Daily Pioneer News

PLATTEVILLE - In a typical liberal arts class at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, students may expect to become familiar with such figures as Plato, Freud and Shakespeare.

The cast of characters in UWP professor Patricia Bromley's distance education class is decidedly different.

Students, meet Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, Washington sniper John Lee Malvo, Columbine killer Eric Harris and wanted terrorist Osama bin Laden. They're all part of a "rogues gallery" of personalities students may study in the online course Psychology 733: Theories of Personality in the Criminal Justice System.

Bromley was awarded a distinguished course award in April from the University Continuing Education Association for the class.

In the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, UWP educators wanted a class that explored terrorism and threat assessment for students in the online criminal justice master's program. Instead of just sticking to general psychological theories, Bromley wanted students to apply those theories to real-world examples.

"It's hard to talk about personality in the abstract. It's easier if you're talking about a specific individual," Bromley said.

With the aid of their computers, students can click on links in the "rogues gallery" to read online articles about the specific individual they are studying. The online class also incorporates things that can't be done in a traditional lecture class. Interactive quizzes help make learning enjoyable and audio clips complement text articles. Lectures assessable online allow students to listen to instruction at their own pace.

The class is an elective for students in the online criminal justice master's program. Bromley taught the course for the first time to a class of 10 in fall 2003 and found that some students prefer online courses.

"It went really well," Bromley said. "There are some people that discuss better in an online environment."

Bethany Gordy of University of Wisconsin-Extension Learning Innovations helped the professor design the course. It's the second online class Bromley has developed and taught for the UWP Distance Learning Center.

Bromley was honored with the distinguished course award at a UCEA luncheon in San Antonio, Texas, April 15. Ten submissions nationwide were nominated for the award, and the University of California at Berkeley received the only other honor for a college-level course.