TEACHING HUMAN
RIGHTS ON-LINE

Cases for Critical Thinking and
Cross Cultural Communication

http://oz.uc.edu/thro/index.html




© Copyright by the author and available on-line at http://homepages.uc.edu/~tolleyhb/
Prepared for delivery at the Annual Meeting of the International Studies Association, March 17-21, 1998 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.



ABSTRACT: Project THRO employs the latest technology for teaching human rights on-line with text exchange and videoconferencing. THRO provides a unique website of interactive cases as an initiative of DIANA, the electronic research data base at the University of Cincinnati Law School. As a SOLO exercise, students work problems independently and receive immediate feedback designed to foster critical thinking. INTERCOM/VIDEOCOM components will enable instructors to use the cases for class discussion and simulation, as well as for internet text exchange and videoconferencing between their own students and with classes at other institutions in the U.S. and abroad.


Howard Tolley, Jr.
Professor of Political Science
University of Cincinnati
M.L. 375, Cincinnati OH 45221
Howard.Tolley@UC.Edu




INTRODUCTION

In a youth culture dominated by television and computer games, many students welcome teaching initiatives with new technology. Project THRO employs interactive world wide web exercises to improve i) knowledge of human rights, ii) critical thinking, and iii) transnational communication.

THRO applies information age technology to classical forms of active learning--the Socratic method, case based teaching, and simulation. Aristotle concluded that all virtues presuppose prudence, the wise application of reason to the achievement of moral ends. He called "moral virtues those habits of mind and action which lead to the development of our uniquely human potentials." [Martin, 1996] Sixteenth century moral philosophers championed the dialectical method, just as contemporary "critical thinking" humanities faculty teach practical moral reasoning and civic virtue.1 Active reasoning frees the mind, so the liberal arts teach students to cultivate a balance among competing values.

Teaching Human Rights On-Line began at the University of Cincinnati in 1996 with a successful pilot test of an interactive world court case on genocide. After a double blind peer review, a 1997 North American Case Research Association meeting panel critiqued a second problem on counter-terrorism in India. A similar peer review of the first problem is in progress for the 1998 Casewriters' Workshop of the World Affairs Case Research Association. Teaching notes are available on-line for both prototype cases.

Pending grant proposals seek funds to expand the project significantly from 1998-2000. The grants would partially fund faculty authors writing new case problems, technical consultants to "webify" the interactive curriculum materials, computer hardware and software technology facilitating text exchange and transnational videoconferences, international dissemination to course instructors, and external evaluation of educational impact. By 1999 following development and dissemination of the first prototype cases developed at the University of Cincinnati, the project will arrange peer review for well designed cases submitted by faculty who wish to contribute interactive curriculum materials to the electronic data base.

Project Goals and Case Design

THRO enables instructors to use the case method, simulation, and Socratic dialogue both in the classroom and in cyberspace communication between students of different cultures. Asynchronous exchange of text, audio, and video can link a global audience in unprecedented interaction exploring humanities principles. Dewey's 1916 prescription applies to both the school and the internet:

All that the internet [school] can or need do for pupils, so far as their minds are concerned . . . is to develop their ability to think. . . . The alternative to furnishing ready-made subject matter and listening to the accuracy with which it is reproduced is not quiescence, but participating, sharing in an activity. [1916]
Disputes over "universal" human rights challenge uncritical credulity and force students to explain reasoned conclusions. Whitehead admonished: "beware of 'inert ideas'--that is to say, ideas that are merely received into the mind without being utilized, or tested, or thrown into fresh combinations." [1929] Case problems educate students in normative reasoning by posing moral dilemmas.

In a narrative case, a whole story is told in all its complexity and multiplicity of actors and interests. Students must tease through complex, contradictory and ambiguous information to discern the major principles at play. In a decision-forcing case a problem facing a decisionmaker is defined, but the story is stopped at the point of decision. Here students must work through different decision scenarios, assessing options, debating diverse solutions, and making recommendations. [Golich, 1993]
THRO's decision-forcing problems require students to evaluate ambiguous choices confronting a judge, administrative official, or business executive struggling to balance ethical claims against legal, political, and economic values. Respect for human rights norms can have consequences for criminal procedure, national security, and corporate profits that students must evaluate with philosophical rigor. Closely decided legal precedents compel students to weigh opposing arguments in majority and dissenting opinions. Students must identify unresolved issues, recognize relevant facts and legal authority, and reason by analogy.

Romm and Mahler offer a typology of the method that indicates teachers can use THRO cases for either 1) individual or group exercises, 2) analysis/discussion or role playing/simulation, 3) structured or free response choices. Simulation is especially educational as "valuing can be achieved when students actually play a character. By experiencing a character as oneself they go beyond a mere accepting of the character's point of view that is typical of 'responding', into an active involvement, internalization and commitment to it ." [Romm, 1986]

Encouraging students to play an unfamiliar role promotes understanding of alternative truths. As advocates for a position other than their own, students may become less certain of their knowledge, more willing to entertain new ideas, to learn by questioning, and to consider a range of possibilities. Whether or not they ultimately modify deeply held personal beliefs, the exercise can provide fresh information and the ability to rebut an adversary.

Following impersonal interaction with a computer program, students need to engage live minds. At commuter colleges and large universities, undergraduates find it difficult to meet outside of class with course instructors and classmates. Some students with a full academic load are employed twenty to forty hours per week. An increasing number transfer into a college for only the last two years of a B.A. program. The best residential colleges foster learning communities providing rich interpersonal relationships that are all too rare in most institutions. After personal introductions in the campus classroom, collaborative learning can now be achieved in cyberspace. [Schwartz in Berge, 1995] Instead of further depersonalizing campus relationships, e-mail opens a channel for more frequent written communication between students and with their course instructors. With unobtrusive faculty moderation, the e-mail discussion groups organized by THRO will also allow U.S. students to engage in authentic dialog with students in countries they may never visit in person. [Schwartz in Boschmann, 1995]

THRO adds a curriculum component to DIANA, an electronic research database at the University of Cincinnati Law School. Teaching problems will serve undergraduate courses in philosophy, history, political science, psychology, international relations, and women's studies; professional classes in law, education and business; as well as high school social studies. Each interactive exercise on-line will have its own instructional guide explaining three possible applications

  1. as an interactive multimedia exercise for individuals (SOLO),

  2. for asynchronous two way communication and group discussion on-line (TEXTCOM),

  3. synchronous debates and simulation both in class and with televideoconferencing, ultimately using Internet2 technology (VIDEOCON).

Two prototype problems currently on-line will be further developed as models for additional cases planned for 1998-2000.

Two 1998 Prototype cases for Teaching Human Rights On-Line

  1. The International Court of Justice Considers Genocide

    SOLO

    This interactive website http://oz.uc.edu/thro/genocide/index.html encourages participants to play the role of a judge at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The case brought by Bosnia in 1993 charges genocide and seeks damages from Serbia and Montenegro, the former Yugoslavia. Participants can explore the facts, research the law, and consider opposing arguments that support one side or the other. Background briefing material (4,000 words) introduces relevant treaty law such as the Genocide Convention, summarizes applicable ICJ precedent, and reviews evidence of ethnic cleansing. Initially students are challenged to determine the best arguments, legal authority, and relevant facts supporting each side in a forced choice format. They are immediately scored based on how well their selections demonstrate an understanding of the issues and competing arguments. By identifying all the best facts and arguments that support each side, a participant can earn a perfect score of 100.2

    Along with their score students receive answers to the forced choice problem. Participants are then asked to decide two issues and by providing a written rationale that justifies their opinions for Bosnia and/or Yugoslavia. After submitting their decisions, students receive an explanation of the court's judgment which favored Bosnia on one claim and Yugoslavia on the other. As a concluding exercise, students reevaluate their initial opinion in light of the court's judgment by writing an analysis that may be printed or e-mailed as a class assignment or for personal use. [Desberg, 1996] A reference screen provides links to the electronic text of the 1996 ICJ opinion, U.N. documents, international treaties, and the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia to assist students undertaking further research for an individual writing assignment or group project.

    An alternative SOLO version of the Bosnia problem grades participants on how well they select arguments in the role of an attorney (rather than as a judge), but does not require any written answers on-line; http://oz.uc.edu/thro/genocide/index.html. After studying the background facts, law, and possible arguments, participants then compete as "counsel" on behalf of one side or the other. It is possible to earn a perfect score of 100 by choosing all the best facts and arguments which support the "client" represented, even if that state ultimately lost the case. An individual score is reported along with information about how the ICJ ruled and why. The author's paper "Internet Paths to Human Intelligence" delivered at the 1997 International Studies Association meeting evaluates undergraduate class implementation of that initial ICJ problem at the University of Cincinnati and is available on-line at http://homepages.uc.edu/~tolleyhb/papers/

    An Instructor's Manual/Teaching Note can be obtained on-line by submitting a request form. The problem and TN are undergoing double blind peer review for presentation at the 1998 WACRA Casewriters' Workshop. The TN provides discussion questions for a single class session and guidelines for additional TEXTCOM and VIDEOCON interaction.

    TEXTCOM

    Building on their individual work, students exchange case analysis with classmates and the instructor on-line. Asynchronous two way e-mail, list-serve distribution to a select group, and web bulletin board posting for general comment will set the foundation for in-class discussion, debate, and/or role playing. Students who role play counsel will collaborate on-line in preparing and circulating memoranda prior to a simulated ICJ hearing. During a final class meeting, students role play counsel for each state party in presenting oral argument to a panel of student judges who may question counsel before discussing their judgment. Following text exchange among students on one campus, the project will arrange a structured exercise involving asynchronous communication between organized groups in classes at different institutions in the U.S. and abroad.3

    VIDEOCON

    In a test videoconference simulation planned for Spring 1998, two university student teams located in adjacent counties will compete as representatives of Bosnia and Yugoslavia in advocacy judged by a panel located at a third distance learning center. Following advance preparation using TEXTCOM, student counsel will deliver a thirty minute oral argument in three-way live simulcasts. When judges interrupt with questions, all participants will view the interaction on screens in the three linked distance learning centers. Following an interval after broadcast of each oral argument, the videoconference will reconvene for announcement of the court's judgment and debriefing. Participants from Skopje and Belgrade are being sought for a transnational teleconference simulation with participants at several U.S. universities in 1999.

  2. Prime Minister Rao's Dilemma: Terrorism and Human Rights in India

    The initial text version presented hypothetical cabinet ministers advocating rival approaches to secessionist movements in the Punjab and Kashmir.4 The author substantially revised the problem following presentations at the Pace University Faculty Conference on Using Cases and a double blind peer review for the 1997 North American Case Research Association. The revised decision-forcing case presents an actual crisis confronted by India's Prime Minister Rao in 1995 following a terrorist assassination of the Punjab Chief Minister. Political rivals in upcoming national elections might exploit a weak response, but the government's past anti-terrorist measures provoked domestic and international complaints of massive human rights violations. Following the recommendations of a NACRA panel, further revisions were made to both the problem and Teaching Note, and the author transformed the case into an interactive format for Project THRO.

    The on-line case introduction provides information about how the government has countered terrorist bombings and assassinations with repression, torture, and summary killings. Additional background material explains how extraordinary powers exercised under Indian emergency legislation violate international human rights treaty commitments. Prime Minister Rao must decide whether or not a) to comply with international law b) to prosecute security personnel who committed atrocities and c) to admit more international human rights observers. The on-line forced choice format scores participants on their ability to distinguish factors which favor human rights reform from those supporting counter-terrorist measures. Along with their score students receive answers to the forced choice problem. Participants are then asked to resolve three dilemmas by providing a written rationale that justifies their choices. Alternative model answers to each question on-line may then be reviewed to compare the differing responses by those who disagree over whether compliance human rights principles would protect or endanger national security. Students may be print or e-mail their written answers as a class assignment or for personal use.

    An appended reference section with links to appropriate websites identifies varied sources that students may consult about human rights law, international reports charging India with violations, and the government's published response to those charges. An Instructor's Manual/Teaching Note can be obtained on line by submitting a request form.

    The Project has made initial contact with several universities in the U.S. and one in Bangalore, India to create the type of on-line text exchange and videoconferencing planned for the ICJ case. The current TN offers guidance for both class discussion and a role-playing exercise by advisers debating policy choices for Prime Minister Rao to make.

Comparative Evaluation

The Computer Mediated Communications (CMC) planned for THRO employs instructional technology that has been successfully adapted for use by both individuals and groups. [Berge]

Individual Applications: (THRO/SOLO)
  • On-line links to web sites with case problems [CASENET, Harvard], text of primary source materials [Finke, 1994], and multi-media electronic references such as Supreme Court oral argument [Goldman] that may be downloaded free or obtained for an access fee.
  • Text based tutorials, computer assisted instruction programmed to score and correct student errors on a series of forced choice response items. [CALI, 1997]
  • Multi-media tutorials, prize winning interactive audio-video exercises for training lawyers in cross examination and trial objections [CLE Group, Harvard], business managers [Rye, 1994] and students of international conflict [Bloomfield, 1997].
Text based Computer Conferencing: (THRO/INTERCOM)
  • Asynchronous connections with E-mail, electronic bulletin boards, ListServ [Klein, 1996] for ICONS international negotiation simulation [Starkey, 1996], literature classes in France and the U.S. [Schwarz in Boschmann, 1995], business exercises such as the Bry-Aire transnational problem [Moore, 1997] and local courseware [Texas Christian], acoustics [Stuart, 1997], sociology cases [Hachen], and computer education [Nalley].
  • Synchronous transnational chat for world-wide, multi-institutional ICONS role-playing [Starkey, 1996], Electronic Model U.N. [Hillebrand], Interactive Communications Simulations, [Turgeon, 1997], European learning communities [EONT, Kilbride] and New Zealand on-line networks [Wellington Polytechnic]
Audio-Visual Conferencing: (THRO/VIDEOCON)
  • Teleconference distance education with electronic student response systems by corporations such as AT&T [Garvin-Kester, 1995]
  • Videoconference distance learning through universities such as BESTNET, Binational English and Spanish Telecommunications Network [Metes, 1995; San Diego, 1992].

Educational Assessment

Numerous studies demonstrating how the case method enhances learning suggests that computerized problem solving exercises should also promote critical thinking. Pew Case Studies in International Affairs have brought to the undergraduate classroom teaching methods that worked well in law schools and colleges of business.[Mingst, 1994; Parkinson, 1997] "Thinking like a lawyer" entails more than calculating the dollars in a contingency fee award.[Shreve, 1977] Legal reasoning fosters a rational-analytical approach to problem solving.
The first step involves the definition of a problem or a decision. The second step requires the diagnosis of the possible reasons for the problem. The third step includes a search for alternative solutions to the problem. Finally, the fourth step involves a comparison of the various alternatives and a choice of the most appropriate one. [Romm, 1986]
Research in several disciplines has found improvement in student learning from computer mediated communication. Bonham, a political scientist, identified three levels of computer use in a survey of students who experienced a range of frustration and success on the web. [1996] A peer reviewed electronic journal of the Asynchronous Learning Network assessed the successes and failures of "CyberProf." [Ranieri, 1997] A Netherlands pretest-posttest control group design evaluated learning outcomes of computer-based role-playing and found significant dividends for interpersonal skills training. [Holsbrick-Engels, 1997] Other research in political science [Manrique, 1992, 1995], critical thinking [Whitney, 1995], computer education [Bergeron, 1988] and other fields [Morris, 1994] have also shown benefits.

Formative Evaluation

THRO role-playing exercises seek to realize Bloom's taxonomy of educational objectives [1956], the rational-analytical model of John Dewey [1933], and the learning theories of William Perry [1970]. Success will require formative evaluation during pilot tests of prototype problems subject to ongoing revision and improvement. [Hoelscher, 1995] Following the first in-class simulation of the ICJ Bosnia case, students were asked to complete an evaluation questionnaire that produced the following anonymous ratings on an A to F scale:

Student Evaluation of ICJ Genocide Computer Role-Playing and Case Simulation, Winter 1977

A B CDF
1. enhancing knowledge and comprehension of the ICJ, Bosnian situation, treaty law, etc.1712
2. developing critical thinking skills of questioning, analysis and application12134
3. promoting effective collaboration with other students in problem solving12116
4. fostering improved electronic, written and/or oral communication skills. 11142
5. stimulating interest in and effort to understand international law and organization16123
6. Overall value of the project as presented by the instructor for your major.131321


YESNO
7. Did you use email for the exercise? 12 14
8. Was the ICJ case on-line interaction a better approach than the TNC simulation? 20 4
9. Was 2 weeks in a 10 week quarter for 3 cases too much class time? 423
10. Should more case problems be used in place of assigned text readings, or mid-term exam, or research paper. 22 3

Selected comments on the best and worst features of the ICJ case simulation:

  • The internet use was good. I enjoyed being able to turn stuff in from home.
  • I enjoyed it very much. You always learn more when you actually get involved hands on and not just concentrating on memorizing.
  • This is as close to real life we can get. It stimulates critical thinking and extends interest for extra research in every subject.
  • Had all the facts out in the open and then made you apply what was learned.
  • The best thing was the scoring process, it's fun to see in a role playing situation if in fact one's choices were correct. The worst thing was probably the poor quality of computers and printers available on campus.
  • Best feature of case is it allowed me to apply facts and law to actual cases. Gives a fuller, more in-depth knowledge. . . . I can repeat facts, but not fully understand the concept. Helps to prepare for career, in organization, presentation, and delivery. Helps to identify important facts and understand concepts. Helps with critical thinking.
  • The role playing is the part of this class I always learn the most from. This was great. Getting involved and knowing specifics is a more interesting way of learning.
  • The on-line interaction was equally good when compared to the TNC simulation
  • Although both approaches were beneficial to learning the material, ... the on-line assignment was very interesting.
  • I liked . . . the Bosnia example because it is always in the news and is hard to understand. This exercise cleared up many of my questions not answered by the mainstream media.
  • Using actual case studies has always helped me understand text readings or ideas better.
  • Does stimulate learning and creates an atmosphere of comraderie among classmates who must work together! It was time well spent for case studies are the best approach. Survey courses don't teach enough hands on material.
  • Case problems allow the class to visualize specific proceedings of the ICJ and the UN. That's better than a lecture in that we see how things work instead of just hearing how they work.
  • With only a couple of days it was hard to do research, communicate with a partner and prepare to argue the case. Roles should have been assigned earlier to allow for preparation.

Instructor Assessment of ICJ Genocide Computer Role-Playing and Case Simulation Winter 1977

A hypothetical question on the final exam tested student's ability to apply lessons from the computer role-playing and in-class simulation.

Hypothetical Exam Problem: After Hutu genocide against Tutsis in Rwanda, the Tutsis won control of Rwanda's government. Hutu refugees fled to neighboring Zaire where U.N. workers provided humanitarian relief. Native Tutsis in Zaire have now killed many refugees as part of a military campaign to secede and become independent. The government army has counterattacked.

Questions% of 30 Students
With Correct Answers

1. What could the U.N. do to punish individual Tutsis in Zaire for acts of genocide?50%
2. If requested by Zaire, could the world court order the U.N. workers to leave the country?43%
3. Could the ICJ hold Rwanda's Tutsi government responsible for genocide against Hutus in Zaire?63%
4. If the ICJ hears the case, what additional judges would be appointed?80%
5. Is there any immediate response to the fighting the court could make?30%


No. Correctly
Answered
8 Co-counsel22 Other Students30 Total Students
No.%No.%No.%

1113%418%516%
200%732%724%
3225%418%620%
4562%627%1136%
500%15%13%

TOTAL8100%22100%30100%


The above exam results led to the following four conclusions:

  1. An in class, group simulation following individual internet role playing can extend student's learning beyond comprehension achieved with readings and lecture.

    1. Students gave more correct responses to questions #3 and #4 about procedures and issues that were dramatized in the simulation than to questions #1 and #5 on items explained only in lecture and background reading material on the web.
    2. The individuals who simulated the roles of co-counsel in class answered more questions correctly than students who simply observed their debate after completing the internet role play.

  2. A problem solving approach demands higher level cognitive skills.

    Students gave more correct responses to questions #3 and #4 that involved simpler comprehension of ICJ procedures than to questions #1, #2, and #5 which required higher analytic skills. As students seek answers for a slightly different hypothetical problem, the Bosnia precedent may or may not apply. In answering #2, acceptable reasons might be offered to conclude either that the ICJ could or could not order U.N. workers out of Zaire. The sole graduate student in the course, although she did not play a role in the class simulation, was the only one to answer correctly all five questions.

  3. The instructor learns new possibilities from student problem solving.

    In answers to #2 I had expected students to cite the ICJ's restraint in both Libya's appeal and Bosnia's challenge to the arms embargo. Instead, those who invoked Charter Article 2(7) on domestic jurisdiction persuaded me that the ICJ might reach a different result in the Zaire problem.

  4. A liberal faith in human intelligence and the instructor's best efforts can not educate all of the students all of the time.

    A sense of humility and humor sustains my ego when four students stated the ICJ could conduct criminal prosecutions of individuals, four believed the world court could order an arms embargo, economic sanctions or both, and that the Secretary-General would be appointed a judge.
Dissemination for further pilot tests

At the host university, Project THRO has five faculty associates in the colleges of Arts and Sciences, Law, Education, and Business. The Project Director's initial pilot test followed by conference presentations lead to substantial revision of both prototype problems. Further testing and peer review will complete the formative process. Contingent on external funding consultants at several universities will advise on project implementation.

During the pilot phase, the Project will make the case materials available on-line at no cost to individuals for SOLO exercises. Instructors may use the problems either as a class assignment or for structured exchange with classes at other institutions. The URL for THRO and information about the two prototype cases has been provided to sixteen internet search engines and subject directories5 including Librarians' Index to the Internet and LawFind. On-line registration with Project THRO will be required to obtain a copy of the case teaching guide and a list of instructors using the problems who seek links beyond their own campus. All registrants will also be expected to provide feedback required for assisting in improvements to the prototype cases. The Project will record hits on the site to determine the amount of use, repeated connection from the same location, and the users country of origin.

The American Association of Higher Education is completing a four year "Flashlight" project "developing a constellation of survey items, interview questions, cost analysis methods, and other resources that educational institutions can use to study and steer their own uses of technology." [AAHE, Ehrmann] Project THRO will seek funding to utilize the Current Student Inventory and its Evaluation Handbook. Educators in Australia completed a 200 page study "From Chalkface to Interface" that provides additional evaluation guidelines. [Victoria]

Target for the Millennium

By the year 2000 Project THRO should have up to five additional interactive cases on line enhanced by emerging technology. With the wider bandwidth of Internet2, quality transmission for audio and video should eliminate the need for expensive telephone connections. [Graves, 1996] A SOLO exercise may feature real audio and videoclips of the actual officials and parties involved. Criminal proceedings of the War Crimes Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia have been recorded live and can be linked to screens of text providing case background information. English speaking teachers and students anywhere in cyberspace may use THRO exercises both as individuals and in organized interaction between student groups on different campuses. E-mail discussion groups with the lowest level of technical requirements will enable THRO to reach the widest audience for TEXTCOM interactions. The international VIDEOCON will begin with universities equipped with distance learning centers for teleconferences.

What if anything will the computer assisted THRO problems add to the traditional case method? Are the extensive commitments in both time and money cost effective? The fringe benefits of introductory on-line experience are unquantifiable--links to related primary source material and email interaction with instructors and peers in cyberspace. Distance learning classrooms and "See me See You" software for video transmission will enable instructors to conduct simulations involving students in remote locations.

The internet like the printing press or TV satellites can be used for good or ill. Making the best use of technology may combat the worst abuses, enhancing intellectual development rather than dumbing down. Given sufficient off-line interaction with peers and the instructor, individual time spent on-line with THRO problems can improve student's knowledge and critical thinking skills. The limited choice format of computer assisted role playing can develop analytical and application skills, but an unstructured simulation more effectively cultivates the ability to synthesize and do normative reasoning. Dewey strongly encouraged the integration of teaching skills and ideas. "The parceling out of instruction among various ends such as acquisition of skill (in readings, spelling, writing, drawing, reciting); acquiring information (in history and geography), and training of thinking is a measure of the ineffective way in which we accomplish all three" [Dewey, 1933]

"Teaching is a social art, necessarily involving a relationship between people." [Cragg, 1994] Success requires programming and electronic communication that challenge students to think and exchange information rather than to have computers solve the problem. Computer programs are no more impersonal than a printed text, and both can be enlisted in collaborative learning communities that depend on interacting with fellow students. Communication on-line has created a new faculty links with students that have stimulated unprecedented conversations about their intellectual and personal development. Cyberspace has ample room for new learning communities that are difficult to create at a large, urban commuter campus. If they were alive today, is it that hard to imagine Socrates engaging John Dewey in a dialogue on the internet? Interactive web exercises are no panacea, but the potential for intelligent use appears well worth the cost.

Endnotes

1 Philosophy Professor Richard Paul, directs the Center for Critical Thinking and Moral Critique at Sonoma University, which has hosted 15 summer international conferences for K-12 and higher education teachers and leaders. Critical Thinking: How to Prepare for a Rapidly Changing World (Foundation for Critical Thinking, 1955).
2 A U.S. Supreme Court interactive exercise created by Harvard Professor of Constitutional Law Arthur Miller--"Courtroom Challenge"--served as the initial model. The seven landmark Supreme Court civil liberties decisions Miller adapted include cases of particular interest to students on mandatory drug testing of a school athlete and a compulsory flag salute. As of June 1997, those exercises on the CourtroomTV web site were no longer available.
3 Since the 1980s the University of Maryland has operated a text conference on the internet. ICONS, International Communications Negotiation Simulation, now involves 1,500 students a year at more than 55 colleges and universities. Students from eighteen countries compete in on-line international conferences simulating diplomatic negotiations to resolve foreign policy differences. http://www.bsos.umd.edu/icons/icons.html [Starkey, 1996]
4 Based on Pew Case study 515 by Tom Farer, "Human Rights and Foreign Policy: What the Kurds Learned (A Drama in One Act).
5 AltaVista, HotBot, Excite, Infoseek, Lycos, Yahoo, INFOMINE, Magellan, WebCrawler, Open Text Index, Northern Light, Librarian's index, Findlaw, Indiana's Virtual Library and the ICRC.

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Interactive Communications & Simulations, School of Education, University of Michigan

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Kilbride, Lisa, Blueprint for Interactive Classrooms, University College Dublin (1997)
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Moore, Margaret, "International Inter-Active Case Study Experience, Around the World in One Semester," presentation at the 16th WACRA Meeting, Edinburgh, Scotland, 1997
Bry-Aire Case http://www.intranet.csupomona.edu/~rwschaffer/
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Romm, T. and S. Mahler, "A Three dimensional model for using case studies in the academic classroom,"Higher Education, 15(6), (1986), pp. 677-696.

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Schwartz, Helen, "Computers and Urban Commuters in an Introductory Literature Class," in Berge vol. II , (1995), pp. 79-92.

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Starkey, Brigid and Jonathan Wilkenfeld, "Project ICONS: Computer-Assisted Negotiations for the IR Classroom," International Studies Notes (Winter, 1996), Vol. 21, N.1, pp 25-29. http://www.icons.umd.edu/

Stuart, Alan, "A Cohort-Based Asynchronous Certificate Program in Acoustics: A Multiple Media approach to Case Studies," presentation at the 16th WACRA Meeting, Edinburgh, Scotland, 1997

Texas Christian University, The Virtual Learning Environment project for English-speaking MBA Students http://zeta.is.tcu.edu/~blobert/vle/project.html

Turgeon, A.J. and Hawthorne, Elizabeth, "Case-Based Instruction for Resident and Distance Learners Using a Mix of Technologies," presentation at the 16th WACRA Meeting, Edinburgh, Scotland, 1997.

Victoria Education, "From Chalkface to Interface" http://www.eduvic.vic.gov.au/c_to_i/

Wellington Polytechnic, New Zealand, Distributed On-Line Education, http://www.wnp.ac.nz/hydi/onlinedu/

Whitehead, Alfred North, The Aim of Education (1929).

Whitney, R., VAX Notes--Using a computer conference to teach critical thinking. Instructional Computing Update (University of Iowa 1990), pp. 3-5.

Young, Jeffrey R., "On-line simulation focuses on Abe Lincoln" Chronicle of Higher Education (Nov 1, 1996), v43n10, , p. A27-A27


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