Advanced Research in Public Safety Issues, Theory, and Concepts is the first, foundational course taken by public safety learners at Capella University. The course exposes learners to the breadth of issues in public safety and expands beyond the core components of the criminal justice system toward an interdisciplinary perspective of the contemporary challenges faced by public safety agencies, organizations, and personnel. Learners in the course critically analyze various public safety theories, concepts, and research from the scholar-practitioner perspective, including law and legal systems, leadership and leadership theory, community corrections, terrorism, criminological theory, and public safety research methodology. Additionally, the course discusses the successes and failures of various public safety policies and how those policies were implemented, assessed, and evaluated.

"This experience was a great opportunity to work as a team with my colleagues at Capella and develop a user-friendly course with Blackboard software. The available tools and delivery methods also assist in my teaching in that I am consistently learning new ways to engage our Learners in ways of learning and preparing for their scholarly careers." Dr. Joseph Pascarella, Core Faculty, Lead SME

Learning objectives tied to learning activities and assessments throughout the course

• In the syllabus, the Assessment map shows a table that indicates the correlation between course objectives and assessments. This is a great idea!
  
• The assessment strategy in Designing Online Courses runs alongside the learning objectives seamlessly. The use of formative assessment throughout the program measures how well students achieve learning outcomes.
  

Interesting and diverse content

• Both the variety of learning activities and manner in which they are introduced and connected to content in learning modules are excellent.
  
• The types and variety of communication activities keep learners engaged with each other and content.
  
• At every point whilst in this course, if I was a student, I would be reassured by the fact that I cannot lose sight of what I need to achieve. Every stage is clearly defined and learning objectives and goals are never further than a couple of clicks away. Speaking as someone who supports students when they're having difficulties with their online course, I can fully appreciate how valuable this is.
  

Great examples for students

• The peer review process, which provides examples of what the students should and should not try to achieve, is a great way to get students in the right mindset for their own design process. It gives them ideas for improvement and different viewpoints for their own projects and therefore serves to enhance the both students' experience and their work.
  
• The phrase "practice what you preach" comes to mind when looking at the content and use of the tools and facilities within the course, which has definitely set an example for the students to try and achieve.