Professor Amos Guiora’s Counterterrorism Design class will be featured in the February issue of the Lassonde Center’s Student Innovations magazine. The article highlights the students’ contributions to the class.
The nomination, submitted by Guiora and Aaron Dewald, follows: “It is not every day that University of Utah students get to create an immersive learning experience for other students, but that’s exactly what these four are doing as part of the innovative Counterterrorism Simulation Design course. For the equally innovative Perspectives in Counterterrorism class taught at the S.J. Quinney College of Law, these four students design a simulated learning environment in which students deal with realistic situations that train students in decision making, teamwork, communication, and management for terroristic crisis situations. The four students work hard in designing every facet of the simulation starting from the learning objectives to the tweets sent out in the simulated world. Not only are these students deepening their comprehension of the topics contained within counterterrorism, but they’re also gaining valuable skills in understanding how to teach and train tomorrow’s leaders. The students create four “mini simulations” that allow students to practice discreet skills prior to the “main” simulation which synthesizes everything learned in class, and in the simulations. This innovative, experiential pedagogy has served as an exemplar for other skill-based courses at the College of Law and serves as a demonstration about how experiential learning can serve as both teaching and learning opportunities for Utah students.”