UC Online Human Rights Project Wins National Honor

Teaching Human Rights Online, a project founded and directed by University of Cincinnati professor of political science Howard Tolley, has been honored as this year's best web site in political science. The award was made by the Information Technology and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association.

THRO offers faculty anywhere in the world six free online exercises and interactive study guides for use as course modules in political science, international relations, area studies, philosophy, history and women's studies. Dan Wheeler, a professor from the UC College of Education, and Bert Lockwood, director of the Urban Morgan Institute for Human Rights at the UC College of Law, collaborate in directing the interdisciplinary THRO project network of faculty associates in six countries and 10 U.S. states.

The web site's address is http://oz.uc.edu/thro/

Cases address actual problems such as the legal and moral choices confronting President Clinton in the Kosovo crisis and the rights of Muslim women in India. Following peer review, THRO publishes each teaching problem as a special volume in an electronic journal, Tolley noted. "A new business ethics case about slavery in Burma will be presented next month at the North American Case Research Association conference in Memphis, Tenn."

With grant support from the U.S. Institute of Peace and the Ohio Learning Network, THRO has conducted two faculty development workshops for U.S. and international project associates. Introductory project materials and the Kosovo case are available in French and Spanish as well as English, both online and on a CD-ROM published through the UC College of Law Press.

A network of about 75 educators internationally receive regular updates about opportunities for online conferences that engage students in debate on THRO cases. UC undergrad and law classes have conducted several online chat discussions with students in Ankara, Turkey. "Our long term goal is to bring students from different countries together online in live videoconferences," Tolley explained.