Introduction

You are a part of a global effort to increase access to education and empower students through “open pedagogy.”  Open pedagogy is a “free access” educational practice that places you – the student – at the center of your own learning process in a more engaging, collaborative learning environment.  The ultimate purpose of this effort is to achieve greater social justice in our community in which the work can be freely shared with the broader community.  This is a renewable assignment that is designed to enable you to become an agent of change in your community through the framework of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).  For this work, you will integrate the disciplines of Sociology; Criminology to achieve SDG #4: Quality Education: 4.7 and 4.A.

Learning Objectives

Sociology & Criminology are two disciplines focused around understanding interactions and the enforcement of laws. Sociology is the scientific study of large (macro) and small (micro) groups, how those groups interact and influence the advancement of society and humanity.

Criminology is the study of how laws are created, broken, and enforced in society. Criminologists looked at different processes and perspectives that influence an individual’s decision to commit a criminal or deviant act. The overall objective of this assignment is for students to critically think and able the scholarship and literature to real life societal crisis.

Purpose/Rationale

This active learning practice is designed to improve your academic skills, increase community connections, and improve social justice for our community.

Instructions

Students will pick a societal issue affecting society for my (sociology) class and a type of crime for my (criminology) class. The issue or crime that the students decide to pick they will:

•        Describe the societal issue or crime

•        What are the characteristics

•        How is it affecting society?

•        If you were a sociologist or criminologist how would you go about “solving” the issue?

Students will then record a 5-10-minute video of themselves answering the questions above while also incorporating the possible solutions or policy implications.

Students will then create a visual pamphlet of the possible solutions while including organizations at the collegiate level that are already in place for this societal issue or crime of their choice. The assignment is a two-part assignment that is focused on integration technology and also the usage of computer resources which can be used not only for this class but other classes across the country. The assignment is geared towards learning and understanding differences and the spread of cultural knowledge and awareness. Students will be able to collaborate and share experiences and viewpoints on a platform with individuals that may be in a different location and from a different demographic!