Wide Walls
Welcome to Wide Walls, a podcast where inspiring educators, researchers, designers, and innovators share their personal journey and their vision for creating better learning experiences for children.
Episodes
Evren Yiğit is a renowned author and expert in children’s content and storytelling, with a background in child development studies, media creation, and creative writing, and over 15 years of experience in the industry.
She co-founded Mako Kids in 2017, a children-first media, production, and consultancy company that specializes in creating quality content for kids of all ages. She also recently co-founded KidsAI, a community hub an...
Janella Watson is an educational and organizational strategist and champion of inclusion, equity, and authentic representation in Children’s Media. She is an executive leader, brand manager, experiential learning specialist, and researcher whose transformative approach to advising inspires and guides clients to create curriculum, experiences, and media content that spark family engagement, learning, and joy. Janella is an accomplis...
Mathilde Cerioli owns a PhD in Cognitive Neurosciences from the University of Montreal with a focus on cognitive training for adolescents. After a few years conducting research in neuroscience, she embraced the world of entrepreneurship by co-founding Fly Little Dragon to connect parents with experts in children’s development and learning. She is currently the Chief Scientist at Everyone.AI, a non-profit organization advocating for...
Dr. Sonia Tiwari is a fantastic Learning Experience Researcher and Designer whose current research explores the ethical design of virtual influencers for children. She is, in fact, the creator of the world’s first virtual influencer designed for children’s education!
Sonia started her career in the gaming industry as a character design artist before pursuing a PhD in Learning, Design, and Technology at Penn State University where s...
This episode is the first part of my conversation with Josh Mason. Click here to listen to the second part on Josh’s podcast "Loops and Lifecycles".
Josh Mason is a former Air Force pilot who now provides strategic guidance and technical expertise in cybersecurity and risk management to startups and large companies worldwide. As a cyber instructor and courseware developer, we discussed how he leverages h...
Chris Bennett is an affiliate at the Stanford Graduate School of Education. He currently studies and practices ways to apply Game Design Thinking, an approach that combines game design, behavior design and neuroscience to help companies innovate, motivate and grow beyond simply using gamification.
In this episode, we explore the concept of Game Design Thinking and how to apply it when designing learning experiences. Chris also shar...
Carly Ciarrocchi is a writer, host, and producer for some of the most exciting tv shows and podcasts for kids. You may have seen her in Sunny Side Up, Snug’s House, The Big Fun Crafty Show on Universal Kids and Weird But True on Disney+ for National Geographic for which she earned an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Daytime Program Host. She’s also the host of hilarious podcasts like Hey Story Go and Don’t Break the Rules on Pinna, ...
Polina Lulu is a fantastic designer and researcher who is dedicated to engaging children in playful and meaningful learning experiences, particularly through technology. She focuses on integrating children's rights and voices into creating products, experiences and environments that help children thrive.
In this episode, we first delve into Polina's personal journey, with a focus on how her experiences as a parent have reshaped her...
Ingvi Ómarsson serves as a Senior Advisor for the Ministry of Education in Iceland, where he leads the implementation of large-scale educational policies. Prior to this role, he spent 7 years as the Chief Innovation Officer of the Skagafjörður School District, leading innovation and transformation by organizing and facilitating workshops focused on technology and innovation for educators and school leaders.
Ingvi is not only a rema...
Kavindya Thennakoon is an educator and entrepreneur who founded Tilli, a play-based platform to support social emotional learning for children.
In this episode, we cover Kavi's incredible journey from Sri Lanka to the USA, her approach and motivations for supporting SEL for children, and her take on social impact and activism through entrepreneurship, non-profit organizations, and large private companies.
Find more about Kavi's wor...
Carmelo Presicce is an educator and researcher currently pursuing his PhD at the MIT Media Lab. Carmelo's work focuses on the design and facilitation of creative learning experiences for children and educators, in person and online.
In our conversation, Carmelo shares his journey from growing up in a small town in Italy to joining the MIT Media Lab and developing vibrant communities of educators.
Find more about Carmelo's work:
- h...
Renato Russo is currently pursuing a PhD at Columbia Teacher's College, where he focuses on two main subjects: cultural renderings of maker spaces around the world and digital literacy to combat online disinformation.
Beyond these topics, we also discussed how his childhood in Brazil shaped his journey towards becoming an educator and a researcher.
Find more about Renato's work:
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