Wooster Professors Receive Innovative Teaching in International Studies Award

Kent Kille, Jeff Lantis, and Matt Krain honored with the 2010 Deborah Gerner Award

WOOSTER, Ohio - Kent Kille, Jeff Lantis, and Matt Krain, professors of political science and international relations at The College of Wooster, have been chosen as recipients of the International Studies Association's (ISA) 2010 Deborah Gerner Innovative Teaching Award.

Representing 80 countries, ISA has more than 4,000 members worldwide and is the most respected and widely known scholarly association in this field. The award, which is the organization's highest teaching honor, recognizes the trio's efforts to develop, test, and disseminate innovative ways of teaching international relations, and their further efforts at internationalizing the dialogue about active teaching and learning approaches. The award will be presented at the annual meeting of the International Studies Association on Feb. 18, in New Orleans.

Lantis, Kille and Krain have all served as President of the Active Learning in International Affairs Section (ALIAS) of the International Studies Association, an organization in which Deborah "Misty" Gerner was a founding member. Their teaching specializations range across the discipline, including peace studies, nationalism, and international organizations (Kille); international political economy, political violence, and economic development (Krain); foreign policy analysis, international security studies, and international ethics (Lantis). Individually and as a team, the three have developed and implemented simulations, problem-based learning exercises, text-based case studies for classroom use, film-based case studies, and service-learning courses at The College of Wooster. They have received grants to develop and test these innovations, and have published widely on developing, implementing, and assessing these and other active learning approaches. Most recently, they co-authored "The State of the Active Teaching and Learning Literature," the lead chapter in the ALIAS' volume for the International Studies Association Compendium Project.

The team has also developed an innovative workshop program on active teaching and learning. The workshops provide teacher-scholars hands-on experience with and a deeper understanding of active teaching and learning approaches in international relations. They examine a wide range of experiential learning tools, including: case teaching, structured debates, simulations, games, role-play, service learning, the use of information technology, and teaching with visual media and alternative texts. The team has directed successful international workshops at the Instituto de Relações Internacionais at the University of Brasilia, Brazil in 2006, and at Moscow State University for International Relations (MGIMO-University) in 2008.