This semester, students in Tara Wiles’ Criminal Investigations class at Wayne State College have the opportunity to investigate a faux homicide case set in a fictional version of Wayne.
Wiles, a Criminal Justice instructor at Wayne State College, said she hopes to give students a hands-on learning experience.
“In investigations, you're not sitting in a classroom being talked at,” Wiles said. “I want students to be prepared with knowledge when they get out into the field.”
Caleb Sahling, a criminal justice senior, said he thinks investigating a scenario like this is a great way to get people excited to come to class.
“I feel like that's a way to learn more, especially in the criminal justice field, getting to actually do stuff like that,” Sahling said.
Since no homicide has actually taken place in Wayne, Wiles used ChatGPT to develop fictional characters. She was then able to base information from these characters to create the reports that students need for a complete investigation and integrate items like an Udder Delights menu into the faux crime scene.
“She really has gone in-depth,” Shea Barnes, a forensic science major, said. “We used the crime scene house, and she set it in town, so we actually get to use the environment and real things, so it's kind of fun.”
“I love the small town of Wayne,” Wiles said. “I used to live in Omaha and there is just no way that the universities would be able to do something rooted in the community the way we can here, and I just think that they deserve appreciation for that. I think it's pretty cool.”
Lou Wiltse said she has fun playing the nosy neighbor when Wiles asks her to, as Wiltse’s shop, The Wayne Greenhouse, is right next door to the Crime Scene Investigation Laboratory.
“She [Wiles] gives me room to ad-lib a lot of it,” Wiltse said. “However, I have to make sure that certain points are covered.”
Wiltse said she doesn’t like to give the students the information as soon as they come to her store but rather wants them to ask good questions.
“I think it's really good practice for them to interview different people, different levels of involvement with the situation, whether it's being a nosy neighbor next door or somebody downtown,” Wiltse said.
Students said they are learning real skills from this class.
“Wiles does a good job of preparing us,” Sahling said. “She has that real experience and she's giving us all her knowledge. She cares about her students and what kind of impact we make in the field.”
“I think I'm getting better at working with other people on a team, which I think will definitely help me,” Allison Dyke, a criminal justice major, said. “I was like, ‘I don't know how much I'd want to work on a team,’ but I think it's kind of fun because if you aren't good at one thing, they can pick up the pace in that area.”
Barnes and Sahling also both said they thought learning how to work as a team and how to listen to others was an important part of the class.
“I think being hands-on, there's little stuff in this class that you can take to any field,” Sahling said. “Like working as a group, that's the huge one cause you're going to work with coworkers in any type of field.”
Wiles said she hopes to continue doing this for future classes too and that she is happy that the community has been excited to help.
