Designing, Developing, and Delivering an Online/Classroom Explosives Analysis Course

The purpose of these funds will be used to design, develop, and deliver curriculum for explosive analysis via classroom and online learning. Topics will include but are not limited to polarized light microscopy, wet chemistry, and instrumental methodology. Virtual exercises will be created for students to complete before attending actual in person classes. The training will be delivered to 90 total lab analysts in three, 5 day workshops the first being a beta test. A 'Web' or 'virtual library' (i.e., Information Resource Center or IRC) element will encompass relevant glossaries, policies/procedures, journal articles, documents, guides, images, and charts/tables/graphs, all organized in a knowledge-based schema that provides easy-yet-secure access for students/users before, during, and after training. Backlog reduction: In most laboratories explosive analysis falls under the category of trace evidence. In the 2002 Census of Publically Funded Crime Labs it was estimated that 59% of laboratories performed trace analysis. At the year's end it was estimated that approximately 14,650 cases would be backlogged nationwide which averages out to 40/lab. With a small number of trace analysts this number could increase without the proper training. ca/ncf