CFR Launches Online Education Hub

November 5, 2014—The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) has launched an online gateway to the organization’s multimedia resources for teaching and learning about U.S. foreign policy. Accessible at www.cfr.org/education, the site provides access to a wide-ranging suite of innovative tools designed to foster a deeper understanding of international relations and the role of the United States in the world.

Among CFR Education’s elements are:

• nearly fifty teaching notes—tailored guides to select CFR books, reports, and meetings with discussion and essay questions along with supplemental reading lists on topics ranging from the civil war in Syria to energy development in the Arctic, and from the crisis in Ukraine to child marriage;
• over two hundred Backgrounders—in-depth foreign policy primers enhanced with images, graphs, and videos that cover subjects such as Boko Haram, Ebola, and the role of the UN General Assembly;
• issue packages—short single-subject briefs ideal for structuring in-class discussions with annotated lists of resources from CFR and other outlets;
• CFR’s award-winning interactives—multimedia presentations on pressing issues that feature embeddable elements including timelines, maps, and infographics on subjects such as the Sunni-Shia divide, China’s maritime disputes, and climate change;
• videos of CFR meetings and series on critical foreign policy and national security topics; and
• Foreign Affairs anthologies, including Endgame in Iraq and Tiananmen and After.

Improved navigation allows users to sort by content type (print, audio, video, and interactive) as well as by region and topic; a citation button easily generates bibliographies.

"CFR’s new online gateway allows professors and teachers to bring the world of foreign affairs right into their classrooms," says Dan Caldwell, distinguished professor of political science at Pepperdine University. "The site provides educators—from secondary to post-secondary levels—easy access to cutting-edge interactive resources and curated research guides to enhance their course syllabi and stimulate student discussions."

In addition to the education hub, CFR offers the academic community an interactive conference-call series with scholars, expert briefings for students, and professional development workshops for professors, education administrators, and high-school teachers.

For more information on CFR’s academic outreach, please contact Irina Faskianos at [email protected].