La mia conferenza su videogiochi e apprendimento linguistico e culturale per il Festival della cultura videoludica Game Ground di Bolzano – 21 ottobre 2021 / My conference on video games and foreign language & culture acquisition at Game Ground in Bolzano, Italy, October 21, 2021

Link:

https://fb.watch/8NU43cMC11/

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MY CHAPTER ON MACHIAVELLI’S REPRESENTATION IN THE ASSASSIN’S CREED SERIES IS OUT!

My chapter “Unarmed Prophets Have Always Been Destroyed, Whereas Armed Prophets Have Succeeded:” Machiavelli’s Portrayal in the Assassin’s Creed Series” was published on July 14, 2021.

Citation
Bregni S. (2021) “Unarmed Prophets Have Always Been Destroyed, Whereas Armed Prophets Have Succeeded:” Machiavelli’s Portrayal in the Assassin’s Creed Series. In: Polegato A., Benincasa F. (eds) Machiavelli in Contemporary Media. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-73823-5_3

Abstract
This contribution analyzes the character of Machiavelli in the popular video game series Assassin’s Creed. According to the author, Niccolò’s representation in the AC series as a digital, interactive narrative medium and related gamers’ reception shows that it generated interest in Machiavelli the historical character, his real life, times and works, even pushing users to fact-check events and Niccolò’s words and compare them with the actual text of The Prince. Moreover, the interactive nature of the medium responds well to contemporary modes of, and needs for, media consumption in contemporary society. For these reasons, the author also shows how video games such as Assassin’s Creed can effectively deliver cultural content and can be used as a learning device in class.

Keywords
Video game-based learning (VGBL) Digital game-based learning (DGBL) Learning environments Gamification Video games Foreign language and culture Game-based learning (GBL) Computer assisted instruction (CAI) Digital realia, Assassin’s Creed, PlayStation, Machiavelli, The Prince

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-3-030-73823-5_3#citeas

My Interview on Singularity Watch on 2/5/2021

Singularity Watch S01 E09 | Learning by playing… with Assassin’s Creed! with Simone Bregni

Thank you Singularity Watch!

It was a great experience to be interviewed in VR on Singularity Watch, S01 E09, about video game-based learning in foreign language & culture education, and the new, exciting frontiers of VR in gaming, learning and education.
Thank you!

My book on Dante’s Divine Comedy – “Locus Amoenus: New Instruments of Analysis of the Comedy” is out!

http://www.longo-editore.it/scheda_libro.php?id=1637

Bregni, Simone
Locus amoenus
Nuovi strumenti di analisi della Commedia, 2020
Il Portico n. 186
pp. 248, ISBN 9788893500593

My book on Dante’s Comedy, intertextuality and the Classical tradition was published by Longo Editore, Ravenna, Italy, on October 28, 2020. It is available on Amazon Italy, Ibs Italy, Feltrinelli and more.

Il mio libro sulla Commedia, intertestualità e tradizione classica è stato pubblicato da Longo Editore, Ravenna, il 28 ottobre 2020; è disponibile su Amazon Italia, IBS, Feltrinelli e altre piattaforme di acquisti di libri online. Colleghi in USA, se siete interessati a leggerlo, contattatemi. Ho un certo numero di copie a disposizione; sarei grato delle vostre recensioni su Amazon Italia e altre piattaforme online.

Distance-Learning Workshop on VGBL in ESL/FL Learning – German-American Center of Stuttgart (DAZ), Germany

Today I delivered a two-hour distance-learning workshop on video game-based foreign language learning (with a focus on ESL) for the German-American Center, Deutsch-Amerikanisches Zentrum / James-F.-Byrnes-Institut in Stuttgart, Germany to an audience of approximately 60 ESL teachers from the St. Louis Sister Cities of Stuttgart, Germany, and Samara, Russia. The workshop, part of the celebrations for the 60th anniversary of the St. Louis/Stuttgart Sister Cities Program, was supposed to take place in Stuttgart. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the interactive, multimedia-based workshop was conducted in real time online, including a Q&A session. I would like to thank DAZ and the Sister Cities Program for this opportunity to share my VGBL scholarship and teaching practices as a professor at Saint Louis University, Department of Languages, Literatures, & Cultures, SLU Italian Studies Program.

Teacher Training: (E-)Life is (not) Strange – DIGITAL

 

Video Games, Foreign Languages and Teaching in the Time of COVID-19 – Griseldaonline

I published the article “Videogiochi, lingue straniere e didattica ai tempi del COVID-19 (Video Games, Foreign Languages and Teaching in the Time of COVID-19” in Griseldaonline, the Journal of Experimental Literature Review dedicated to didactic training and computer models applied to the Human Sciences of the University of Bologna. The article, in Italian, is available at:

https://site.unibo.it/griseldaonline/it/diario-quarantena/simone-bregni-videogiochi-lingue-straniere-didattica-tempi-covid-19

The article, written on April 7, was published yesterday, April 10. I feel honored that I could contribute to the cluster of articles written by Italian and American professors on responses to, and strategies and responses to, the current COVID-19 crisis.

#Griseldaonline #Unibo #VGBL #GBL #IntensiveItalianForGamersSLU #COVID-19 #EducatorsResponseToCOVID-19

 

My three chapters in Learning, Education & Games vol. 3

My three short chapters for LEG BOOK 3 were published on November 20, 2019!

The volume “Learning Education & Games – Vol. 3 – 100 Games to Use in the Classroom & Beyond”,  a guide for educators, parents, researchers, designers, written by members of the @IGDA, @LearningEdGames, SIG, #edgames #igda, @etcpress, @IGDANYC, #teachers, #educators is available in print version and as a free download at http://press.etc.cmu.edu/index.php/product/learning-education-games-volume-3/.

I wrote on The Invisible Hours and Rise of the Tomb Raider and a co-authored a chapter on the Assassin’s Creed series.

@HoursInvisible

@tombraider

@assassinscreed

 

Intensive Italian for Gamers at SLU – Spring 2020

Award-Winning ITAL 1200 – Intensive Italian for Gamers will be offered at Saint Louis University in spring 2020!

Limited space available! Register TODAY!

ITAL 1200-01 MWF 02:10 pm – 03:00 pm
ITAL 1200-360 W 03:10 pm – 04:00 pm

https://www.slu.edu/news/2018/april/learning-italian-through-gaming.php?fbclid=IwAR22wfKiO8Vr2MEYU6BajIts1yZ8aVR8yfmkSYy6FBnVYxd3IgzzEHlIkQk

 
Saint Louis University, Department of Languages, Literatures, & Cultures, SLU Italian Studies Program, ITAL 1200 – Intensive Italian for Gamers – SLU

@SLU_Official

@SLU_LLC

@ItalianSlu

Ludic Language Pedagogy Journal

Very excited to serve as a reviewer for Ludic Language Pedagogy Journal! Thank you co-editors Jonathan deHaan and James York for inviting me.

Simone Bregni

I love my pixel-art avatar that James made. It is a PETSCII version of a portrait photo. It is made with Retrocam first https://8bitartwork.co.uk/

Looking forward to contributing and reviewing!

◣ First article by Jonathan deHaan: http://bit.ly/2KfbVYX
#literacy | #multiliteracies | #participation

◣ First “walkthrough” by James York: http://bit.ly/32qf9Pr
#boardagmes | #TBLT | #mediation

#LLPJournal #GBLTeaching #gamebased #GBL #english #efl #esl # #languages

Presentation on Gamification & Video Game-Based Learning in the High School Classroom at the SLU 1818 Foreign Language Professional Training Day, & SLU Esports.

Today I spoke on gamification and video game-based learning at the Saint Louis University 1818 Foreign Language Professional Training Day, organized by the Department of Languages, Literatures, & Cultures.

Glad to have met such a dynamic group of dedicated high-school foreign language teachers! Their students in Italian, French, Spanish, Russian, Classics and Chinese receive SLU credits. My presentation, “Video game-based learning in the high-school classroom?” was very well received.

On a related note, today I was asked and accepted to serve on the SLU Esports Advisory Committee. Looking forward to spearheading the educational value of Esports at my institution.

Developing a VGBL-based “Intro to the Classical Humanities” course & Assassin’s Creed Odyssey’s Discovery Tour Mode.

The Discovery Tour Mode released today for Assassin’s Creed Odyssey is a fantastic addition to an already excellent game. I am very excited about its release, particularly because I am currently developing a video game-based learning / digital media learning “Intro to the Classical Humanities” course with my colleague in the Classics program, Dr. Joan Hart-Hasler.

I studied Classics for most of my life (12 years of Latin coursework, 10 years of Greek). I fell in love with the Greco-Roman civilization by the time I was 14. I was very impressed with the re-construction of Hellenistic Alexandria in Assassin’s Creed Origins, its history, monuments, everyday life and even the use of Koine Greek by non-playable characters (NPC). The lexicon and pronunciation of the ancient common language of the Greek empire has been carefully, effectively and convincingly re-constructed. Now, I cannot wait to explore their tour of Classical Greece and re-construction of the language, life and culture, and explore its pedagogical uses in our college course. “Intro to the Classical Humanities’ will be taught in English, as a large first-year experience course. Besides video game-based learning, I plan to include graphic novels and other digital media. I hope to present it to the undergraduate course committee sometime this fall, and teach it next spring.

What is most exciting about the inclusion of the Discovery Tour, in my opinion, is that it makes digital game-based learning/quest-based learning accessible to high-school and, in some cases, even middle school students. In fact, it is a “pacific” mode, devoid of violence.

Kudos Ubisoft & merci Maxime Durand & team!

https://www.polygon.com/reviews/2019/9/10/20859403/assassins-creed-odysseys-discovery-tour-review-ancient-greece-education-game?fbclid=IwAR0TzGG9swN57N23Dqac9XO8qcm7CKONiRZ8gkFhhOQXozq4x1D5bgi-ytg

Image: Koine Greek – Source: Hector Abuid on Flickr [https://www.flickr.com/photos/21536074@N00/2560077543]

“Locus Amoenus: Intertextual/Interdiscoursive Imitatio in Dante’s Comedy”

Not #VGBL / video game-based learning related, but academics nevertheless: my completed manuscript, “Locus Amoenus: Intertextual/Interdiscoursive Imitatio in Dante’s Comedy,” (279 pages) has been mailed to the editor today! Evviva!