About Our GuestsDr. Brandon Ferderer is Head of Programming at Shared Studios and honors faculty at Arizona State University. A writer, performer, storyteller, and expert facilitator, Brandon holds a doctorate in intercultural communications from Arizona State University. His work spans private, education, and nonprofit sectors, harnessing communication technology to bridge cultural divides through dynamic educational and arts programs. His academic and creative works have been featured in Critical Studies in Media Communication and The Seventh Wave, and he has performed at the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Phoenix Art Museum, the Moth Main Stage, and the Dixon Theater in New York City.Ross Phillips is a social studies teacher at Winnacunnet High School in Hampton, New Hampshire. Holding a master's degree in education from the University of New Hampshire, Ross is passionate about bringing the world into his classroom through live virtual connections. An avid world traveler who has explored Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Egypt, Italy, Iceland, and beyond, Ross uses real-world application to ignite students' curiosity for non-Western history, law, and geography.What Is Shared Studios?Shared Studios is best known for its immersive portals — repurposed shipping containers equipped with audiovisual technology that place users in a full-body, face-to-face conversation with someone in a similar container in one of 20–25 countries around the world. But at its core, Shared Studios is a network of people: trained facilitators and community members around the globe — from community activists to UN officials — brought together to create meaningful educational connections. Programming can be delivered through the immersive portal environment or via video conferencing.Key Topics DiscussedWhy immersive portals go beyond video conferencing Brandon explains that 65–75% of a message's meaning is communicated nonverbally. While video conferencing restored face-to-face visibility, it also introduced "Zoom fatigue" — the tendency to monitor how we appear to be connecting rather than actually connecting. The portal creates full-body presence and a sense of accountability to your conversational partner, which is essential for building genuine empathy.The origin story of Shared Studios Founder Amar Bakshi originally built the portal concept to help his grandmother feel connected to her native Pakistan — imagining her sharing a chai in a café. The first portals debuted at a New York art gallery and in Tehran, Iran, where the profound emotional responses (women dancing freely behind closed doors, a young man coming out) revealed the technology's transformative potential.How Ross uses the portal at Winnacunnet High School Ross has built years of relationships with curators in Mexico City, Kigali, and other sites. Students recognize facilitators by name, ask about their lives, and engage in deeply personal conversations — including discussions about the Rwandan genocide with survivors and their families, a topic directly tied to New Hampshire's state curriculum standards.The role of the facilitator On-site facilitators like Ross help students acclimate to the unique, distraction-free environment of the portal. The shared studios curators on the other end are trained to handle sensitive or culturally awkward moments as teachable opportunities rather than offenses — creating a space where students can "trip up" and grow.Reaching reluctant learners Rather than leading with heavy topics, Brandon and Ross recommend starting with common ground — video games, food, music, daily life. A memorable example: skeptical Arizona State students connected with young men in Herat, Afghanistan over football and video games, and ended up in a 45-minute conversation about U.S.-Afghan relations.Preparing students for cross-cultural conversations Shared Studios uses "shared understandings" drawn from the Mejlis style of dialogue — an approach rooted in Arab cultures emphasizing equity in speaking time, active listening, and respectful engagement. Brandon also discusses the importance of teaching students the difference between cultural relativism and universalism before entering conversations.Why distance learning matters Both guests emphasize that the problems facing the next generation — climate change, refugee crises, global poverty, genocide — are deeply interconnected and cannot be solved by any one nation or culture. Distance learning, especially in immersive forms, is how we build the global citizens equipped to meet those challenges together.Quotable Moments"Video conferencing has been really great for connecting us. It has not been so good at creating connection between us." — Dr. Brandon Ferderer"I've never walked away from a connection being like, 'Well, that didn't go well.' There's always a nugget." — Ross Phillips"We have to find ways to put young people into conversation with people who are different than them... distance learning is the way that we do that." — Dr. Brandon FerdererResources & LinksShared StudiosWinnacunnet High SchoolFind all episode links and visuals at cilc.org/podcastHost links:Discover more virtual learning opportunities at CILC.org with hosts Tami Moehring and Allyson Mitchell.Seth Fleischauer’s Banyan Global Learning combines live virtual field trips with international student collaborations for a unique K12 global learning experience. See https://banyangloballearning.com/global-learning-live/Enjoyed this episode? Tell a friend, follow the podcast, and leave us a review! Editing by Lucas Salazar.
