Abstract:

INTRODUCTION: The creation of the European Space for Higher Education (ESHE) implies that University Teaching Staff will need to adapt to a new, fundamentally interactive teaching model which places importance on new teaching practices aimed at developing new student competences, such as the use of the new information and communication technologies (ICT). This present research project arose from the need to develop teaching resources which are adapted to the new information and communication technologies.

AIM: The aim of the present project was to improve quality in the teaching-learning process through the use of ICT on the courses taught by the Department of Health Psychology as part of the University of Alicante Criminology Degree, pertaining to the following subjects: Personality, Psychological Assessment and Treatment, and Basic Psychology.

METHOD: The project was aimed at benefiting those students enrolled on the Criminal Psychology and Psychopathology of Criminal Behaviour courses (a class-based group and an on-line group), as well as any student, professional or person interested in the world of Psychocriminology. The project was implemented through sessions where the team reported their experiences in relation to the teaching methodology used, teaching resources, practice, bibliographical materials, etc. The student representative from the course was an active participant throughout all phases of the project. The project culminated in the development of the teaching resource, the “UA Psychocriminology Portal” http:// www.portal.psicocriminologia.ua.es

RESULTS: The UA Psychocriminology Portal will enable our students to develop their independent learning capabilities and provides rapid, easy access to course syllabuses included in the project. The Portal comprises the following information: a glossary of terms, links to sites of interest related to Psychocrimonology, information on national and international Associations and Federations of Criminology and related Sciences, information about Conferences, Study Days, Symposiums and Courses held worldwide, multimedia resources, databases, judicial summaries in electronic format, digital libraries, electronic bulletins, international journals, full text articles, electronic books, and a basic and complementary bibliography for this field. The Portal constitutes a resource for staff teaching these courses, enabling them to help students develop competences, abilities and skills in this discipline, giving them rapid access to materials and complementary resources, and facilitating the compilation of information in order to improve and up-date the Portal contents.

CONCLUSIONS: The present “University of Alicante Psychocriminology Portal” Technology Innovation project will enable our students taking a Criminology Degree or a Public Security and Private Detective Qualification, as well as any professional or person interested in Psychocriminology, to access national and international information resources, including teaching material, electronic resources and information of interest related to the discipline. The present research has also served to develop an efficient and useful teaching resource for staff teaching the courses which formed part of the project.This research project was funded by the Vice-Rectorship for Technology and Educational Innovation, through the Creation of Technological Networks for Educational Innovation 2007 grant programme.

Keywords:

internet based technologies, psychology, criminology, educational software, computer.