Wan-Ning Bao, School of Liberal Arts
Principal Investigator: Wan-Ning Bao, professor, Department of Sociology, School of Liberal Arts
Project Title: Development of Online Course for Victimology
Funding Level: $4,610
Abstract:
Soc-R349 Victimology is a core course under the topic of Criminology in the Sociology Department. It has well served Sociology Major students with particular interest in social problems, health issues, crime, family, race, gender, and social inequality. It is one of the important elective courses for Medical Sociology Minor students. With its broad scope, interdisciplinary nature, and especially the increasing concern and interest in crime victims and victimization in society, the course is attractive to other students both in and outside of the School of Liberal Arts (e.g., social work, public health, criminal justice, psychology, elementary education, professional medicine, etc.). Since 2000, this course has been taught once a year in face-to-face format in a classroom setting. With the rigid class meeting schedule and location, many students, especially those with other responsibilities in life such as family and job, could not take the class due to the constraints in their schedule and thus are denied this opportunity of learning. As a result of the application of online technology in education, there is a new drive for online education which allows for the flexibility desired by many in fulfilling their academic goals. This proposed project aims to develop a full online course (Soc-R349) that would be accessible to those potential students in the Sociology department, School of Liberal Arts, and IUPUI campus. The project can also further enhance the online-teaching competency of full-time faculty in the Department of Sociology, meeting the increasing need and demand in today’s competitive market of higher education.