Blog 24: Last Presentation Reflection

Pictures from my activity.

(1) Positive Statement

What are you most proud of in your block presentation and/or your senior project? Why?
I think I am most proud of how I was able to recover from the first part of my presentation. During the first section of my presentation I was nervous, and talking fast, and even forgot to put out my EQ placards. So during the first activity I calmed myself down, and then put out my EQ placards, so that when I continued my presentation I feld more calm, and on top of it.

(2) Questions to Consider

a.     What assessment would you give yourself on your block presentation?  Use the component contract to defend that assessment.
I would give myself an AE I did all the things on the contract and then I felt like I put in some extra effort. So going down the contract I met all the requirements of professionalism dressing professionally, engaging audience, and so forth. For Organization and creativity I had props , and i felt i used my time very effectively. I had research, and a bunch of examples for my answers, and i felt everything in my activity was pretty clear, and produced some good results. As for going above and beyond I felt my activity was pretty well though out, I got to school at 6:30am and set up a crime scene, as well as the inside of the classroom.Everything else i did as well i felt was pretty solid.

AE       P          AP       CR       NC

b.     What assessment would you give yourself on your overall senior project?Use the component contract to defend that assessment.

For senior project overall I feel I deserve an AE. This is because I never missed a notebook check or turned in a assignment late. I got a P+ on my first lesson, and an AE on my second. I felt throughout the year I consistently put out my best effort, and this project turned into something that did affect my life greatly.
AE       P          AP       CR       NC

(3) What worked for you in your senior project?
I think my mentorship worked very well for me, I have a good relationship with my mentor, and overall mentorship was my favorite part of senior year.

(4) (What didn't work) If you had a time machine, what would you have done differently to improve your senior project?
I wouldn't do anything I felt I did each assignment with my best effort.

(5) Finding Value

How has the senior project been helpful to you in your future endeavors?   Be specific and use examples.
So I don't plan on pursing crime scene investigation as a career, but certainly going to mentorship and finding a mentor and doing these presentations has certainly helped me. I am now comfortable going out and making connections, and networking with different people. Which is something I certainly was always scared to do and never planned on trying, but with senior project if sort of forces you in a way to conquer these fears and grow up.

Blog 23: Exit Interview Prep

Content:

(1) What is your essential question, and what are your answers?  What is your best answer and why?

• My essential question is "What is the most useful skill to a crime scene investigator in an investigation?" My three answers are Fingerprinting, Photography, and Technology. My best answer is photography simply because it can be applied to my other two answers and then some. Photography is not just used to photograph the crime scene, but to capture fingerprints, as well as play an integral part in the understanding of technology. This is because you have to understand how to use the actual device, that you are using to capture these photos. Simply put there is no better way to show others a crime scene than to provide a visual documentation. Words can only do so much, but if you can show someone something, they have a better understanding of it.

(2) What process did you take to arrive at this answer?

• I came to this answer after my second interview, as well as through my mentorship experience. In my second interview, I interviewed my mentor, and she really explained well  how photography was such an essential skill to have as a crime scene investigator. Even urging me to pursue such a course. Through my mentor ship as well I came to this answer. Looking at case files, I would read reports and then look at the photos and try and understand what happened. It wasn't until I looked at the photos did I understand what the reports were saying. During my mock crime scene as well, I gained a better appreciation for the technical side to properly documenting a crime scene with photography.

(3) What problems did you face?  How did you resolve them?

• I didn't really face any problems during my searching process. During my second interview as I said my mentor is basically the foundation for all my answers. I then took the liberty, through my mentorship and researching process to deem if these answers were indeed valid.

(4) What are the two most significant sources you used to answer your essential question and why?

• One of my most significant sources of course is my mentor Sheri Orellana. She is a experienced crime scene investigator, and did a really good job of helping me understand the field. My second biggest source is my mentors co-worker CSI Tony Nguyen. He is also an experienced crime scene investigator with a degree in photography. The biggest textual source that was of most help to me was  A Practitioner's Guide to Forensic Photography. (see works cited below)

"Crime Scene Photography." A Practitioner's Guide Forensic Photography (2014): 113-62. Crime Scene Investigator, 2014. Web. 20 Oct. 2015.                                         

Blog 22: Independent Component 2

LITERAL
(a) I Samantha Villanueva affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 34 hours of work.
(b) The source of my independent component was the National Institute of Justice, as well as a book called DNA Fingerprinting An Introduction by Lone T. Kirby that helped me understand all the heavy science stuff better. The authors of the course I took were Greg Mason, and John Mauro.
(c) LINK
(d) I completed a course  through The National Institute of Justice. The course comprises of four parts or modules including types of evidence, advanced crime scene methods, evidence collection, and CODIS. Each little module has about a million little different sub categories. For example the advanced crime scene module covers topics such as Conveyance Crime Scenes, Locating Evidence, Documentation, and some parts on DNA analysis.
(e)  I found this component to be significant, one because it was self paced, and it taught me a lot of self responsibility. It went more in depth than any article or any book I could have read, and the neat thing about this course through the National Institute of Justice is that it didn't just talk about Crime Scene Investigation or stuff I can just look up. It explained explicit protocols, and certain procedures, that I would not have known about otherwise. The course tracks where you are in the course and then once it register that you have actually gone through each lesson it produces a certificate of completion for you. Which I will show as my proof as well as some screenshots of the content i was learning. 

(f)This course goes over all of my answers for my EQ (Fingerprinting, Technology, and Photography) which helped me decide what my best answer would be. It talked about something that I have been having trouble finding research on , which is technologies impact on forensics and crime scene investigation. Before the interconnection between the two didn't seem like much and I worried that I would have to find a new answer. But this course helped me realize that these two are deeply woven, and practically essential to processes especially involving DNA analysis.

Blog 21: Fourth Interview Reflection

1. What is the most important thing I learned from the interview?  

• The most important thing I probably learned from this interview was what my best answer is going to be. I had to switch who I interviewed for this interview because something came up with my mentor. So I interviewed the third CSI Adam Macdonald.This actually worked out because each CSI has a different perspective but all gave the same general answer. Photography.

2.  How will what I learned affect my final lesson?

• What I learned will affect my final lesson in the sense that I now know what my best answer is going to be, and how i'm going to engage my audience in the activity to understand this answer.

Fourth Interview Questions

1.  Who do you plan to interview?  What is this person's area of expertise?

• I plan to interview my mentor again . Her name is Sheri Orellana. She works for the Pomona Police Department as a CSI. Her expertise is crime scene investigation. Ms. Orellana is very qualified to be an expert in her field  because she has been a CSI for almost twenty years. 

2.  Post 20 open-ended questions you want to ask an expert in the field concerning your senior project. Your focus should be finding answers to your EQ.

1. Do you have any additional since the last time i interviewed you?
2. If so what sort of materials to you study to prepare yourself for said certifications?
3. What sort of activities do you do at conferences, that really help people understand what it is to be a crime scene investigator?
4. Why are crime scene photos essential to an investigation?
5. Fingerprinting using powders has been around for quite some time in crime scene investigation, why has it still so popular when newer technologies exist?
6. What sort of relationship do you have with the other officers? Communication?
7. In relation to a crime scene what do you do to insure that you have the information you need prior to a crime scene.
8. Earlier we talked about new technology in fingerprinting. What sort of other technology is changing the way you as a CSI Handle a case
9. How has RUVIS changed the way you have done your job?
10. What is the effect of RUVIS on biological evidence?
11. What sort of programs do you used, on the computer that aid you with your job?
12. What is the proper way to map a crime scene?
13. How complex is computer crime in comparison to any other crime?
14. What sort of problems does it pose?
15. What are sort of the main tools you use as a CSI?
16. What are the different types of ALS?
17. How have they changed how you look for bodily fluids?
18. What is the meter machine, that acts as a laser you mentioned?
19. Why are fingerprints so useful in an investigation?
20. What skill would you say has come to aid you the most in your line of work?

Blog 19: Third Answer

RUVIS comes in different sizes, and models.

1. EQ 
1. What skill is most useful to a crime scene investogator in an investigation?
2. Answer #3 (Write in a complete sentence like a thesis statement)*
1. The most useful skill to a crime scene investigator is the ability to understand and use technology .
3. 3 details to support the answer 
1. Using softwares such as photoshop , surprisingly is highly esstencial as a CSI. Photoshop is not used to alter photos in anyway as that would be unethical . Photoshop is used to play with lighting, as well as it is used to identify ridge detailing , and markers in a fingerprint to show a comparison. As well as if said fingerprint is a match or not .
2. RUVIS is another technology quite frequented by the use of a crime scene investigator. It is used to see bodily fluids , as well as some fingerprints with the help of chemicals . Using this little machine is highly technical, it's is similar to alternate light source , but a little different.
3. Crime scene mapping is another thing that requires the use of technology. There is a machine in which I haven't gotten the name for yet, but what it does is shoot out a bunch of lasers , and basically documents and measures everything the laser comes in contact with. Along with the laser machine is a program used on a computer to sort of set up the machine as well as read the data.
4. The research source(s) to support your details and answer
1. Interview #3
2. Source #32
3. Source #34
4. Source #37d
5. Concluding Sentence
1. Technology in crime scene investigation is widely used. It is integrated from simple things as the use of a phone, to more complex systems such as the RUVIS machine, and laser technologies. I will need to continue my research to delve further into the integration.

Blog #18: Answer 2

Forensic Photography of the Past. *see below*

1.  What is your EQ?

• What skill is most useful to a crime scene investigator in an investigation?

2.  What is your first answer? (In complete thesis statement format)

• The most useful skill to a crime scene investigator to have is the ability to properly fingerprint.

3.  What is your second answer? (In complete thesis statement format)

• The most useful skill to a crime scene investigator is photography.

4.  List three reasons your answer is true with a real-world application for each.

• Photography is one of the best ways to document how a crime scene looks, and if done properly give proportion. Or how everything is in comparison to one another. It is especially essential when documenting special case condition crime scenes, such as night time, or any other conditions which might distort the crime scene.
• Crime scene photography is also used to best capture evidence. A proper CSI as required documents all evidence found at the crime scene, and other locations as well. Certain evidence as well can only be seen with the aid of a camera.
• Another reason knowing photography is essential as a CSI, is because CSI's present evidence in a case at court. The best way to explain something to a jury is to show a picture, rather than read reports.

5.  What printed source best supports your answer?

• Staggs, Steven. "Crime Scene and Evidence Photography — Camera and Lighting." Crime Scene and Evidence Photography. Crime Scene Investigator Network, n.d. Web. 04 Feb. 2016. <http://www.crime-scene-investigator.net/csp-cameraandlighting.html>.

6.  What other source supports your answer?

• My interview #2 with my mentor would be my second best source. During the interview we talked about skills that were without a doubt essential, and photography was one of them.

7.  Tie this together with a  concluding thought.

Forensic Photography of the Future.

• Photography is high up on there as one of the most important skills a crime scene investigator should have. There is so much more when forensics and phototgraphy combine. It is not so simple as to point a camera and hit shoot, there are many different aspects and specific things you have to do whilst competing forensic photography. Which is probably why this is one of my favorite answers out of the three.