Midwest Social Sciences Journal Midwest Social Sciences Journal
Volume 24 Issue 1 Article 9
11-16-2021
Transforming Criminal Justice Internships into Capstone Courses: Transforming Criminal Justice Internships into Capstone Courses:
A Response to the Challenges of the COVID-19 Crisis A Response to the Challenges of the COVID-19 Crisis
Beau Shine
Indiana University Kokomo
Kelly Brown
Indiana University Kokomo
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Recommended Citation Recommended Citation
Shine, Beau and Brown, Kelly (2021) "Transforming Criminal Justice Internships into Capstone Courses: A
Response to the Challenges of the COVID-19 Crisis,"
Midwest Social Sciences Journal
: Vol. 24 : Iss. 1 ,
Article 9.
DOI: 10.22543/0796.241.1046
Available at: https://scholar.valpo.edu/mssj/vol24/iss1/9
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92
Transforming Criminal Justice Internships into Capstone Courses:
A Response to the Challenges of the COVID-19 Crisis
*
BEAU SHINE
Indiana University Kokomo
KELLY BROWN
Indiana University Kokomo
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the declaration of a national
emergency that closed universities across the nation in March 2020. With
no warning, faculty were required to change classes from face-to-face to
completely online instruction. This situation posed many difficulties,
particularly for faculty who were teaching and supervising students
completing internships. Interns were removed from their internships
abruptly as agencies and departments moved to essential personnel only.
Faculty scrambled to create online learning experiences that met academic
learning outcomes and the goals of criminal justice students enrolled in
these courses. This paper details our experiences with these challenges,
particularly as we revised criminal justice internship courses and
developed capstone courses to replace face-to-face internship experiences.
Although the challenges we faced involved criminal justice internships,
they were not unique to the major, and the approaches taken and lessons
learned are likely applicable to a host of disciplines.
KEY WORDS Internship; Capstone Course; COVID-19
Internships are a valuable part of the undergraduate criminal justice curriculum. Whether
completed as requirements for the degree or as electives, internships provide students
with personal, professional, and practical benefits (Kuh 2008; Lei and Yin 2019).
Internships, one example of a high-impact practice (HIP) in institutions of higher
education, lead to deep learning, enhanced student engagement in their learning,
persistence in college, and increased graduation rates (Kuh 2008, 2013; O’Donnell 2013).
Additionally, for many students, internships are the first practical exposure to a potential
*
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Beau Shine, 2300 S. Washington
St. KE 336, Kokomo, IN 46902; (765) 455-9327.
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Shine and Brown Transforming Internships into Capstone Courses 93
career in criminal justice. Students who have never experienced firsthand the work of the
criminal justice system such as policing, courts, corrections, and other related work are
able to utilize internships as a mechanism to evaluate their career interests and to
determine whether the career is a good fit for them. Students who complete internships
are presented with the opportunity to connect with and build relationships and networks
with criminal justice practitioners. Further, students completing internships are able to
develop soft skills that come with working in a professional environment (e.g., time
management, professional etiquette, enhanced communication; Lei and Yin 2019); thus,
internships provide hands-on integrative and collaborative learning, build connections to
the community, build professional relationships and experience, bridge the gap between
theory and practice, increase student learning of academic subject matter, allow students
to explore career options, and potentially lead to job offers upon graduation (Callanan
and Benzing 2004; Crain 2016; Finley and McNair 2013; Knouse, Tanner, and Harris
1999; Kuh, O’Donnell, and Schneider 2017; Murphy and Gibbons 2017; O’Neill 2010;
Schneider 2015; Taylor 1988).
The COVID-19 crisis created havoc for postsecondary institutions worldwide.
Virtually overnight, faculty had to transform face-to-face classes into online courses. This
created numerous challenges, particularly for faculty supervising internships. Many
students were informed that they would not be able to continue working as interns for the
agencies, departments, and courts at which they had been placed. This change was due in
part to agencies being restricted to essential employees only and in part to the concerns
that universities had about allowing internships to continue, even when agencies
approved the internships’ continuation, because of the increased risk to the students’
health and well-being. Faculty had to rush to find online alternatives to these valuable
applied-learning experiences, and administrators and faculty had to navigate the murky
bureaucratic policies and procedures of academia in a relatively short time to implement
the necessary changes.
This paper is based on one case study, our experience at one Midwestern
university, and discusses the practical and academic concerns of moving students from
internships to alternative methods of instruction while still achieving an HIP that allowed
students to achieve the course learning objectives. Although ours is one story of many
across the nation, we believe that sharing our experience and insight from the COVID-19
crisis may help others learn from how we managed the crisis and the challenge it
presented, and that we can begin a conversation to learn together how to respond should
another pandemic or other disaster require similar conversions in the future.
THE CHALLENGE
The COVID-19 pandemic created numerous concerns for academia at every level. One
such concern was the effect of the closure of university campuses and the requirement
that students and faculty learn and work remotely (Times Higher Education N.d.).
Faculty, many with no prior online teaching experience, were instructed to convert their
on-campus classes to a remote/online format in the middle of the semester. This was an
enormous challenge for all instructors and courses across campus, particularly given the
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urgency of the situation; however, internships presented special challenges. Most students
completing internships during the spring semester of 2020 were told they would not be
able to complete their internships on-site; thus, faculty and administrators were required,
with little notice, to determine how to revise field-placement internships into online
learning experiences that met student learning goals, fulfilled the requirements of HIPs,
and kept students engaged.
Fortunately, much like criminal justice practitioners, educators are afforded a
certain degree of freedom in our work. In mid-March of 2020, during the COVID-19
crisis, faculty were able to work creatively with colleagues to identify revisions to the
courses that addressed academic concerns about maintaining achievement of course
learning objectives as well as students’ (particularly graduating seniors’) natural concern
and trepidation over losing valuable experience that enhanced their understanding of the
field and provided many practical benefits toward achieving their career goals. Most
students were particularly understanding, given the gravity of the situation and that
events unfolding were not due to the choices of the instructors, university administrators,
or internship-site practitioners. Students were able to see that the COVID-19 crisis had
abruptly and severely interrupted our academic and personal lives in ways that were
largely unforeseeable in the time preceding the crisis, and they were willing to work with
faculty to achieve their academic goals in ways different from those originally planned.
In short, students were largely cooperative and understanding rather than resentful and
critical of the changes that instructors had to make to classes.
THE SETTING
Our campus is a regional campus of a Big Ten university. Approximately 3200 students
were enrolled in classes during the 20192020 academic year. The student-to-faculty
ratio is 16:1. The campus offers more than 60 degrees, including undergraduate and
graduate degrees. With approximately 140 majors, criminal justice is one of the largest
on campus. Students enrolled in criminal justice are required to complete a capstone
experience as part of the Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice degree requirements.
They may choose from either an internship (the most common choice) or a research
practicum, depending on their career goals and interests. Thirteen students were
enrolled in the internship course during spring semester 2020. Six of these had
completed all their required internship hours prior to the COVID crisis and the
subsequent cancellation of internships or were able to continue with their placements
after the campus was closed. Thus, seven students had to abruptly end their field
placements and complete the course online.
THE SOLUTION
The most pressing issue that the pandemic presented to the faculty supervising
internships during the 2020 spring semester was how to replace students’ lost internship
hours. The most logical response was to convert internships into online capstone
courses, as both are HIPs (Kuh 2008, 2013; Kuh et al. 2017; O’Donnell 2013). They are
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also similar in other regards (Durel 1993; National Leadership Council 2007). For
example, both internships and capstone courses build on students’ entire college
careers, culminating in experiences that allow students to apply knowledge in the
discipline and to personally reflect on ways to creatively solve real-world problems.
Applied internships and academic capstone courses foster similar skills,
including synthesizing the knowledge gained over collegiate careers and bridging the
gap between theory and practice (Parilla and Smith-Cunnien 1997; Steele 1993). A
critical distinction between the two, however, is the practical work experience that
students gain through internships when they are placed with an agency, department, or
court in the criminal justice field and are required to complete meaningful work that
contributes to the overarching mission or goals of the agency. Students gain experience
in professional settings and learn practical and professional skills. Students in capstone
courses, in contrast, must generally produce a product (e.g., report, project, paper,
portfolio) that synthesizes, integrates, and applies the knowledge they have acquired
over the course of their academic careers. Criminal justice capstone courses allow
students to use the totality of the knowledge they have gained in criminal justice
courses to critically evaluate and creatively engineer solutions to real criminal justice
problems (Kuh 2008; Schneider 2015). The challenge, then, for criminal justice faculty
and administrators during the COVID-19 crisis in March 2020 was to revise internships
in which students could not continue to work for agencies and to provide students with
similar experiences in an online capstone course. The most logical solution was to
create alternative assignments within the capstone course that adhered to the stated
course objectives.
After consulting with stakeholders at the department and school levels, faculty
decided to replace students’ outstanding internship hours with weekly position papers.
Topics were selected to expose students to critical issues and current events in
criminal justice. When possible, topics varied according to students internship
assignments, so the content covered pertained to a student’s initial placement. In
general, students intern in one of the three components of the system: policing, courts,
or corrections. Weekly topics were chosen based on critical issues within each of
these components and were assigned to students based on their original placements.
For example, one week’s topics included Broken Windows Policing & Its
Effectiveness for policing interns, “The Impact of Race on Sentencing Outcomes in
the U.S. for students interning with courts, and “Risk & Needs AssessmentWhat,
Why, and How for corrections-related internships.
Position papers were required to be data-driven, to reference a minimum of two
scholarly articles, and to be at least 600 words in length (excluding cover page and
references). The papers required students to synthesize empirical literature on the topics
and to integrate and apply what they learned to real-world issues. This problem-
centered inquiry is at the heart of preparing students to enter a complex and uncertain
world and aligns well with the requirements of HIPs (Schneider 2015). Instead of being
assigned readings, students researched their assigned topics independently via the
university’s journal subscription database to facilitate self-regulated learning, a skill
that both academics and practitioners regard as vital in the workforce (Boekaerts 1997;
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Shine and Heath 2020). It is worth noting that the number of completed internship
hours at the time of the conversion for all students enrolled in the course were fairly
similar, so the requirements for the papers were the same for all students.
Given the pass/fail grading scheme of the course, position papers were graded
liberally. A grade of C or better demonstrated competency in and/or understanding of
course material. In addition to competent writing, minimum expectations regarding
achievement of learning outcomes on the assignments included demonstration of basic
understanding of the assigned topics and relevant scholarly research. If students failed to
meet the minimum expectations, they received feedback on errors and omissions and on
where improvements could be made. Students were required to resubmit their papers
based on the feedback. Weekly papers were assigned on Monday morning and were due
by 5:00 p.m. the following Friday. The papers were graded, and students were provided
with extensive feedback by Tuesday of the following week. In this way, students could
access the feedback while the topic was still fresh in their minds and make revisions as
needed. The course met once a week for the first five weeks of the semester, covering
professionalism, how to write a resume and cover letter, ethics in criminal justice,
interviewing skills, and careers in the private sector. Because the five meetings concluded
before the pandemic was declared, there was no need to meet as a class once courses
were moved online.
To successfully complete an internship, each student was required to submit a
resume and cover letter to the career center on campus and to meet with a career center
counselor to review these documents. Students who had not completed this requirement
before the campus was closed because of COVID-19 were still required to submit their
materials online for review, make any revisions suggested by the reviewer, and resubmit
the updated versions for final approval. Once a career center staff member replied with
final approval, the student forwarded that email to the instructor and submitted the final
version of the resume and cover letter via Canvas (our university’s learning management
system). Students submitted their research papers (a separate and lengthier assignment
than the weekly papers) online as well. Each student participated in an exit interview at
the end of the course. These interviews are standard for the internship course and are
intended to give students the opportunity to share and reflect on their internship
experiences and to provide valuable insight and perspective to internship coordinators. As
part of the transition to online, the exit interviews were conducted virtually.
EFFECTIVENESS OF COURSE TRANSFORMATION FOR SPRING 2020
Our main concern in converting the internship course to an online capstone course mid-
semester was to ensure that students successfully learned the course objectives despite the
dramatic format change. Although limited, the data that we have demonstrates that
students successfully met the course objectives in spring 2020. These data, based on the
case study model, include student course evaluations, assessments of student learning,
and exit interviews with students.
A mean of eight students completes the internship each semester (fall and spring).
Each student completing the internship course is given the opportunity to provide a
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course evaluation. Unfortunately, the percentage of students completing the course
evaluation is small. Despite the low response rates, the course evaluations for the
internship course from spring 2019 to spring 2021 are very positive. Table 1 shows the
mean scores of the course evaluation questions most relevant to student learning for
spring 2019 to spring 2021.
Table 1. Select Student Course Evaluation Results
Spring
2019
Summer
2019
Fall
2019
Spring
2020
Summer
2020
Fall
2020
Spring
2021
Spring
2021
Statements
J380
N = 4
(36.36%)
J380
N = 1
(16.67%)
J380
N = 3
(50.00%)
J380
N = 4
(30.77%)
J370
N = 5
(62.50%)
J380
N = 1
(25.00%)
J380
N = 2
(40.00%)
J490
N = 4
(40.00%)
Overall, I
would rate the
quality of this
course as
outstanding.
3.75 4.00 4.00 4.00 3.80 4.00 4.00 3.50
Announced
course
objectives
agree with
what is
taught.
3.75 4.00 4.00 4.00 3.80 4.00 4.00 4.00
The course
improved my
understanding
of concepts in
this field.
4.00 4.00 3.67 4.00 3.60 4.00 4.00 4.00
This course
increased my
interest in the
subject
matter.
4.00 4.00 3.67 4.00 4.00 4.00 4.00 3.50
Course
assignments
helped in
learning the
subject
matter.
3.75 4.00 4.00 4.00 3.80 4.00 4.00 3.75
My instructor
uses teaching
methods well
suited to the
course.
4.00 4.00 4.00 4.00 3.80 4.00 4.00 3.00
The course evaluations for the internship course are provided for the three
semesters leading up to the COVID semester (spring 2020), when we converted the
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internship into an online capstone course halfway through the semester, as are the mean
course evaluation scores for both the internship and online capstone courses for the three
semesters following the COVID semester. As can be seen in the table, there are no
significant differences in mean scores across the seven semesters.
Students were asked to indicate, on a scale of 1 (strongly disagree) to 4 (strongly
agree), their level of agreement with the statements. High scores indicate positive course
evaluations, with scores above 3.0 indicating agreement with the statements and
demonstrating positive student evaluations of the course. Students in the internship
courses before spring 2020, in the internship course during spring 2020, and in both the
internship and capstone courses during spring 2020, fall 2020, and spring 2021 agreed or
strongly agreed that (1) the announced course objectives aligned with what was taught in
the course, (2) the course improved their understanding of concepts in the field, (3) the
course increased their interest in the subject matter, and (4) the teaching methods used by
the instructor were well suited to the course.
Very few responses were received to the qualitative questions (Which aspects of
the class were most valuable? Which aspects of the class were least valuable? What
could the instructor do to improve the course or his/her teaching effectiveness?) on the
student course evaluation. Furthermore, limitations to the responses were present. For
example, it was not possible to determine if the students who responded to the open-
ended questions at the end of the spring 2020 semester were students who had completed
their internship hours or those who had completed the course as a capstone course. Thus,
the responses from one student who wanted more meeting dates throughout the semester
and from another who thought the class was well taughtare not helpful in determining
the effectiveness of the transition to online learning. Despite these limitations, it is
important to note that no students mentioned the transformation of the course from field
placements to online instruction as positive or negative; they did not mention the change
at all in the course evaluations.
Assessment of student learning is another measure of a successful transition from
internship placements to the online capstone experience. Of the course learning
objectives, the objective apply concepts learned in the criminal justice program at IUK
to the work environment” best measures the effectiveness of our strategy for transforming
the course into an online capstone experience.
1
Assessments of student learning through
the position papers and the final research paper demonstrates that students were able to
successfully meet the internship course goal even though they completed the class as a
capstone. For example, seven students completed the position papers that were required
as part of the capstone. As part of the paper requirements, students were required to apply
theoretical concepts and empirical evidence to a contemporary problem in the criminal
justice system. All seven students successfully demonstrated achievement of these
learning goals in each of the four position papers. The students also completed a final
research paper whether they had completed the internship hours or the capstone. All
thirteen of the students completing the paper met or exceeded expectations on the
assessment by demonstrating knowledge of criminal justice concepts and their relevance
to the field. These assessments show that students achieved course goals despite the move
from field placements to a capstone experience.
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A final measure of the success of the transformation from internship to capstone
experience comprises student responses and comments during the exit interview for the
course. Each student completing the course was required to meet with the instructor for
an exit interview. The purpose of the exit interviews is to gain a better understanding of
students’ activities and experiences with their internship providers. For students who
didn’t get the opportunity to complete their internships traditionally, questions about the
pivot to a capstone model were also asked, and although there was naturally a bit of
disappointment about not getting to complete their internships as planned, students
voiced support for the conversion, as well as appreciation for weekly paper topics related
to what they had been doing in their individual internships.
Although limited direct data exist to help us assess the effectiveness of our
approach in transitioning from in-person internships to an online equivalent experience,
the available evidence indicates that the revision of the course was successful.
Assessments of student learning, course evaluations, and informal exit interviews with
students all indicate that students successfully met the learning objectives of the course.
The evidence that our approach was successful encouraged us to continue with the online
capstone course for the summer and the following academic year as some students were
still unable to complete internships through spring 2021 because of COVID restrictions.
PREPARING FOR SUMMER AND BEYOND
In addition to making mid-semester changes to the internship course, criminal justice
faculty needed to determine how to manage summer internships. Students (including
those who were graduating in the summer) had already been enrolled in the full-semester
summer internship course when the national emergency was declared in the United
States. The university made the decision to continue with online rather than face-to-face
courses in the summer to comply with state mandates and to ensure the safety and well-
being of faculty, staff, and students. The criminal justice faculty decided that any changes
to the summer internship course should be easily and readily applicable to the following
academic year in case internships were not available to students because of continued
COVID-19–related restrictions. In fact, the capstone was not needed for fall semester, as
the only four students who needed to complete the capstone experience requirement for
the degree enrolled in the internship course rather than the capstone course. These
students were able to be placed in an agency to complete the internship. In spring 2021,
two students were able to find internship placements and four students enrolled in the
online capstone course.
Through collaboration between the instructor, the department head, and the dean
of the school, it was decided that the summer internship course should be replaced with a
capstone course. Several possible ways to offer this alternative experience to students
were considered. One possibility was to keep the internship course on the schedule, allow
students to register for the internship course, and then teach it as an online capstone. This
option was similar to what occurred in the spring but would apply to the full semester
rather than to only the last half of the semester. Another alternative was to offer a
capstone course, distinct from the internship course, and temporarily allow it to be
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substituted for the internship degree requirement.
2
The former option was problematic
because the capstone course is not an actual internship. The department and school
administrators determined that it was not appropriate to have an internship listed on an
academic transcript when, in fact, the experience was not an internship. The latter option
was problematic because it required the full design (albeit built upon the work done in the
spring) of a course in less than two months. Ultimately, it was decided that the second
option, although clearly challenging, was the best option for the students, the program,
the university, and potential future employers; thus, the instructor of the internship course
designed a capstone course to be offered in the summer, and potentially in the fall, to
temporarily replace the internship requirement.
Once the summer capstone course was designed, only minor adjustments were
needed to account for the two-week difference in length between the summer and regular
academic semesters. The second iteration of the capstone course was developed and
eventually approved as a new course (J490) through remonstrance. There was not enough
time to gain approval for a new course through remonstrance in time for the summer
semester, however. As such, the summer capstone course was listed as a special topics
course for the summer semester using the upper-level special topics course number
(J370). Two criminal justice students were approved for in-agency internships in the
summer; thus, the instructor taught both the capstone course (as a topics course) and the
traditional internship course (J380) in the summer.
Decisions regarding the curriculum of the capstone course were also pressing. For
the course to be offered in the summer, the syllabus needed to be submitted for review in
April. Similar to the internship course, the capstone course required students to complete
resumes and cover letters reviewed by the career center. In addition, a 3000-word
research paper was assigned (a longer version of the 1500-word research paper required
for the internship course). Also consistent with the internship course, students were
required to attend five virtual classes. In addition to attending the required classes,
students completed an assignment related to the topics covered during each class. Finally,
students were assigned weekly position papers and were required to participate in weekly
online discussions.
The topics covered during the classes mirrored those covered in the internship
course classes, including how to dress and behave in the workplace, how to write a
resume and cover letter, ethics in criminal justice, the interview process and
interviewing tips, and careers in the private sector. To assist students with the unique
and individual time constraints posed by COVID-19, classes were held
asynchronously, with lessons posted on Monday mornings. Assignments associated
with each topic were created to ensure that students were completing and
understanding the virtual lessons. The assignments were due by 5:00 p.m. Friday of
the week that each related lesson was posted.
Weekly position papers were assigned to examine critical issues in criminal
justice. The requirements and grading scheme for the position papers were identical to
those listed for the spring semester conversion. Because the course was a traditional
criminal justice capstone course, however, topics covering every stage of the criminal
justice system were assigned, not just those associated with a student’s preferred career.
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That said, many of the paper topics used in the spring semester conversion were utilized
for the capstone course as well.
Lastly, students were required to participate in weekly online discussions
covering key issues and current events in criminal justice. Examples of these issues
include Miranda rights and warnings, America’s response to the COVID-19
pandemic, and crime and the media. Students were provided links to supplemental
readings and videos and were instructed to answer the discussion questions and to
reply to at least one other student’s post per discussion. This gave students the
opportunity to learn with and from their peers while facilitating interpersonal
communication and engagement.
EFFECTIVENESS OF SUMMER AND FALL TRANSITION
TO CAPSTONE COURSES
As discussed earlier, the results from Table 1 demonstrate that, based on student course
evaluations, the transition from internship courses to capstone courses was effective for
the summer, fall, and spring semesters. Students in both the capstone and internship
courses agreed or strongly agreed that the course improved their understanding of
concepts in the field and increased their interest in the subject matter, and that the
instructor asked questions that challenged them to think and used teaching methods well
suited to the class. Although the mean response scores to the questions in the capstone
course were slightly lower than those in the internship (e.g., 3.75 and 4.0), the difference
is marginal. The responses were agree and strongly agree, and it is not possible to
determine how much more agreement strongly agree has than does agree or to determine
how students interpreted the distinction between the two. Agreement and strong
agreement are both indicators of a positive course experience; thus, the course
evaluations demonstrate similar student perceptions of both the internships and the online
capstone courses. Further, assessments of student learning in summer, fall, and spring
revealed that students effectively learned the stated course objectives in both the
internship and capstone courses.
CONCLUSION
The COVID-19 crisis created several challenges within academia as faculty were
required to abruptly move from face-to-face to online learning. Within this context,
internships presented even greater challenges as faculty struggled to provide students
removed from internships with online learning experiences that matched internships in
learning objectives and HIPs. The strategies we used to transform internships into online
capstone courses were successful. We hope that the presention of our experience in
developing and revising curriculum during the COVID-19 pandemic and of the strategies
and lessons we’ve learned through this experience will enable others who are grappling
with the same issues to use our experiences to think through and develop improved
learning experiences for their criminal justice students. Further, we expect this case study
to engender discussion and encourage others to share their experiences to increase the
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102 Midwest Social Sciences Journal Vol. 24 (2021)
discipline’s overall understanding of effective teaching practices and to improve teaching
practices if future crises were to occur.
ENDNOTES
1. There were other course objectives; however, the other objectives were assessed prior
to the transition to online or as part of assignments that did not change (e.g., the
research paper) during the transformation of the mode of instruction. As such, the
learning objective noted above is the best assessment of student learning through the
transition to online.
2. The research practicum course was not offered during the summer for reasons
unrelated to COVID-19, and faculty and administrators agreed that criminal justice
students who wished to pursue careers, rather than graduate studies, upon graduation
should not be required to take a research practicum course that did not align with their
academic or career goals.
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Midwest Social Sciences Journal, Vol. 24 [2021], Iss. 1, Art. 9
https://scholar.valpo.edu/mssj/vol24/iss1/9
DOI: 10.22543/0796.241.1046