Open AccessTransforming Criminal Justice Internships into Capstone Courses: A Response to the Challenges of the COVID-19 Crisis
Author(s) -
Beau Shine,
Kelly Brown
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
midwest social sciences journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2766-0796
DOI - 10.22543/0796.241.1046
Subject(s) - internship , capstone , criminal justice , medical education , face (sociological concept) , covid-19 , political science , curriculum , economic justice , declaration , pandemic , public relations , psychology , pedagogy , medicine , sociology , computer science , computer security , law , social science , disease , pathology , infectious disease (medical specialty)
The COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 resulted in the declaration of a national emergency that closed universities across the nation. With no warning, faculty were required to move classes from face-to-face to completely online instruction. This situation posed many difficulties, but 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. While 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.