About

I love learning, and one of my goals is to spread this love to others and show how amazing learning is. I do it as a teacher and a scholar.

Teaching is my passion. I constantly experiment with different educational approaches but my heart belongs to John Dewey's democratic education philosophy. For me, teaching is a unique opportunity to walk side by side with my students and learn from each other, showing that learning is multi-faceted and fun; it means growing together and being ready to take on challenging problems on a personal and societal level. My second passion is foreign languages.

As a scholar, I focus on researching technology integration in education, including games, Virtual Reality and Multi-User Virtual Environments (MUVEs). My favorite part is creating and implementing technology-integrated interventions and curricula both as an educator and a technology aficionado. I've designed curricular activities for MUVEs, led the development of mobile VR applications and curriculum to improve visuospatial thinking in college students, and designed a desktop/mobile VR game aimed at improving visuospatial skills in middle school students. I also do research in the field of technology-assisted language learning and English-Medium Instruction in universities.

Russian is my native language, I'm fluent in English, decent in Spanish and (European) Portuguese, and currently I'm working on my Japanese.