Public Affairs 5506: Administration of Criminal Justice Policy

Upon successful completion of this course students will:

• Recognize and demonstrate understanding of the structure of the criminal justice system generally as well as in Ohio specifically
• Critically identify and apply management and administrative concepts to present day criminal justice challenges and concerns.
• Synthesize information and use analytical approaches in designing appropriate courses of action for management-related problems in criminal justice agencies.

Format
This is an online asynchronous course. Online class materials will combine online lectures and other online activities (videos, discussion boards, etc.) that focus on the relevant material from the textbook and other readings with student participation via discussion boards. You are expected to be an independent learner and do the readings, watch the videos, and listen to the recordings.

Reading Materials
This course may require materials. Consult your instructor's syllabus for details.

Attendance and Participation
Because this is an online course, your attendance is based on your online activity and participation. The following is a summary of students’ expected participation:

• Participating in online activities for attendance: at least twice per week You are expected to log in to the course in Carmen every week. During most weeks you will probably log in many times. If you have a situation that might cause you to miss an entire week of class, discuss it with me as soon as possible.
• Participating in discussion forums: two or more times per week As part of your participation, each week you can expect to post at least twice as part of our substantive class discussion on the week's topics. At a minimum you must post an initial post by Thursday night 11:59pm EST of each week and respond to at least two of your classmates post no later than Saturday night 11:59pm EST of each week. 
• Additional online participation will vary from week to week:
• During weeks where short video assignments are due, students will upload video recordings. Total video submissions and posting deadlines will be indicated on each rubric.

Points and Grading
Assignments will total 920 points. 

Writing Format
For all writing assignments, you are expected to submit your work in Word format. In addition, you are expected to adopt the following writing format:

• APA writing and citation format (6th Edition),
• 1-inch margin on all sides (sides, top and bottom),
• 12 points Times New Romans font style.

This will allow me to assess your baseline (foundational) knowledge of the criminal justice system as it relates to management and administration. The pre-test will include no more than 15 questions to assess foundational knowledge. This will also help me to assess my teaching strategies and content delivery. This test will not be graded based on right or wrong answers, rather you will get full points for completing all of the questions openly and honestly. Points will only be deducted if you skip a question in its entirety and choose not to answer it. You must complete the pre-test in one sitting by 7pm Sunday May 14th of Week 1. Once you start the assessment you will have 45 minutes to complete it. Please note: before you have access to the first week’s content, you will have to complete the pre-assessment, so I strongly encourage you to complete it earlier in the week.

Students are required to complete an Introduction Post and upload a Carmen Photo by 7pm Sunday of Week 1. This assignment is meant for the class and me to get acquainted with you. For the introductory post, you are strongly encouraged to record and post a video – however, you also have the option of submitting it as a written discussion post.

In addition to staying current with the material, your participation in weekly online discussions (via Carmen) is essential. Assessment for the discussion posts is based on (a) your understanding and application of weekly content and (b) how well the posts meaningfully add to the discussion. Some weeks discussion posts will be whole-class discussions, however, other weeks you may be assigned to small-group discussions.

Each week before Thursday at 11:59pm EST, you must post your main response and then before Saturday at 11:59pm EST make at least two additional meaningful responses to your classmates. In order to receive any credit for posting, you must complete all posts per weekly discussion (there is no partial credit). Please see the discussion post description and rubric for grading specifics and further details.

There will be 5 case options presented over the course of the class. Of those 5, you are required to choose 2 that interest you the most to read and provide a 2-page single-spaced case analysis. Please note: you may have to pay a small fee to access the two cases you choose. 

Case studies are scenarios that provide you with an opportunity to identify real world problems, apply theories and course materials, and recommend a course of action – when completing these assignments, you should imagine you were hired by an organization to do just this! These cases may be real or fictional but will usually represent a complex management or
Administrative situation in criminal justice with multiple courses of action or solutions. This will enable you to improve your critical thinking and analytical abilities. Please see the case study analysis description and rubric for grading specifics and further instructions.

This is a group project where you will apply your knowledge from the course to a contemporary criminal justice reform issue. This is an opportunity to do research in the area of criminal justice administration and management. The aims of this project are for you to:

1. Develop knowledge in a key criminal justice reform area;
2. Find quality information to detail and describe the content of your topic, while also drawing linkages to related class readings and discussions.
3. Form the information into a plan to actually implement the reform proposal; and,
4. Work collaboratively with other members of a team.

To complete this paper, students are required to work in small teams. There will be four topics (which range in their specificity and generality) that students will sign up for in the beginning of the semester. In order to sign up for a topic, you will list your top choices in your order of preference and then I will use my discretion to assign students to each group. Signups are due by the end of Week 4.

There will be four key milestones: (a) group meeting, (b) group outline, (c) final implementation plan, and (d) peer grade assessment. The final implementation plan will consist of an 8 to 10- page double-spaced implementation plan. Please see the implementation plan description and rubric located in Carmen on the left hand side of the screen under “rubrics” for additional information on each of the aforementioned parts.

At the end of the course, you will complete a course reflection that will allow me to assess your learning as a result of this course as well as my instruction and facilitation skills. This reflection will not be graded based on right or wrong answers, rather you will get full points for completing the assignment. Before you have access to your final grade in the course, you will have had to complete this assignment.