Welcome to CH115! Here you will find weekly course updates and other important information!
Final Week:
Common introduction is here! Thanks for all your suggestions…you may recognize some of your ideas here!
In this Science of Crime podcast series, we look at the constantly changing rules of the “hide and seek” game that investigators play to heat up cold cases, navigating through several stories that illustrate how the evolution and crowdsourcing of forensic science act as a compass in the quest for closure and justice. Welcome to “Lost and Found.” My name is BLANK (FIRST NAME ONLY), and this is episode number BLANK, TITLE.
Sample introduction with background audio theme music is below. I will email the file to the class to use in Audacity. This song is The One Who’s Holding the Stars, by Leo Schofield, the wrongly incarcerated individual at the center of the Bone Valley podcast.
Updated order of podcast episodes!
Episode 0— Preserve and Protect— Professor Millard (a comparison of the two Colby murders, with special focus on the handling of the crime scenes)
- Chain of Custody— Daisy
- Shoddy forensic work: Bite mark analysis— Max
- Shoddy forensic work: pattern analysis/false confessions —Ethan
- Cadaver dogs— Ina
- Geraldine Largay and Don Fendler — Abby
- Art Crimes: 1994 theft of “The Scream”— Eric
- DNA solving cold cases: The murder of Kenneth Conrick— Dariana
- DNA solving cold cases- Y-STR: The Boston Strangler— Anna
- MtDNA identification: Where is Mr. Roof?— Henry
- MtDNA/forensic anthropology: Srebrenica Mass Graves— Daniel
- Genetic genealogy to find a perpetrator: Yara Gambirasio— Kayden
- Genetic genealogy to identify victims: Melissa Highsmith— Marielle
- Genetic genealogy to identify victims: John Wayne Gacy victims— Ella
- Exoneration of Anthony Wright— Alex
- Exonerated 5— Brady
- Mental health challenges after exonerations of African Americans— Ope
Rubric for final project (script and podcast) is here:
Week 13 (Dec 4):
Link to peer assessment form for talks is here.
Schedule for final presentations is here:
Tuesday, Dec 5
- Daisy Torres— Chain of Custody
- Ina Alvarado— Cadaver dogs
- Abby Knapp— Lost on mountains in Maine: Geraldine Largay and Don Fendler
- Marielle Goganian— Melissa Highsmith – Identification of kidnapped child 50 years later
- Henry— Where is Mr. Roof?
- Dariana Lopez-Durazo— The murder of Kenneth Conrick
- Kayden Flather— Yara Gambirasio
- Daniel Muse— Srebrenica Mass Graves
Thursday, Dec 7
- Eric Hernandez— 1994 theft of “The Scream”
- Anna Coleman— Boston Strangler
- Ella Grob— John Wayne Gacy
- Max Adam— Bite mark analysis fraudulence/false conviction & exoneration of Steve Chaney
- Ethan Walker— Wrongful conviction of Clemente Aguirre-Jarquin
- Alex Turcios— Exoneration of Anthony Wright
- Brady Clegg— Exonerated 5
- Opeoluwa Shodipe— Mental health challenges after exonerations of African Americans
Week 12 (Nov 27):
Please load up Audacity and bring your laptop to class on Thursday! Important information from ITS can be found in this document:
Notes from Qiuli Wang are here:
Quiz 5 (final quiz) is LIVE and closes on Friday!
Annotated bibliography, working title, and thesis statement for your final project is due on Friday night (Dec 1) via Moodle! You should have summaries of at least five written references as well as the name and credentials of the person who you will interview. Include a screenshot that confirms that your expert agrees to be interviewed (email, text message, or other form of communication.) Your thesis statement is a couple of sentences about the take-home message of your podcast episode. See here for more information about an annotated bibliography!
See the Course Materials page for the final presentation rubric.
Week 11 (Nov 20):
Annotated bibliography, working title, and thesis statement for your final project is due next Friday night (Dec 1) via Moodle! You should have summaries of at least five written references as well as the name and credentials of the person who you will interview. Include a screenshot that confirms that your expert agrees to be interviewed (email, text message, or other form of communication.) Your thesis statement is a couple of sentences about the take-home message of your podcast episode. See here for more information about an annotated bibliography!
Week 10 (Nov 14):
Homework #5 is to pick an episode from our library of CH115 podcasts to assess. The podcasts are at the bottom of the Blogs page. Assessment form is here. Deadline is Nov 26.
Final project sign-up sheet is here. Please sign up asap so that we make sure that we don’t double up on the same topic! Deadline is Nov 26.
Week 9 (Nov 7):
Final project check-in meetings schedule (please let me know if this time does not work for you!):
Thursday, Nov 16
- 11:00 Marielle
Friday, Nov 17
- 10:45 Henry
- 11:00 Ella
- 11:15 Brady
- 11:30 Anna
Monday, Nov 20
- 9:15 Max
- 9:30 Abby
- 10:00 Alex
- 10:30 Dariana
- 11:00 Ethan
Tuesday, Nov 21
- 9:30 Ope
- 9:45 Daniel
- 10:00 Ina
- 10:15 Daisy
- 10:30 Kayden
- 10:45 Eric
Please complete this important poll about scheduling final project check-in meetings with Prof. Millard before class on Thursday!
Peer review workshop for Paper #2 will occur in Thursday’s class. Your reviews should be submitted on Moodle before class.
Quiz #4 opens on Tuesday and closes on Friday night.
This week’s blog is mandatory.
Final revised version of Paper #2 is due on Sunday night.
Week 8 (Oct 31):
Optional check-in meetings with Prof. Millard, sign up here.
Peer Review of How Stuff Works #2 is due on Thursday night here.
Version #1 of Paper #2 is due on Sunday night via Moodle! It should also be shared with your peer reviewers (see below for new Peer Review Teams).
- Team 1: Max Adam, Ina Alvarado, Marielle Goganian, Ella Grob
- Team 2: Henry Reichle, Alex Turcios Leon, Ethan Walker, Daniel Muse
- Team 3: Brady Clegg, Opeoluwa Shodipe, Daisy Torres, Kayden Flather
- Team 4: Dariana Lopez-Durazo, Anna Coleman, Eric Hernandez, Abigail Knapp
Week 7 (Oct 19):
Final, revised version of Paper #1 is due on Sunday night via Moodle!
How Stuff Works #2 is due on Friday. Check the Assignment Handbook for details! Note that the technique you choose cannot be one that you have used previously, like in your paper!
Quiz 3 covers serology and DNA analysis. It will open on Tuesday this week at noon and close on Friday night.
Week 6 (Oct 12):
This week’s blog is optional. Remember that you can skip any two optional blog assignments.
Paper #1 is due on Sunday night! Submit your paper both to Prof Millard via Moodle, with the Paper Submission Checklist, and to your peer reviewers electronically. See below for the peer review teams.
You have permission to use the contents of your How Stuff Works essay and Incident Report #2 for this paper. See the Assignment Handbook for important details about this assignment. Review the formatting requirements document for other important details, and use the paper template provided.
Peer Review Teams for Paper #1:
- Team 1: Max Adam, Anna Coleman, Daisy Torres, Daniel Muse
- Team 2: Ina Alvarado, Kayden Flather, Eric Hernandez, Henry Reichle
- Team 3: Brady Clegg, Marielle Goganian, Alex Turcios Leon, Abigail Knapp
- Team 4: Dariana Lopez-Durazo, Opeoluwa Shodipe, Ethan Walker, Ella Grob
Prior to class on Thursday, complete a peer review worksheet (on Course Materials page) for each paper you are reviewing (a total of three reviews). Submit to Prof Millard via Moodle and to your peers electronically or in paper copy in class.
Week 5 (Oct 5):
How Stuff Works #1 is due on Friday, Oct 6 at 4 PM on Moodle.
Check your email for your peer review assignment, which will be due on Thursday, Oct 12th at 11:59 PM here.
Happy break!
Week 4 (Sept 28th):
Updated check-in meetings:
Incident Report #2 is due on Friday, Sept 29 at 4 PM on Moodle.
Quiz #2 opens on Sunday, Oct 1 and closes on Tuesday night. It covers qualitative and quantitative analysis and biochemistry.
Week 3 (Sept 21st):
Incident Report #1 is due on Friday, Sept 22 at 4 PM on Moodle.
Rubric for the Incident Reports is on the Course Materials page.
Next week you will each give your PechaKucha presentation on the same case. The rubric for the talks is on the Course Materials page. Link for the peer review form is here.
Please complete this poll by class on Tuesday.
Week 2 (Sept 14th):
Homework #2 is to complete the plagiarism quiz, take a screenshot of the final page, and submit as a pdf via Moodle by 11:59 PM on Sunday. The plagiarism quiz link is here.
Quiz #1 opens on Moodle at noon on Sunday and must be completed by Tuesday night. The quiz covers the crime scene, eyewitnesses, and plagiarism.
Topics for Incident Report #1 and the PechaKucha presentations are here. Please sign up for your topic asap.
Week 1 (Sept 7th):
Blog #1 (mandatory) should be due on Friday, September 8th, but given that it requires some legwork to complete, you have until Monday at 4 PM to complete your post. You also have additional time to comment on a classmate’s post (by Wednesday at 4 PM). I have posted my own observations about the JonBenet Ramsey scene under the Blogs tab!
Homework #1 is to come up with your crime-related blogging nickname here. Before you publish your first blog post, you should change your name to this nickname.
- Make sure that you do the reading from Actual Innocence for class on Tuesday (posted under the Course Materials tab).