This digital resource was developed as part of the College of DuPage’s Criminal and Justice Studies program to support key objectives of the discipline. The open-education resource (OER) initiative provides faculty and students with an alternative to exceedingly expensive textbooks, with the goal of establishing programs that offer students with a zero-cost for textbooks. Even more important than the cost savings, the development and adoption of an OER alternative, is the opportunity to enhance learning in a current and meaningful way. Students unquestionably benefit from reading current up-to-date reports and resources rather than increasingly obsolete information that is typically found within a mainstream textbook. In addition, faculty benefit from the opportunity to advance their own scholarship within their respective area of expertise.

Read, Review, Watch, and Listen

Throughout this course, resources are categorized into four areas; that is, readings of scholarly articles or government reports; reviewing of websites, related resources, and supplements; watching of presentations and lectures; and listening to media or audio recordings.

Read – Readings provides students with an opportunity to visually engage with the material and improves their ability to achieve a higher-level of analysis and synthesis. The reading of scholarship, government reports, and professional literature is an indispensable part of the course and appeals to the visual learner who process information via text, tables, graphs, and illustrations.

Review – Students will review relevant resources throughout the term. The review of relevant material provides for a cursory examination of course-related terms and concepts. Reviewing news stories or pertinent articles is a way to enhance knowledge and comprehension.

Watch – Visual learners benefit from an opportunity to watch course-related material. The incorporation of media also contextualizes some of those more salient aspects of the course while strengthening interest and engagement.

Listen – Throughout the course, students will listen to chapter specific presentations. Audio presentations provide students who are auditory learners with an opportunity to understand information.

Although all module requirements are equally important, the amount of time needed to work through the material each week will vary. To that end, students should use Weekly Checklists to manage their time and ensure that they have enough time to complete all activities and/or writing assignments before the end of the respective week.