Course Organization

This course has seven sections, after an introductory period. These sections reflect major disciplinary approaches to the study of crime. However, because criminology is interdisciplinary, sometimes the lines between disciplines have become murky, so some of the sections have elements of multiple disciplines.

Section 1 is an overview of and introduction to criminological theories. Section 2 is about how economic factors affect crime. Section 3 does the same, but also touches on ecology. Section 4 is about biological influences on crime. Sections 5 through 8 blend sociology and psychology, with the first and last of those (i.e., 5 and 8)  having biological and anthropological influences, too.

To complete a particular course section’s activities and assignments, you should click on that particular page. These pages can be found in the block, “Course Sections,” on the homepage. Once you have opened a course section, you should start reading at the top and work your way to the end. Therein, you will find important overview information, the study guide, links to assigned readings and videos, and prompts for completing the course activities and assignments.

Course Activities and Assignments

In this course, you will complete three types of assignments: Overview and Reading Quizzes, Theorist Video Quizzes, and Discussion Posts.

Overview and Reading Quizzes

There will be a multiple-choice quiz over each course section Overview and related reading set. Thus, there are a total of eight such quizzes. The average grade across these quizzes is worth 65% of the final grade. To ensure that you read and otherwise study the material before taking these quizzes, you will only have up to 75 minutes to complete each one (a little more than one minute per question). You will be given two “attempts” to complete each of these; the highest grade of the two attempts being the one that counts toward your final grade. If you accidentally start the wrong quiz by clicking on the wrong one, I will not reset it; thus, be careful.

Each quiz contains 60 randomly selected questions. Questions may be multiple choice, true/false, ordering, matching, and multiple-select. Because the information is relatively difficult, you will have two attempts to complete each quiz. Your highest score will be recorded in the gradebook.

Be sure to complete the study guide for the assigned readings before taking the quiz. The study guide is located under “Study Guide” in the course section pages. Once you feel as though you have a strong grasp over the information, you should proceed to taking the quiz.

Before taking the quiz, make sure you have a solid internet connection. When completing the quiz, make sure you regularly save your answers. It is not my fault if something goes wrong with your computer. Thus, while I will feel bad for you, computer problems do not constitute an excusable problem.

Please note that because I came up with many hundreds of quiz questions for this class, there may be some typos; sorry. Please ignore those when taking a quiz, but if you have a spare second then please email me notice of the mistake.

Submission: The Overview and Reading Quiz is due at the end of each section; see Course Schedule for those dates. The link to the quiz can be found in the associated folders in D2L.

Grading: Quizzes are graded automatically in D2L.

Theorist Video Quizzes

For seven of the sections, you will watch a “theorist video.” These are found in the course section pages under “Theorist Video.” These videos were collected as part of the “Oral History of Criminology Project” https://www.criminologystories.com/). In each, a major theorist discusses their ideas, where those ideas came from, where they are going, and other topics that help to illuminate criminological theory.

There will be a multiple-choice quiz over each theorist video, so there will be seven such quizzes total. The average grade across these quizzes is worth 15% of the final grade. To ensure that you watch and otherwise study the videos before taking these quizzes, you will only have up to 20 minutes to complete them. You will be given only one “attempt” to complete each such quiz. If you accidentally start the wrong quiz by clicking on the wrong one, I will not reset it; thus, be careful.

Be sure to complete the study guide for the theorist video before taking the quiz. The study guide is located under “Study Guide” in the course section pages. Once you feel as though you have a strong grasp over the information, you should proceed to taking the quiz.

You will have only 20 minutes to complete each quiz. Each quiz contains 15 random questions. Questions may be multiple choice, true/false, ordering, matching, and multiple-select. Because the information is relatively easy, you will have only one attempt to complete each quiz.

Before taking the quiz, make sure you have a solid internet connection. When completing the quiz, make sure you regularly save your answers. It is not my fault if something goes wrong with your computer. Thus, while I will feel bad for you, computer problems do not constitute an excusable problem.

Submission: The Theorist Video Quiz is due at the end of each section; see Course Schedule for those dates. The link to the quiz can be found in the associated folders in D2L.

Grading: Quizzes are graded automatically in D2L.

Discussion Posts

For each theory section, you will complete a discussion post, so there will be seven of these total. The average grade across discussion posts is worth 20% of the final grade. For each discussion post, you will (1) apply theory to crime, (2) come up with an example of the theory operating in another case, such as a recent news event, (3) apply alternative theories to the crimes, and (4) critique another student’s theoretical applications.

To complete this assignment, first you will watch the assigned video(s). After, write an original discussion post that does the following, and then respond to another student as directed below: 

• Original Post (3 paragraphs in total):

  • Video Connection (100 words or more): Explain how the assigned video you watched reflects the theory.

  • Original Connection (100 words or more): Come up with a crime example (from your own life or otherwise) that can be explained by the same theory as in the Video Connection. Explain how the crime example reflects the theory.

  • Critical Evaluation (100 words or more): Provide at least one other theory (i.e., explanation) for why the crime in the video connection occurred. Provide at least one other theory (i.e., explanation) for why the crime in the original connection occurred. (You may use the same theory for both, or provide two different explanations).

• Response to Another Student (2 paragraphs in total):

  • Original Connection Evaluation (100 words or more): Does the student correctly explain their crime example with the theory? If yes, how so and why? If not, why not and how not?

  • Reflection (100 words or more): Explain whether you agree with the student’s critical evaluation in their original post? Why or why not?

Submission: The post is due at the end of each section; see Course Schedule for those dates. Discussion post boards are found in the associated section folders in D2L.

• To submit your original post:

  • Click “Reply.” Then cut-and-paste what you wrote in the Word document into the text box, and click “Post Reply.”

• To respond to another student’s post:

  • Click on the title of their post

  • Then, click “Reply.” In the available text box, explain why you disagree or agree with their post and then click “Post Reply.”

Grading: Each discussion post will be graded using the rubric below. The highest score that can be achieved is 100%.