Bringing the Classroom to Life: Evaluating Active Learning in a Crime Mapping Course

• In Event: Posters I

Abstract

The rapid advancement of technology provides many opportunities to innovate within the classroom in order to enhance students’ abilities – particularly in the areas of creative and research exploration. One avenue available to faculty at Tennessee Tech University (Cookeville, TN) to revamp existing courses in order to pursue the aforementioned noteworthy goal is the Enhanced Discovery through Guided Exploration (EDGE) curriculum grant. Specifically, the EDGE curriculum grant enables faculty to create or redesign courses to include a creative or research exploration component that essentially brings the classroom to life for students. In this example of an EDGE focused activity, students in a crime-mapping course entitled “Geographic Information Applications for the Social Sciences” were tasked with creating an interactive map of safety issues around campus in order to improve accessibility and security. Aside from the skills demonstrated via the digital map, overall learning was assessed via a pre-test and post-test assessment.

Author

• Jordana N. Navarro, Tennessee Technological University