Teaching Criminology: a literature review of contemporary methods

Author : Valbona Ndrepepaj

Abstract :Criminology, a field in which you play a vital role, has long been a cornerstone of Albanian universities. Your exploration of effective teaching methods in this field is crucial. While the traditional didactic lecture-type teaching format is familiar to most professors, many innovative teaching methods are waiting to be discovered. This paper conducts a literature review to identify contemporary teaching methods, explicitly focusing on Criminology. We argue that the Criminology curriculum and how we teach it should focus on teaching students new approaches and new ways of thinking about human beings, such as restorative justice or the social construction of crime. For instance, restorative justice encourages students to consider the impact of crime on victims and the community. In contrast, the social construction of crime challenges students to question the societal norms that define criminal behavior. To accomplish this with different groups of students in various fields, i.e., law, sociology, or police academies, we need to know how to teach— the methodological aspect and not simply curriculum content. Learning objectives involving complex skills require teaching methods that promote active learning while learning objectives involving more straightforward skills can be achieved with more passive teaching methods. In practical terms, a student dealing with Criminology needs to employ multiple complex skills carefully, such as critical thinking, problem-solving, and ethical decision-making

Keywords :Criminology, teaching methods, contemporary.

Conference Name :International Conference on Higher Education Learning (ICHEL-25)

Conference Place Ankara, Turkey

Conference Date 5th Sep 2025