This episode’s conversation is with Dr. Luba Levin-Banchik, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Cal State University San Bernadino and the 2023 recipient of the International Studies Association’s Deborah Gerner Award for Innovative Teaching. Luba has published on using simulations and other active learning techniques and is a leader in the ISA West region.

Our conversation explores

· Attitudes and policies that allow for mistakes and even failure as mechanisms to inspire student investment in learning.

· How to use active learning techniques, such as jigsaw exercises, to get students both to learn new material and teach it to each other.

· Options for framing the work required of building active learning tactics in terms of the returns on those investments.

The interview was edited for length.


Thanks to the steering committee for the International Studies Association’s Innovative Pedagogy Initiative, the folks at ISA HQ, and special thanks to Sarah Dorr, Joel Lorenzatti and Josephine Anderson for logistical and technical support.

Teaching Curve contacts:

Twitter: @TeachingCurve

Email: TeachingCurve@isanet.org

For 23 more stories about innovative and effective teachers of international studies, check out Pedagogical Journeys through World Politics, Palgrave Macmillan, 2020: https://www.palgrave.com/us/book/9783030203047