Abstract

Law Enforcement is one of the fastest growing career fields in our society. The U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, has identified the law enforcement career as increasing by thirty-one percent between now and the year 2005. In addition to the demand for more law enforcement officers, the field of law enforcement is enhancing its professionalism by instituting college education requirements for hiring and promotion. To serve the needs of individuals, who cannot attend on-campus classes, this proposal is for the development of EPL 160 Criminal Investigation for Internet delivery. In addition, there is a large demand for law enforcement course by military personnel. An Internet course would assist personnel on active-duty, in the Guard or Reserves to meet their educational needs.

 

Narrative:

The Law Enforcement Department has, for several years, been offering courses by distance education. Courses are presently offered by traditional correspondence, on-site delivery, and by IHETS. In a few instances, the student has been able to complete a course by observing the videotapes produced during the IHETS production and completing the necessary assignments that correspond to the course. Converting these courses to an electronic Internet/Web delivery system will add another dimension to Vincennes University's Distance Education Program. A future goal of the Law Enforcement Department is the capability to offer all of the major courses by electronic Internet/Web. Presently, an individual can obtain the A.S. degree in Law Enforcement through distance education.

The ability to offer these courses electronically will be particularly beneficial to two groups of potential students. The first group is the citizens of the State of Indiana who cannot come to a campus and enroll in the traditional program because of family and job commitments. This may be due to geographical location or simply because the person appreciates the flexibility of learning on their own schedule. These individuals need/desire the education to enable them to make career changes or to obtain advancement in their present careers. Included in this group are individuals presently serving as law enforcement officers that may wish to gain additional knowledge to improve themselves and/or obtain course work necessary for promotion. Currently, each police officer in the State of Indiana must complete a minimum of sixteen (16) hours of in-service training annually. This requirement will increase to forty (40) hours in the future. Electronic availability of Law Enforcement courses would aid these officers in meeting these requirements. Police officers are no different than other citizens. They have computers in their homes and at work, which are tied into the Internet allowing them access to these courses.

The second group is from the military population that is seeking college degrees. This is presently a significant population in Vincennes University's Distance Education Program. Many of these individuals are in the National Guard and Army Reserves and cannot obtain a degree on a campus, or they may be stationed halfway around the world in such places as Korea or Guam. The military has been requesting that the University offer courses electronically to enable more of their personnel to take advantage of college courses. Many of these personnel need college courses to remain in the military or to receive promotions.

The Law Enforcement Department has the expertise and leadership to develop these electronic Internet/Web based courses. The Department has the approval of the Associate Dean of the Public Service Division where the program is housed. For several years the Dean has been actively involved in developing Degree Completion and IHETS courses as well as encouraging faculty to develop courses.

The course to be developed for electronic delivery on the Internet/Web is EPL 160 Criminal Investigation. This is an introductory course dealing with the investigation of crimes and is required of all law enforcement majors. Additionally, this course will benefit officers who are seeking advancement in their careers and hoping to move into the investigations area of law enforcement. No matter the level of expertise, this course will provide a refresher course for the experienced officer and a "how-to" course for new or aspiring criminal investigators. This is a course that would benefit both pre-service and in-service personnel. The course was offered on IHETS in the spring semester of 1998. Over the past few years, people have been exposed to many criminal investigations in the news and on television. Ordinary citizens were riveted to their televisions during the O.J. Simpson trial, fascinated by the crime and how it was investigated. They have developed a thirst for knowledge about how investigations are preformed and want to know why police are losing cases because of sometimes-questionable investigative procedures. This course will provide knowledge of the proper techniques of investigation to the "would-be" investigator or police officer. The plan is to offer this course electronically in the spring of 2000 and each spring semester thereafter. It will be delivered during a fifteen-week semester.

Vincennes University is dedicated to offering courses through distance education and has allocated resources and personnel to provide courses through Degree Completion, IHETS, and Extended Instructional Services at off-campus sites. Vincennes University will provide resources to upgrade faculty computers and software where needed, and will provide consultants so that faculty can more easily develop and offer courses electronically on the Internet/Web.

The instructional design for the course will include text readings and electronic lecture notes in the form of weekly modules. Each learning module will identify study questions to guide the student's learning. These questions will require students to participate in weekly on-line discussions by response through the use of electronic mail. Electronic E-mail and the World Wide Web (WWW) will be the vehicle for conducting class "discussions" and communication.

The responses from the students will be posted, read, and critiqued by other students in the class. Students will be expected to use the Internet/Web to obtain needed information prior to completion of assignments. There will be additional assignments that will rely on problem solving with the answers submitted electronically. The flexibility of asynchronous learning provides students the freedom to learn at their own time and place. The Internet/Web is a rich source of supplemental information relating to the course content.

A student Internet Guide will be developed for those students unable to attend the first class. This guide will provide the distance education student with information on the general guidelines and policies of the University, how to enroll in the Internet/Web course, what to expect from the course, and information about the technology needed for successful completion of the course.

Course evaluation will be completed using responses to the posed questions from the lecture material, problem-solving activities, exams, group assignments, and World Wide Web assignments. The course will be offered the first semester to traditional students on campus and to non-traditional students off campus. On-campus students will meet the first class session to introduce them to the new electronic format. A generic, hard copy "how-to guide" will be produced to assist students both on and off campus in use of the E-mail, discussion list, Internet, and how to easily get around the Webster.

Formulative evaluation of this course will utilize student feedback provided while the course is ongoing and the standard formal "student evaluation of instruction" provided to all students at the conclusion of the course. The goal is to achieve scores between 4.0 and 5.0 as a means of success. The student evaluation of instruction will consist of specific questions concerning delivery methods, handling of technical problems, ease of registration, interaction activities, course content and student attitudes as well as the opportunity for student comments.

Students will be asked to compare the course to a traditional in-class course in areas such as time spent, content, interaction with instructor and other students, student motivation, and interest level. The instructor will complete a formal evaluation of the course as well. This evaluation will cover strengths, weaknesses, successes, and failures of the course. Information on student retention will be collected for comparison to a traditional section of this course. Information to be collected will consist of the number of students enrolled, the number who drop or complete the course, and the final grade.

This course has been articulated with the other major educational institutions within the state and generally transfers as a required course in the major. A faculty person from another institution with experience in offering courses electronically will be asked to review and evaluate the course content and structure and the electronic delivery system.

 

Project Schedule:

The project schedule calls for completion of the course development during the summer and fall so that the class may be offered by spring semester of 2000. This course is already part of the Degree Completion Program and has been offered on IHETS-TV. As a result, much of the course content has been developed for distance education. Some video materials from the IHETS course offering may be used as video clips during the course. It will be necessary to revamp the course to fit into the electronic delivery system. With the assistance of a consultant, the course development and entry into an electronic format will begin as soon as the grant has been approved and a consultant is available. The instructor is currently familiar with many of the URL's on the Internet that relate to aspects of criminal investigation, criminalistics, law, and other related topics.

The course will rely on electronic mail for correspondence with students and between students. It will contain sections for lecture notes, terms, course evaluation and grades, table of contents, instructions for off-campus students to enroll in the course, course syllabus, course outline, private e-mail between the instructor and the student, an open format for students to chat with other students, a place for students to introduce themselves (even providing a photo), and a hot-links section.

February, 1999 Notification of approval of proposal

April, 1999 Preliminary planning meeting

May, 1999 Instruction design plan for course developed by faculty

June-December, 1999 Course creation and testing of Web site

 

Week of January 10, 2000 Classes begin and orientation for students enrolled in EPL 160 Internet section

Week of March 10, 2000 Midterm evaluation of course design and delivery

Week of May 5, 2000 Finals week: Evaluation of class

 

Appendix

Frank "Randy" Walters will be the faculty developing and implementing the EPL 160 Criminal Investigation course. Mr. Walters is an assistant professor of Law Enforcement at Vincennes University. He possesses a Bachelor of Science Degree in Police Administration and Security and Loss Prevention from Eastern Kentucky University. In addition to these degrees, Mr. Walters holds the Advanced Police Officer Certificate from the State of Michigan, and was certified as a chemical test operator and firearms instructor in both Kentucky and Michigan.

Prior to joining the faculty at Vincennes University, Mr. Walters served as a police officer with central Michigan University's Department of Public Safety, and the City of Morganfield, Kentucky. During his ten years as a police instructor, training officer, he held the positions of patrolman, firearms instructor, training officer, shift supervisor, and criminal investigator. Mr. Walters has previously developed courses for the Distance Education program and has taught EPL 160 Criminal Investigation via IHETS-TV.