Invited Presentations
2024 – Language Learning Pedagogy EXPO 2024, online conference by Language Learning Pedagogy Journal https://www.llpjournal.org/
“Language, Play, Storytelling: Tabletop Role-Playing Games in the L2 Classroom” [keynote address]
2024 – Department of Italian Studies, Indiana University Bloomington
“Leveraging tabletop (role-games) in our classrooms” [invited talk]
2023 – Workshop for Alma Edizioni (part of the Teaching Italian to American Students series)
“Gamification 101 – Come implementare giochi e principi ludici nella classe di italiano L2 e LS” [invited talk]
2022 – Fries Center for Global Studies, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT.
“L2 teaching and Learning through Tabletop Games” [invited talk]
2020 – Linguistic Futures, Department of Italian Studies, Yale University, New Haven, CT.
“Strategies for (Co) Curricular Innovation and Student Involvement: Accessibility, Experimentation, and Community.” [invited talk]
2019 – Department of Literatures, Cultures, and Languages, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT.
“Teaching Italian / Attracting New Students: Experiences, Tools, Ideas.” [invited talk]
Conferences (as panelist or roundtable member)
2024 – “Serious Play” annual conference, University of Toronto, Mississauga, Ontario
“Design for/through Language Learning” [panel organizer and co-presenter]
2024 – American Association of Teachers of Italian (AATI) annual conference, Università per Stranieri, Perugia, Italy
“Gameful L2 Design – Theory and Practice” [workshop co-creator and co-leader]
2024 – American Association of Teachers of Italian (AATI) annual conference, Università per Stranieri, Perugia, Italy
“Gameful Design in the Italian L2 Classroom” [panel organizer and chair]
2024 – Play Festival del Gioco – Modena, Italy [with Game Science Research Center]
“Creare giochi di ruolo per l’apprendimento L2/LS – Teoria e pratica” [panel organizer and presenter]
2024 – Play Festival del Gioco – Modena, Italy [with La Gilda association]
“GDR e identità – una storia queer” [roundtable participant]
2023 – American Association of Teachers of Italian (AATI) annual conference, Università di Catania, Catania, Italy
“New Directions in Italian L2 Classroom Strategies” [panel organizer and chair]
2023 – American Association of Teachers of Italian (AATI) annual conference, Università di Catania, Catania, Italy
“Developing and Using Open Educational Resources in the Italian Curriculum” [roundtable chair and participant]
2023 – American Association of Teachers of Italian (AATI) annual conference, Università di Catania, Catania, Italy
“Revolutionize, Innovate, Transgress: Keeping Italian Studies Relevant in 2023” [roundtable participant]
2022 – Meaningful Play, Central Michigan University, Lansing, MI
“The Use of Board Games for Faculty Development to Improve Teaching” [round table participant, virtual]
2022 – American Association of Teachers of Italian (AATI) annual conference, Fondazione Campus, Lucca, Italy
“Tabletop Role-Playing Games in the F/L2 Classroom: How and Why” [panel organizer and participant]
2022 – American Association of Teachers of Italian (AATI) annual conference, Fondazione Campus, Lucca, Italy
“Developing and Using Open Educational Resources in the Italian Curriculum” [round table organizer and participant]
2021- American Association of University Supervisors and Coordinators (AAUSC) Italian Section Meeting – Roundtable on online teaching
“Teaching and Learning in the Age of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Considerations on a Recent Survey on Remote Instruction”
2020 – ACTFL Annual Convention and World Languages Expo – San Antonio, TX.
“(Video)game-Based learning Approaches in the F/L2 Classroom” [round table organizer and participant]
Link to virtual panel (log–in needed)
2020 – American Association of Italian Studies (AAIS) annual conference, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ.
“Game-Based Learning: From Theory to Practice” [round table organizer and participant]
Cancelled due to Covid-19
2019 – Italian Language and Culture Conference: Challenges in the 21st Century Italian Classroom – Georgetown University, Washington, D.C..
“Board Games and Tabletop RPGs in the Classroom: Present and Future Approaches” [panelist]
2019 – American Association of Italian Studies (AAIS) annual conference, Wake Forest University, Winston Salem, NC.
“Board Games and Tabletop RPGs in the Classroom: Present and Future Approaches” [panelist]
2018 – From Blip to Trend: Making Italian Relevant for the 21st Century (and Beyond) – University of Southern California Teacher’s Workshop, University
of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA.
“Open Educational Resources: an effective strategy to understand and address the needs and goals of today’s students and instructors”
Link to presentation and materials
2018 – American Association of Italian Studies (AAIS) annual conference – Sant’Anna Institute, Sorrento, Italy
“OER Projects in Italian: Innovative Approaches for a Shared, Low-Cost, and Customizable Italian Curriculum”
[round table organizer and participant]
2018 – The Power of Language conference – Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT
“Open Educational Resources: the Key to Effective Second Language Acquisition” [panelist]
2017 – Italian Language and Culture Conference: Innovations in Italian Programs and Pedagogy – Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.
“ASSAGGI: an Open Educational Resource (OER) Approach to the Intermediate Italian Curriculum”
2017 – American Association of Italian Studies (AAIS) annual conference – The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH
“Beyond the Textbook: Innovative Approaches for a Shared, Low-Cost, and Customizable Italian Curriculum”
[round table organizer and participant]
2015 – American Association of Teachers of Italian (AATI) annual conference – Universita` per Stranieri, Siena, Italy
“Looking outside the Classroom with Esri’s Storymaps in Second-year Italian Language Courses.” [round table participant]
2015 – American Association of Italian Studies (AAIS) annual conference – University of Colorado, Boulder, CO
“Looking outside the Classroom with Esri’s Storymaps in Second-year Italian Language Courses.” [round table participant]
“Sacra politica: A Controversial Entanglement of Religion and Politics in Elio Petri’s Todo Modo (1976)” [panelist]
2014 – The Legitimacy Gap: Multilingual/Multicultural Language Speakers in Monolingual Foreign Language Departments – symposium
Berkeley Language Center, University of California, Berkeley – Berkeley, CA
“The Importance of Bridging” [panelist]
2013 – American Association of Italian Studies (AAIS) annual conference – University of Oregon, Eugene, OR
“Operai and Biopolitics in Elio Petri’s La classe operaia va in Paradiso” [panelist]
“CineRoma/CineItalia: reflexive Italian film studies” [round table participant]
2011 – American Association of Italian Studies (AAIS) annual conference – University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh , PA
“Elio Petri e le stragi di stato: Tre ipotesi sulla morte di Giuseppe Pinelli (1970)” [round table participant]
2010 – American Association of Italian Studies (AAIS) annual conference – University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh , PA
“A Tale of Immigration, Liminality and Alienation in Contemporary Italy: Carmine Amoroso’s Cover Boy: L’ultima Rivoluzione” [panelist]
2010 – Da Sodoma a Gomorra: Framing Crisis and Rebirth in Contemporary Italian Cinema (1970s – 2000s) – University of Warwick, Coventry, UK
“From Man to Musselmann: Disruption through Liminality in Lina Wertmüller’s Seven Beauties” [panelist]
2009 –Denuncia: Speaking Up in Modern Italy – New York University 9NYU), New York City, NY
“L’inutilità del bene: Demythologizing the Mafia Through the Defeat of the Anti-Hero” [panelist]