2025
Dr. Giovanni Zimotti, Dr. Marta Agüero Guerra, Dr. Tamar Bernfeld, Fernando Castro Ortiz, Dr. Jiménez, Eden Jones, Dr. Kingsbury Brunetto, Dr. Rachel Klevar, Pilar Marcé, Dr. Olivares-Cuhat, Professor Claudia Pozzobon Potratz, Dr. Leslie Smith, & Luke Whitaker
“This journey began in 2018 when, with Fernando Castro Ortiz, we envisioned our first OER in response to publisher limitations and pedagogical misalignment. Since then, we’ve created six textbooks (four published, two in progress), released under CC BY, supported by five grants, and shaped by stakeholder surveys, peer review, and over 100 videos, including many interviews with Iowans. We began with niche materials to test and refine our model before launching Semillas I, grounded in Iowa and filled with familiar stories and voices. The content is created specifically for our students, by language teachers that interact with them on a daily basis.
The adaptability of OER allowed us to remix two profession-specific books into El Jardín del Lenguaje, a collaborative, edited volume. Our entire curriculum is now fully open, flexible, and informed by research on acquisition and proficiency. This work has led to two academic publications and the development of a language self-assessment app and VR-based medical interpreting video, a side project that resulted in the creation of a more advanced course for Spanish Medical Interpreting taught using these videos as the primary source. This has been a great growth opportunity, not only to myself but for everyone that collaborated with us in this project. Students save over $100,000 per semester.”
– Dr. Giovanni Zimotti, University of Iowa
Resources:
Bios:
Dr. Giovanni Zimotti, Language Program Director of Spanish at the University of Iowa, focuses on open pedagogy, large-scale data analysis for SLA, and Computer Assisted Language Learning.
Dr. Rachel Klevar, Associate Professor of Instruction at the University of Iowa, “supervises elementary Spanish courses and teaches a wide range of face-to-face and online classes,” and is co-author of Semillas and Semillas II.
Dr. Olivares-Cuhat, Professor of Spanish, focuses on “second language acquisition, learner factors, non-traditional students, and OER-enabled pedagogy.”
Dr. Tamar Bernfeld teaches World Englishes in Linguistics and serves as Assistant Director in the University of Iowa’s Center for Teaching, where she helps instructors enhance their classroom practices.
Dr. Pilar Marcé, Associate Professor of Instruction and Director of Curriculum, “strives to create learning communities where students work collaboratively on projects relevant to them and their communities.”
Dr. Leslie Smith, Associate Professor of Spanish at Missouri Southern State University, explores “language immersion environments and technology integration in World Language classrooms.”
Dr. Marta Agüero Guerra, Assistant Professor of Instruction at Northwestern University, brings expertise in “cognitive linguistics, intercultural pragmatics, and multimodality.”
Fernando Castro Ortiz, Lecturer in Spanish at Northwestern, works on “sociolinguistics, applied linguistics, second language acquisition, and Spanish for specific purposes.”
Dr. Eden Jones, Digital Innovation Consultant at the University of Iowa, supports “digital accessibility training and compliance” across teaching platforms.
Dr. Alexis Jiménez Candia, Associate Professor of Instruction at the University of Iowa, focuses on “Spanish for health professions and medical interpretation using virtual reality,” and co-authored the OER textbooks Brotes and Maletín médico.
Professor Claudia Pozzobon Potratz is an Assistant Professor of Instruction specializing in Spanish as a heritage and foreign language.
Dr. Kelly Kingsbury Brunetto, Assistant Professor of Practice at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, serves as Coordinator of Introductory Spanish.
Luke Whitaker has an M.A. in Linguistics from the University of Iowa. Through his work as a researcher and instructor, Luke has gained valuable experience in using empirically tested methods to guide language instruction in the classroom.