1:34 p.m., Dec. 8, 2008----Students of criminal justice at the University of Delaware recently exchanged live presentations via teleconference with their counterparts in a collaborative program at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University.

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The collaborative teaching project was launched during a teleconferenced class on Sept. 9. It included 19 University of Delaware students and 30 students from North Carolina A&T, and involved the joint teaching of criminal procedure courses.

Both universities have collaborated on various projects in the past but this is the first time they have shared a course.

The project was developed by James Mayes, director of the criminal justice program at North Carolina A&T, and Eric Rise, associate chairperson of the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice at UD. Rise taught the course at UD while Earl Hilton, professor of criminal justice, taught the course at North Carolina A&T.

“It's been worthwhile for the students,” Hilton said. “The interaction with the students from the University of Delaware has been beneficial. It has provided insights and perspectives into current criminal justice issues that we would not have had without their input.”

“My overall impression of this class is a very good and positive one,” Patricia Webster, a junior criminal justice major at UD, said. “On the first day of class, when I was informed that our class would be joined together with North Carolina A&T, I was very excited because this would be my first time experiencing this. My favorite part of the class was that it was 95 percent discussion, which I really enjoyed. I feel I get more out of discussions because I get to participate in them.”

Each class was charged with selecting a discussion topic, identifying appropriate reading assignments and developing a lesson for presentation as the final assignment. The selected topics were whether marijuana should be legalized, and whether juveniles accused of serious offenses should be tried and sentenced as adults.

During the presentations, the students led discussions on the topics, based on their experience of engaging in discussions of other provocative topics on the basis of case law and scholarly literature.

"Earlier sessions devoted to racial profiling, hate crimes, and gun control were especially robust, but I thought the student-led discussions today were the most lively of the semester,” Rise said of the presentation session, which was held Dec. 2.

Article by Adam Thomas
Photos by Kathy F. Atkinson