Cybercrime: Foundations
This course aims to introduce students to the basic concepts, theories, and societal trends associated with cybercrime. This course will require students to work in groups and learn new technologies to complete audiovisual projects. There are five goals in this course:
- Compare and contrast the four categories of cybercrime, and classify instances of cybercrime into one of four categories
- Summarize key findings from academic research about a type of cybercrime and present those findings to a lay audience
- Conduct a case study of a cybercrime by synthesizing information from law enforcement affidavits and news outlets that construct a timeline of events including the perpetration of the crime, the investigative techniques used, and the outcome of the court proceedings
- Identify the impacts of a given cybercrime by collecting and analyzing data from government agencies, and apply theories of criminology and victimology to explain the data collected
- Students will select a topic or issue introduced in Chapters 6 – 8 and produce a vlog explaining the topic to an audience, evaluate possible solutions, and give an informed opinion
Course Material
Note: All assignments for this class were group projects.
Assignment 1
For this course, a social problem is (1) a condition that a significant segment of society recognizes as undesirable or harmful, and that (2) requires a collective, societal solution. In this assignment, students will present what they believe to be a social problem to a city council, and present what they believe to be the solution to that problem. This project will challenge students to develop a deeper understanding of the chosen topic, critically evaluate possible solutions, and present a well-reasoned opinion on the best way to address the issue.
The end product will be a video presentation of between 12 – 18 minutes that communicates these points to a general audience, followed by a one – two page reflection on creating the video.
Cybercrime as a Social Problem Project
Assignment 2
The purpose of this project is to:
- Create an instructional video of between eight to twelve minutes, that (1) explains the four categories of cybercrime, (2) select a cybercrime discussed in the media, state which category(ies) it falls into, and communicate the details of that crime to an audience.
- Write a summary of your experiences completing the project
Students (or groups) should submit two separate documents. They should submit a video presentation and a written summary answering questions about their project.