse. So Leslie. Welcome to the show.

2:18 Hi, thanks for having me very excited to chat with you today about immersive learning and all the fun opportunities that are there to really spark some crazy excitement about learning. So yeah, I'm excited to do this. Absolutely. I'm so glad we were able to find the time to finally meet and talk about all the wonderful things. So the first thing we want to know and tell us about your journey, tell us about yourself and how you got into this Ed Tech space. So Ed Tech space, a fun and Unexpected Journey. He's definitely one of the best ways to describe it. I started my career, nonfiction storytelling science communication really using my skills as a Storyteller to help scientist translate what they're talking about so that everyone could enjoy it, understand it, connect with it and hopefully in the end do something with the knowledge. They had gained for 15 years off. And on I was at National Geographic in Washington DC where I was a filmmaker and worked on the Natural History. Programming.

3:18 So, that's animal programming. I was fortunate enough to work on a project that won the Emmy Award for investigative journalism. Congratulations. That's awesome. Thank you. I was part of a very, very, very talented team. And my job was most importantly to make, sure everyone got back safe. We had our team in a war zone. In DRC, stem aquatic, Republic of Congo and then from that point on continue to work in TV production, from being a production manager, working my way up to then actually working in textbooks where I was developing new. Media and ways of Storytelling for an age-old product for National Geographic, learning and cengage. And my last roll National Geographic. I was the director of Live Events and experiences so there was taking scientists and bringing them into Live Events and creating programming that people wanted to go see in person and interact with these amazing humans, that are far smarter than I am, no matter what room I was in.

4:11 I was never the smartest person in the room, so it was always learning something. It was an amazing place to be. And while there I bed, the team that built The world's largest permanent virtual reality theater that was 450 Oculus. Go headsets that were remote-activated synchronized playback in. Perfect tandem with a speaker on stage media, on a giant screen and the sound system in the theater and that was a way to bring the world to life in a way that had never been done before. And being able to do that was definitely a if not the high point of my career at No. Geographic to open this whole new way to connect with people who want to learn about their world and make it easier for them to access places. We may never be able to get to go but end up winning the Webby Award for best VR interaction design. I happen to beat small companies like Google, Facebook, and apple small companies and HBO I think was somewhere in there. But ultimately the wards that the whole matter what matters is that we are able to bring in 3,000 people throughout its run before covid-19.

5:18 To take them to places, they could never otherwise go and watching People's Energy just when they got to travel to these places and then the questions they asked and how excited they were to learn more was exactly what I do this and so that's how I found my mouth, you can't see me but my mouth was dropped wide open. When you said what you said about the synchronization and going places. I was like whoa, this is intense but awesome. Yeah and so my entire career has been trying to connect people with the world and help them learn more about it, but I was doing it. The screens and now we got to change that up and have people in person, but also go there. And so now with Meridian Treehouse, which was founded right after the covid. Hit, we continued my tradition and my team's tradition of making these great experiences.

6:01 No matter the platform to connect people with each other, in their world and learn something along the way. And in that process, we helped launch Instagram. Small Banks business functionality at the start of the pandemic. We went on to do the first of its kind virtual non location-based shared Is immersive reality experience. We had a virtual dive to plow led by a scientist dr. Erica Woolsey that people were able to join in from around the world. We had people on four continents and countries diving in real time. At the same time with us in a headset, they had, if they had it at home, any headset. It also went on to win, technical Achievement Award. We've kept going since then we're an official partner for The Meta immersive learning fund, where we created a white paper that has been supported by Harvey.

6:48 Graduate School of Education and the Smithsonian institute's educational units. That was a guide to learning in the metaverse to help everyone understand the difference between all the various immersive reality. It was incredible to do that, and we got to build a exhibition for the Smithsonian arts and industries. Building was the first Smithsonian where the moon rocks and the command modules from the Apollo Mission. First, went on display for the public. So, in that same space, we got to take people to the Moon, in a VR experience, built on, archival photos and audio. So you literally stood where the Apollo Astronauts did as they explored the moon for the first time in human history. So cool. What a journey you've had and it was a long list that was a long story.

7:29 I hope they told it way that people can understand, but it's there's so much in but it's so much good stuff that needs to be shared. And I'm glad you're on the show today, highlighting, all of this, because, you know, I feel like sometimes he's things aren't put on display as much as they should be and like what you're doing. So, I'm really excited. Good, that you're here. I'm very excited to be here. A good to sneak peek of your next question and I would have to want to jump in and answer it. Yeah, absolutely. So favorite educational quote or anybody else? You want to shout out? I want a shout out in. This is this is someone I have shut it out from the stage. Every chance I get every right up, I've ever had Kristie marks.

8:09 She was my TV teacher in high school. I wouldn't have this life. I have it out her. I want to be an architect. Since I was five. Still love it. I play with Legos all the time. I'm that adult life. A fan. I was in her TV class, my junior year in high school and she just threw a camera in my hand, a script in my hand and haven't stopped since then. So it's thanks to one teacher. Who really, really saw what I could do and cultivated that and help me feel successful in it that it was able to do the career. I have now. We love Christian haters. Yeah. So Kristie marks, it's thanks to her. It's all her fault. That's amazing. And I'm so glad that you had that experience. I love Educators. I used to be an educator, but just thanking them, they see something. Being in you sometimes you don't see in yourself and it sounds like that's what happened. That's awesome.

8:52 Absolutely, and I think her every chance I get. I love that. I'm sure she does as well. So, tell us your journey and to all these different phases and awards and different things. How would you personally? Define educational technology. I have a feeling, I'm going to be much broader than others. And that educational technology. Its tools that help you learn the best you possibly can. Best way you possibly can a lot of times that involves not getting it right on the first try because that's technology. You're always innovating and changing it is the tools that help you solve a problem. I think at one time when you consider the Abacus of educational technology, it was brand new and no one knew what it was.

9:36 I look back to my ding, a student, you know, films film strips, where were edtech that we're going to take the loot World, NVR an immersive right now. Is that the phase where it can be, just depends what happens next. Absolutely, I don't love that broad definition to because it encompasses so many different areas and inside outside the classroom and corporate and education. You really can speak to a lot of different things but I love asking that question because I get a different answer. Every single time, I definitely think education technology is not limited to the classroom. In fact it often is most percent most useful outside of it. Yes absolutely. So let's get into all the details about Meridian Treehouse.

10:16 Tell us about Out it describe it. You started describing it as get excited. I was like there's going to be more here. So tell us about the product and describe how you help institutions and organizations in education. Yeah, outside of education. So Meridian Treehouse has had a few words change in and out in the past few years about what it actually is. But what's always been at the core is nonfiction storytelling and experience Innovation. And our ultimate goal has always been to Foster curiosity. And when we think about our partners, And who wants to engage with us? We are very clear, this is your home for imagination, the name Meridian Treehouse comes from that feeling of, you know, when you're a kid, a treehouse, it's the place you can go and be and do anything you want as an adult. We lose that sometimes and I wanted to create a space where you have fun.

11:05 You want to go there, you want to be curious but you also don't want to kind of do it aimlessly. So Meridian is an important, guiding geographical term and having those two things together. It was a thoughtful way to Foster curiosity and that's what we focus on. Using new technology making Partnerships that normally wouldn't happen and really just kind of thinking out of the confines of traditional learning and ways of telling stories. So we have a lot of fun thinking up, new ways to push technology, and looking back on our two and a half years. There was a short window in the May of 2020, where we knew more about what Instagram live could do functionally. Then anyone in the, in the world maybe outside of meta and maybe even inside of At our Facebook Instagram at the time because we push the platform so far and we continue to do that.

11:53 Now, I was once told by Facebook, we couldn't connect more than 50 headsets and then I did 450 and we did 180 at the Smithsonian. That's what we offer. We offer that ability to help you Foster curiosity and we especially offer educational institutions, the opportunity to reach further out from their locations and location-based areas. And further into the world, the metaverse is coming, just like the internet before it and TV before that, and radio and telegram, that's a new technology. It's going to have good and bad uses. I would like to think that we're part of the growing number of people on the side trying to make what the metaverse will be something beneficial for us all.

12:37 Absolutely. There's always going to be drawbacks but yeah. We just hope the good outweighs the bad and exactly it can flourish and do all kinds of things. So we talked a little bit about your favorite. And since you have with all the people in the room, is there another experience that you can share with us? Do something that's been developed that? Meridian Treehouse has partnered with or something did in a classroom. I would love to hear one of those stories colleges and universities. No longer have to choose between rare credible, resources and Innovative technology academic Librarians across the globe partner with Gail to connect students and faculty to digital sources with built-in features that drive effective research and learning. I'm from interdisciplinary database has to interactive instruction tools. You can make knowledge more accessible across campus with Gail learn how at Gail.com GA Ellie.com. Yeah, absolutely.

13:33 And I think this one's going to be very low-tech, actually it's a product but it's free that is our handbook or practitioners guide for learn an introduction to learning in the metaverse which is free and available, either through our website or I can follow up with a link from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. And the put, all the stuff in the show notes for everybody to find. Yeah. Absolutely. Please do I'll send anything over that you need. I want to be able to share this as wide as we can, and that's why it's my favorite product. This is meant to be shared. Where'd this is your guide to understanding a? What is the metaverse? Everyone's here at X RM R AR V are all the different various realities. This explains it to you. In a way that is clear.

14:15 It tells you the best uses for it. It tells you what it's not good for, but then it also gives you some great case studies that are applicable and apply to learning in a very broad way. For me and my team. This was a way to ensure that whatever came next. With this new technology. There's at least a Charting platform for people to understand how to use it where it can be really successful and honestly what not to waste their time on because it may not work in that space. This is a tool and we wanted to help people to learn better. This is how do you create content that is engaging Dynamic and will help people want to learn for this metaverse that's coming. Yeah, absolutely. My favorite project. That's awesome.

14:55 First of all I absolutely want to go read it because I want to know what's coming to even though I'm fully ingrained in this ecosystem of Ed Tech and stuff. I still a very surface level knowledge of what we're about to step into. So I appreciate that. You put that together for us. Well, I'm glad to do it too and especially to like with edtech. There's so much to keep up on technology in general. Now, there's so much to keep up on, and I think about how a lot of my friends have explained PhD work and being at National Geographic. I was using not the smartest one in the room and definitely not one of the countless phds. I had the pleasure of working with them where time there, but they explained to the process of PhD is like no knowledge is a bubble and on the very The edge of that bubble. There's a little tiny, tiny, tiny bubble, that's where you are.

15:36 When you're getting your PhD and then you get the PHD and you become part of that bubble and that you add to the collective knowledge of humanity and you can't know everything. That's why people specialize in you work with collaborators and colleagues. And so this very tip of the spear space that is the metaverse. Many of us are learning things that we want to share later on. You can't know everything. So it was interesting that you brought up and I'm in this space, but I don't fully understand it and that's not surprising because it is such a small Part of it, that's continuing to grow and add to that greater knowledge for me. I'm really excited about helping be part of that coming up in the year ahead. Yeah, we're on the next question, go right into it. You're doing a great job. It's like, I've been on your end of this and then the last question before I love it, I hope I don't live up to like the adage that, you know, the worst patients or doctors or the worst interviewers, I love it.

16:28 So, think about like the year ahead, I'm going to be fortunate enough to be able to give a public. Lecturer through the University of Oregon in February, where I'm really excited to share more about the immersive learning side of what we do and what's possible. But beyond that, we're talking and looking forward to creating more opportunities to bring the technology that we work with, in the stories that we are telling with our partners to more people. We actually just had our end-of-the-year trying to plan and strategize ahead meeting and it's everything from educational institutions to historical site to Organizations and associations that are all kind of focused on science and learning and then just seeing what may come up next. I'm being cagey and that there's a lot of things that are up in the air.

17:12 That's a great thing. But I know no matter what comes up next we are still going to be focused on those core things which is nonfiction storytelling and experience Innovation. All with the goal to help you Foster curiosity and want to learn more. It's the ultimate excitement machine and a lot of people say empathy, but for me, it's that excitement. People want to learn so fear. The year ahead is continuing to develop. New ways of doing that refining, the theater experience that shared synchronized immersive reality experience and bringing it to as many people as we can. The goals are to continue that work in connect with as many people as we can and be allowed proponent and supporter of all the potential. Good that immersive learning has.

17:52 I love it. Sounds like something I need to be involved in at some point and not just through podcasting. What I want to ask you. We have two final questions here, rapping Episode. But I also want to encourage you shared with me before we chatted about some of your other endeavors that you teach and do other things. So do you want to talk of just a little bit about those? Before we go to the final two questions? Sure. So long with running Meridian, treehouse with my incredible team, my core team Celeste, Harrison, and Christina Ballard. I also am an adjunct lecturer at Georgetown University where I teach two courses that are part of the core Pathways program. And the really cool thing about the core Pathways program is that when we talk about the Future of Education. Like right now I'm talking about VR and edtech but that's not the only future of the of Education.

18:38 There is, how do you teach even down from technology? But how you create lessons or groups or clusters of information in courses that help further understanding in a subject area? And so Georgetown, there's a group called The Red House which is really meant to be an incubator for shaping, a new learning Paradigm. So we're trying to expand on, high-impact practices, especially at Georgetown that Sometimes it really is. What's the frontier of Education? Innovation. And so I'm teaching two courses entire program focuses on climate change, and my two classes that are part of it, focus on climate storytelling and then climate action. So, how do you tell a great story and then how do you integrate in understanding of social science to make sure that you tell the best story?

19:22 No matter who you're talking to you being an adjunct lecturer Georgetown? As part of the pathways program, is really been a wonderful way to continue innovating, but not just focusing on technology. Balaji what's the instruction? What's the way of creating lessons? And a cohort of students to help them really understand the subject from multiple angles? Where I'm also there I'm an angle heart fellow. So looking at how we do all that but also be mindful of our Wellness, not just your mind, you're teaching the heart, the whole body, have you keep your mind in good shape from an end to health perspective. While you're also trying to learn and balance your life and all the other responsibilities, you have and taking that into account and how you learn. So it's been wonderful to be part of that this fall. I was also a resident immersive experience innovation. You're at the Harvard.

20:03 I lab with my partner. Jason Haggard, who I got to meet as a guest lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. So there's a lot of things I've been able to do in the past few years that I wasn't sure we're ever going to happen. But with this beginning of Meridian Treehouse, I've been able to really expand into the areas that make me really feel enriched and add value to my life and I hope I can pass that same energy back to those, I'm interacting with. So I've been able to be the board of directors for to nonprofits the hydrous who I work closely with for a lot of our X's. And then sharks Pacific, which is a fantastic shark conservation organization that looks at the line between humans and sharks and how to really limit that conflict that can come out of that meeting point. So I get to work with incredibly talented and women scientists who are leading their own nonprofits and supporting them in their Endeavors, to make the world a little bit better. I'm a lucky person.

20:53 I get to be boiled. I wonder when you sleep. That's what I'm thinking right now. Well, I will guarantee you it is. Usually usually between 12:00 a.m. and 5 a.m. fortunately I still wake up most every day without an alarm at 5:30 5:45 goodness, trained early to do that in a haven't been able to break. It was really painful when I was a DJ because I'd be up till 3:00 and then still wake up at 7 a.m. ready to go. Oh no, but that's another podcast. That's definitely another podcast for another day. Work-life, balance the correct amount of sleep. I want us to jump into the future now, just from your perspective and all of these experiences, what does the future of Tech look like see the future of Ed Tech starts to look more and more seamless.

21:37 I'm saying seamless in that? It's going to feel like more and more part of the world were already in. As technology becomes smaller faster cheaper. It's going to become part of our lives in ways that we could never imagine and wouldn't have imagined before 2007. When the iPhone launched. Yeah, think back. 2007 my gosh that's when I graduated college. Yeah, 15 years. I was already out of college. Yeah. But how has the world changed? In certain, how much more is technology integrated into our lives? And for very good in Fort, not so good. Sometimes to, I think, Ed Tech is going to keep doing the same can become seamless. We are working with our partner. The hydrous we've developed with them and added to learning kits that are full multimodal experiences that integrate immersive and oftentimes are centered on the immersive, but allow scaffolding and platforming around it that brings in a are as well. But then models that are made from the AR but traditional things like a journal or Card games or board games. Integrating all the ways you can learn about a subject to teach different parts of it but also excite you in different ways. Keep you stimulated, but they all fit seamlessly. So my history is being a Storyteller. That was platform-agnostic was used to telling stories on every platform and thinking about how every platform would use part of what I created to tell a bigger story. And that was uniquely able to do that at Nat Geo because it was, you know, every platform there was National Geographic from a magazine to TV to everything in between A great place to experiment and learn to how to do that very well. And we've been able to continue

23:07 doing it and that's the future. It's going to be seamless. It's going to be integrated and really be a better way to learn for everyone. Absolutely and immersive. I love the term immersive. I know it's way overused but in certain conversations it's really well done and especially this one. So Wesley I cannot thank you enough for coming on and talking about Meridian Treehouse and all the things. I mean, all the things that you have done and sharing that with The audience, everything about you and Meridian Treehouse is going to be in the show notes. So audience go there, check it out. And thanks again. No, thank you for having me. It was really wonderful to meet you. And share a little bit about the corner of the education. Ed Tech world. Of course, the last sense, my dog has to make an appearance. We love her babes.

23:51 They can come on. Yeah, Stanley's down here, scratching his collar, making some noise. Make Us an amazing run. A mean in the end education has to be fun and exciting and I wake up every day even After four hours of sleep, really excited to do this work and I don't want to stop doing it. So I'm really excited for it and thank you for having me and being a part of this. And always anyone who does you know, listen to this. Once the follow-up reach out to Meridian Treehouse, you can grab us on Instagram, at reading Treehouse. You can also go to our website and there's a form to like catch up with us. So we're happy to answer questions and explore. How we can all make this immersive seamless education. Future come to life. Absolutely fantastic. Well, thank you. Thank you. Have a great one you too.

24:37 You've been listening to another episode of Ed up edtech with your host, Holly Owens. You can follow Holly on LinkedIn. You can also visit her website at Jolly, Holly .me to find out more about what she's up to please head to Apple or wherever you download your podcast content and leave us a rating review and please subscribe to be notified of future episodes. This has been another incredible episode. So Dove Ed up edtech with your host, Holly Owens. So Dove Ed up edtech with your host, Holly Owens.