Business plan
The Team –
Kayleigh Sheppard - PhD Researcher
Professor John Cassella
Dr Neil Lamont – Senior Lecturer
Dr Sarah Fieldhouse – Senior Lecturer
All team members are from the School of Law, Policing and Forensics.
Title –
Developing digital tools for the capture and recording of crime scene environments for improved student interaction and collaboration – a safe yet realistic teaching tool for Forensic Science
The Project –
The project will consist of using new digital capture technology - 360o photography (Spheron VR AG) and a novel content management system, SceneCenter, to develop digital tools for the capture and recording of crime scene environments which can be used for interactive teaching.
The project aims to create a range of diverse forensic environment scenarios from vehicle collision scenes, fire investigation scenes and the detection of human biological fluids (saliva, blood) which will provide a realistic yet safe environment for students to enhance and develop their skills.
The created scenarios will be used to create an interactive environment using existing content management software (SceneCenter). The software package will allow students to explore, investigate, interpret and understand crime scenarios with the opportunity to add in additional information, in various different media formats, to the existing digitally captured data. This interactive environment will give students the opportunity to use novel technology to investigate a range of crime scenes and track the investigation, building their own cases within the environment.
The project will consist of the creation of stand-alone packages and blank cases. The creation of stand-alone packages will allow lecturers to demonstrate different scenarios to their students with all the relevant information and evidence already included. This will allow lecturers to reinforce the students understanding and crime scene skills and allow them to systematically identify fundamental scientific principles. In addition the software allows students to start their own blank cases, which allows them to import their own digital data and build a case file throughout an investigation process.
The creation of learning materials, which are dynamic, allows the students to add in new evidence during their exploration of a scene, similarly to investigating a real scene and can be used to reinforce existing knowledge. Different approaches to teaching could be applied; whereby data can be added or removed to create new scenarios, which align to current learning objectives in different teaching modules, which broadens the applicable applications for this tool.
Student Benefit and Target Audience –
The interactive tool created as part of this project will be intended for use by both academics and students in the Department of Criminal Justice and Forensic Science in the School of Law, Policing and Forensics. The creation of a diverse range of scenarios will present students with an opportunity to investigate scenes otherwise deemed too hazardous. In addition, the students gain access and exposure to novel crime scene recording technology, similar to that which they may encounter in their careers.
Due to the diversity of the application other alternative environments could be created to suit a range of different modules and courses in other disciplines to facilitate interactive learning for a wider range of students.
Timeline –
The intended completion time will be 2-3 months. It will take approximately one month to complete the digital/photogrammetric capture of the different scenarios and the collation of a variety of evidential types. It will take approximately two months to create and develop the digital software tools into a format beneficial for student engagement and learning. It is also envisaged that the interactive learning tool be implemented into teaching and learning to gather feedback from academics and students to inform product development and enhancement.
Goals and Targets –
To create learning materials, which are dynamic, and allow the students to add in new evidence during their ‘virtual’ exploration of a scene, similarly to investigating a real scene when new evidence is acquired. The scenarios can be changed to suit the learning outcomes of the module and so a divers range of scenarios will be created to allow a wider application of the product. The digital tool can be used to reinforce existing knowledge and provide further opportunity to interpret and reconstruct an event from the digital scenes created. The end product aims to enhance the students understanding of forensic investigations using an interactive tool allowing them to explore different forensic scenarios in a truly realistic yet safe learning environment. This will facilitate the next generation of forensic scientists using modern technology for recording, managing and investigating a crime scene.
Partnership Outcomes –
The partnership between student and academics aims to create a digital exploration tool for students to explore and to develop an understanding through collaboration. The partnership will produce an interactive tool for the exploration of different forensic scenarios in a truly realistic yet safe learning environment. This package will be developed to reinforce the student’s crime scene skills, introduce mapping technology and allow them to identify fundamental scientific principles. The interactive nature of the material coupled with real-world issues aims to facilitate a fuller and more robust engagement with students over the traditional PowerPoint presentation to demonstrate the principles involved in these scenes.