Forensic Science: Audio, Video, and Digital Evidence

Forensic Science: Audio, Video, and Digital Evidence is another entry in my Forensic Science series of courses.  There is no need to have taken any of the previous classes prior to this one, as each has different content.

The class will be a combination of Socratic discussion and hands-on analysis of audio, video, and digital evidence.  My teaching style encourages discussion and critical thinking.  After the first seven weeks of the class, we will have a 3-week mock crime investigation that will allow students to analyze audio and video recordings as part of their analysis of the case.

The schedule is as follows:
Week 1:  Audio Evidence 1:  We will listen to audio tracks and discuss the types of information that we can ascertain from such recordings.  We will also discuss issues that may interfere with audio recordings or confuse listeners.  
Week 2:  Audio Evidence 2:  We will use Audacity (a free audio mixing program) to discuss how different recordings can be mixed and how a parts of a recording can be filtered out.  We will separate tracks from a recording to remove background sounds to amplify the sounds that are actually evidence.
Week 3:  Audio Evidence 3:  Students will share their findings from analyzing multiple audio tracks prior to this meeting.  We will fully separate out individual tracks from the sampled recordings.
Week 4:  Video Evidence 1:  We will cover topics related to the analysis of video evidence, including resolution, type of recording (i.e. digital vs older tape recordings), editing, splicing, time stamps, background, lighting, and more.
Week 5:  Video Evidence 2:  We will analyze video evidence during this session.
Week 6:  Digital Evidence 1:  We will cover topics related to digital evidence, such as cell phone pings and routes, online searches, threads, anonymous posts, IP tracking, and more.
Week 7:  Digital Evidence 2:  Analysis of cell phone ping maps of multiple suspects in a mock investigation, as well as a mock online thread analysis.
Week 8:  Mock Crime 1:  We will cover the background information for our case and students will determine any additional information they may need.
Week 9:  Mock Crime 2:  We will discuss the students' thinking on the evidence we already have and then move into audio, video, and digital evidence in our case.  Students will have access to the recordings and digital evidence to analyze prior to Week 10.
Week 10:  Students will share their findings based on their analysis of the audio, video, and digital evidence in our case.  We will put everything together and wrap the case up.