Graduate Studies Online Course Services Mini-grant

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CRJ 240 - Contemporary Issues in Policing

Course Description

CRJ 240 is an in-depth study of contemporary issues in policing in the United States. Topics covered include management, organization, and issues confronting law enforcement at federal, state, and local levels. The course is a 3-unit seminar graduate course for the M.S. program in the Division of Criminal Justice. The course is classified as a graduate elective course and is generally capped at 20 students.

Motivation for Graduate Studies Online Course Services Mini-grant Participation

I am teaching CRJ 240 (Contemporary Issues in Policing) this Fall and used the opportunity in the OCS mini-grant program to move the course closer to QM standards. I participated in other QM-focused FLCs and trainings in the past and found them to work well for my undergraduate courses. Here, I am applying the same pedagogical tools/resources to do the same for my graduate course. I initially set out to adopt QM standards for my graduate course as I was unfamiliar on how to do this since graduate courses are vastly different from undergraduate courses.. My graduate students will benefit from the skills I gained as they will have access to a course that provides clear content and will help minimize confusion/questions about where to find content.

Alignment or Engagement Changes Addressed in Course

The first update made addressed SRS 1.1. SRS 1.1 focused on the course overview and introduction. I added a welcome video which introduces the course to students and navigating to course components. In the video, I added information why the course is relevant to students for their academic program and for their future careers. I conclude the video by letting students know how they should begin the course and encouraging them to explore Canvas (SRS 1.2).

The second update made addressed General Standard 7 of Quality Matters. General Standard 7 focused on providing students access to campus resources information. These resources include, but are not limited to, technical support information and Academic Support Services and Resources. The inclusion of the university support services template in the Start Here module gives students a single location for accessing these resources. These resources focus more on the services students may need that are not content/course specific. Posting the contact information of the resources ensures that students get the help they need while also allowing me to spend my time covering content and not troubleshooting issues.

The third update made addressed SRS 8.3 of Quality Matters. SRS 8.3 focused on accessibility of text. I worked with the faculty mentors to address accessibility issues in the course. The changes will at the very least give students additional options for how to work through the content such as using screen readers on PDF documents.

Evidence of Redesign

Examples of Redesign
Course Homepage Aligns with SRS 1.1 and 1.2- Welcome video added and redesign of course homepage that improves navigation.	University Support Services Aligns with General Standard 7 of Quality Matters and encompasses SRS 7.1-7.4. The image shows contact information and resources for various campus resources.	Ally Score for Accessibility Aligns with SRS 8.3 of Quality Matters. The image shows the Ally score in the course shell. The course meets the minimum requirements to be considered accessible.

Plan for Pathway toward QM Certification

My timeline to submit the course for QM review will be within the next year, but no later than Fall 2025. I am making adjustments to the course shell now that I am teaching the course. Specific areas that I will need to work on to strengthen the submission will include addressing the issues with some videos not being recognized as having closed captioning. While these videos do include closed captioning, Ally is reporting that there is some issue with the videos. I will need to defer to the course designers to help address this error. Addressing the video errors goes to General Standard 8.

Faculty Bio
	Kimberly Chism Faculty Bio: I am an assistant professor in the Division of Criminal Justice here at CSU Sacramento. I have taught a wide range of courses at the undergraduate, masters, and doctoral levels. Topics of instruction include various policing, corrections, and legal courses as well as Criminology, Research Methods, Program Evaluation and Policy Analysis, Statistics, Ethics, Substance Abuse, Comparative Criminology, Juvenile Justice, Crime Prevention and Control, and Substance Abuse. My research interests include Policing, Criminological Theory, Quantitative Methodologies, Juvenile Justice, and Fourth Amendment Law.