Abstract:

Discussed will be sources and tools available on the Web. Search engines, browsers, listservs, news groups, e-mail, and more will be possible topics. Specific ways to create and manage a criminology course on-line will be discussed.

Overview

The purpose of this roundtable will be to discuss how to effectively integrate Internet-related sources and tools into criminal justice education. The topics will range from individual components which can be added to any course, such as an e-mail mailing list, to teaching courses fully on-line via the Web. For each subtopic software and hardware requirements will be discussed with recommended choices. Advantages and disadvantages compared to more traditional teaching methods will be covered. Faculty and student reticence are important obstacles to overcome, as is convincing college administrators that release time may be necessary to prepare Internet distance education classes.

Discussion of individual components will include e-mail, newsgroups, and the World Wide Web. How to use e-mail to assist in class announcements, office hours, class discussion, study groups, sending documents, and guest speakers will be covered. Newsgroups provide an additional tool for communicating with specialized audiences, such as those in criminal justice. The World Wide Web can be accessed by using a browser such as Netscape. The seminar will feature discussion on how to locate Web criminal justice research sites and use home pages as course enhancements.

We will also focus on how to combine basic Internet components to create an on-line course. We will discuss initial planning, how to choose the proper instructional media, the nuts and bolts of course authoring, and overcoming the reservations some may have to venturing into this new area.

Introduction: The Internet and the World Wide Web

While 1994 was dubbed by many as the "Year of the Internet" as a result of the media attention paid to it and the tremendous growth of business interest in Internet marketing, in reality, the Internet has been familiar to many, particularly those in government, education, and research, for quite some time. The Internet is a vast system of interconnected computers worldwide. It links universities, medical schools, advertisers, publishers, businesses, government agencies and rapidly expanding numbers of ordinary citizens. Major components of the Internet include e-mail, newsgroups, ftp (file transfers), gophers (menu-driven databases), and the World Wide Web.

The World Wide Web is the fastest growing part of the Internet, with thousands of new sites opening each month. Interest in the Web exploded in 1995. The Web is unique in that it employs an interactive multimedia format to display "pages" of information. Using a Web browser such as Microsoft ExplorerTM or NetscapeTM, one can access formatted text, hypertext, photos and art reproductions, sound or music clips, video clips, and 3-D virtual reality. Discussion and conferencing are available using text-based chat, voice chat, asynchronous discussion forums, white boards, and video conferencing. Web pages are available to browsers 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Using hypertext links, Web searchers can access information from computers around the world in seconds. The Web is now fully available to subscribers of all major on-line services such as Prodigy, America On-line, and CompuServe. Internet Service providers offer even cheaper access (less than $20 per month), and many universities offer their students free dial-up PPP access.

Given its interactive capacities and the ability to display text, sound, visual media, and virtual reality, the Web provides an excellent medium to communicate information in an exciting manner. Unlike traditional teaching and publishing which depends largely upon text, an Internet-based course set up as a Web site can include as much information as the teacher wishes to provide for the students. Multimedia applications keep student interest high. Links to additional content sites allow students to choose the information that interests them, and learn as much about the topic as they desire.

A. Adding Components to a Existing Course

1. E-mail, Mailing Lists, & Listservs

a. class announcements

b. office hours

c. class discussion

d. study groups

e. sending documents as attachments

f. guest lecturers

g. using listservs to expose the class to professionals

2. News Groups

a. subscribing to appropriate groups

b. posting informational requests

3. the Web

a. using Web links for research assignments

b. using Web search engines efficiently (http://metacrawler.cs.washington.edu:8080/)

c. creating an on-line syllabus

d. creating Web pages to post new information for the class (test questions)

B. Developing a Course to be Taught On-line

1. Planning

a. What do you hope to accomplish?

b. How will this course be similar/different from a typical class? Will the class ever meet in person?

c. Will you create your own materials or try to link to existing Internet materials?

d. How will you manage discussion? office hours?

e. What grading instruments will you use? How can you prevent cheating?

f. Do you plan to prepare multimedia materials yourself or use AV department?

g. Why not set up a BBS or use traditional multimedia software?

2. Choosing instruction media & Software

a. Web Pages--HTML editors

b. Web Conferencing Software v. Text-based Chat Rooms

c. E-Mail

d. Video Conferencing--Quickcam and CUseeme

e. Voice Chat

f. Netscape & Plug-Ins (http://www.windows95.com/apps/webplug.html)

3. Creating the Course

a. Creating Web Pages

b. Facilitating On-line Discussion

c. Guest Lecturers & Professional Feedback

d. Developing Standards for Evaluating Student Performance

e. Professor-Student Interaction

f. Creating Social Spaces for Student Interaction

Developing Web Pages

1. What will I need to create a home page?

a. A Plan

Unbridled spontaneity won't work!!

Outline or story board: How Many Pages? How will the links work? Where should graphics be placed?

Photos (personal or CD-ROM collections), Sounds, Videotape, Text, 3D models, etc.

**(copyright issues)

b. Hardware

Computer with adequate RAM and Video Memory

Scanner

Video Capture Board or Snappy

Sound Card

c. Software

HTML Editor (text editor, word processor add-on, dedicated HTML editor (e.g. Hot Dog), WYSIWYG editor (Navigator Gold or PageMill.)

3D or CAD software for VRML

Internet Access Software (Winsock PPP or Mac PPP)

Web Browser (Netscape)

Internet Access Provider (not Compuserve, AOL, etc.)

E-mail (Eudora)

FTP (to send files to your home page directory)

Newsreader (Free Agent/Forte Agent)

Image Editing Software (Photoshop, LVIEW Pro, Thumbs, Painter)

Sound or Video Editing Software (Premiere)

d. Support

Space to House Home Pages

Access Provider or Your Own Server

Tech Person to Keep the System Running (UNIX or Windows NT)

2. Construction Tips

a. Text

Basic HTML language <B>text</B>

Create Table of Contents or Use Multiple Pages with links

<a href="#law">Searchable Law Databases</a>

<a name="law">

b. Backgrounds

Make sure text is readable; keep image files small.

<body background="images/kpt1.jpg" rgb="#000000" text="#ffff99" link="#00ffff" vlink="#ffff00">

c. Graphics

GIF v. JPG

Transparency

compression and size issues

interlacing/progression

d. Buttons v. Image Maps

button link to another page: <A HREF="http://www.stpt.usf.edu/~greek/index.html"><IMG SRC ="images/back.jpg" alt="*"></A>

button link to e-mail: <a href ="mailto:greek@bayboro.stpt.usf.edu"> <IMG ALIGN=top SRC ="images/mailbutt.gif" alt=""></A>

e. Forms

cgi/bin scripts v. client side forms (Web Forms)

f. Tables

Freezes page on all browsers

No borders can enhance look of a page

g. HTML v. Acrobat or other Plug-Ins

Desktop published look

3. How can I tell others about my web page?

a. search engines: Submit It

b. link exchanges: particularly with popular sites

c. listserv announcement services:

d. newsgroups: avoid SPAM

e. real world: business cards, newspaper articles, etc.

For More Information:

a. Check out any of the new books on HTML plus Web pages on HTML design

b. Visit Netscape for latest additions to HTML code e.g color text, frames

c. Send me E-Mail: cgreek@mailer.fsu.edu

Biographical Statement:

Cecil Greek was born in Latrobe, PA. He attended Eastern College and the New School for Social Research, earning the Ph.D. in sociology in 1983. His doctoral dissertation, The Religious Roots of American Sociology, was later published by Garland Press. Dr. Greek continues to be interested in the social construction of social problems. He has written on antipornography crusading, the use of forfeiture penalties, and juvenile justice. He is currently Visiting Associate Professor of Criminology at Florida State University, and in charge of Internet-based distance education initiatives there.

Over the past two years, the author has been implementing the use of the Internet as a teaching/research tool in his classes and personal research. To assist his students (and the public) in locating criminal police materials on the Internet, he created the Criminal Justice Page, a WWW site with links to criminal justice research information worldwide at: http://www.fsu.edu/~crimdo/cj.html. and Law Enforcement Agencies on the Web, a comprehensive list of federal, state, county, and local police agencies at http://www.fsu.edu/~crimdo/police.html. Most recently he created a site for Wadsworth Publishing for George Cole's The American System of Criminal Justice (http://www.thomson.com/wadsworth/cole/default.html). He has prepared several courses to be taught entirely on-line, using Internet access, WWW pages, conferencing software, and e-mail. Courses taught which included Internet components were criminological theory, corrections, community corrections, crime and media, abnormal behavior and crime, and survey of the criminal justice system.

During the spring 1996 term, Cecil offered his graduate course on Crime and Media entirely over the Internet. He used Web pages which include text, graphics, video, sound, and hypertext links to present lectures; Web-based conferencing software to run group discussion; and e-mail to post class announcements, receive and return student written assignments, and keep office hours. This course was selected by the PBS series Life on the Internet as an excellent example of distance education on the Web. (http://www.fsu.edu/~crimdo/gradc&m.html)

Vita is available on-line at http://www.fsu.edu/~crimdo/vita.html

E-mail address: cgreek@mailer.fsu.edu