Roberta Ricci and Luca Zipoli Publish New Open Educational Resource Textbook
The Department of Transnational Italian Studies has created a new open educational resource (OER) textbook for the beginning Italian courses offered at 魅影直播 and Haverford Colleges, to better serve, and include, BIPOC and minority students. Cotto e Mangiato: Corso di Italiano Multiculturale volumes and are authored by Professor Roberta Ricci and Assistant Professor Luca Zipoli, and are tailored to Tri-Co students鈥 interests and expectations.
鈥淭he price of Italian-language textbooks increases the financial burden of attending college, especially for under-represented students, first-generation college students, and those from low-income backgrounds,鈥 says Zipoli. 鈥淗aving this material available drastically reduces that cost.鈥
Furthermore, Ricci adds: 鈥淭he vocabulary, language, and images most American and Italian elementary textbooks use today reinforce existing biases by presenting discriminatory and stereotyped pictures of Italian society, especially with regards to issues such as family, professions, gender, and race. By contrast, Cotto e Mangiato is an OER textbook that promotes diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion with immediate access to a zero-cost learning platform.鈥
Thanks to its open structure, the authors will constantly update the material to reflect the changing standards of Italian culture(s), such as femininity and masculinity, racial and gender discrimination, geopolitics, migration, incarceration, issues of power, inequity and justice, cultural diversity, and LGBTQIA+ rights.
鈥淲颈迟丑 Cotto e Mangiato, students will understand the transformations of 21st-century Italy through cross-cultural comparisons and will familiarize themselves with exclusivity in the Italian language regarding non-binary genders, the plural agreement, and adjectivation鈥, adds Ricci.
The department鈥檚 OER materials, created using , have been funded through four digital grants awarded through Haverford College and 魅影直播 libraries. Olivia Colace 鈥25 and Ava Panetto (HC 鈥23) collaborated with the department on the project. 鈥淭heir contributions were essential to creating the OER online platform and to shaping the textbook based on the needs of 魅影直播 and Haverford language learners,鈥 says Ricci.
This new textbook is derived from , a former online platform previously distributed under a Creative Commons CC-BY-NC license and used by the Department for the last two academic years. In Cotto e Mangiato: Corso di Italiano Multiculturale Ricci and Zipoli included significant changes and added materials on accessibility, culturally responsive teaching, inclusive education, gender diversity, and multiculturalism. Within the framework of DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion) and intersectionality, this new OER moves towards tools for creating accessible documents and centering marginal voices by responding to students鈥 concerns perceived as heteronormative, cisnormative, and socio-political constraints. Ricci and Zipoli wished to make an intervention on certain topics, such the nature of multi-faceted, queer family.
鈥淔or example, we revamped the way vocabulary related to family is taught, replacing traditional terms with authentic materials that challenge the notion of familial relationships as solely biological or legal bonds, a perspective that many learners find exclusionary,鈥 explains Zipoli.
Ricci and Zipoli will continue to update their work and welcome any comments, questions, or suggestions.