Investigating the Digital Divide for the HE Distance Learners in

Prison

Anne Pike

Alt-C Conference9-11th September 2008

Aims of the Research

• To investigate the experiences of the Open University student in a prison environment

• To determine what influences students to embark on an Open University course

• To understand how technology, is affecting their learning, choice of study and future decisions

Methodology

• Interviews/Questionnaires– 35 prison students (33 male, 2 female)– 56 staff (OU, prison, stakeholders)

• Prisons– Cat A – D, – Male & female– public, private

• Ongoing

Educational Qualifications before entering prison

A level or equiv.31%

GCSE or equiv.

9%

No previous

quals26%

Unknown20%

Graduate14%

Decision to study with the OU

• Completed all other education – next step• Through a friend already studying• Always wanted to study with the Open University• Use time usefully • Influence from an important person

“P kept following me, insisting on more and more exams. I told him I couldn’t do it. He said I had the potential. …P was like a father to me - I still remember him.”

[10, 28]

“I have no-one outside to write to but I would like M and P to come if possible.” [10, 28]

Support

Dedicated staff both internal and external to the OU

• Insufficient resources, funding or policy to adequately meet the needs of the OU students

“… They [the tutors] fired my imagination… the astronomy tutor was brilliant – looked like a biker with pictures of telescopes, stars. He made the subject come alive” [5, 4].

Benefits of HE for Offenders• Confidence – can study, stay the course, succeed(student comments)

“If I’d been on the outside I’d never have done this…I want to do a degree now ….and use my time usefully.”

“I built up confidence and pushed forward then I just took off”

• Empowerment – being a student, new knowledge, options“When you have a laptop it’s wonderful … It makes you feel like you’re really a student” (Female student (closed))

“For the first time in my life I know what I want to do” (Social Science Student)

“Education gives you the option to stop re-offending” (Male Student – close to release)

A mission

“It’s like the university of life here, you meet just the biggest cross section of people from every sort of background. I want them to have education too… I’m doing [a] Mental Health [course] now..I want to teach people with autism”

A new direction

“I started the Open to Change course

because I wanted to see where life

had gone wrong”

Benefits of HE for Offenders

Gaining Employment

• Northern Ireland - MLA• Guardian Columnist• Lecturers – PGCEs and Higher degrees after release• Own business• Senior roles with Charities working with

Offender and Ex-Offender

But….

Benefits of HE for Offenders“We must educate them to the right level… for employment they need to be better than the average” (HoLS)

Digital Divide for Offender Learners• Access to IT – attitude, control “there’s no point in rehabilitating if you don’t know modern technology” (student)

• Internet Access - safety, public perception“[without internet access] even relatively ‘media-rich’ institutions still feel

profoundly isolated from the wider society” Jewkes (2007)

• Course Choice“I can’t get the degree that I wanted … all the courses are needing internet access

now”

• Access to the OU site“I have access to my own material but not the

OU library. … I have access to all the University Libraries

in the world except the OU.”

Bridging the Digital Divide

• University for Industry(UfI): Learndirect • Programme of Offender Learning and Resettlement

Information Services (POLARIS) – 8 prisons in London, many now live. Openlearn provided.

Conflict with Virtual Campus

• Virtual Campus Trials– 2 test beds (West Midlands, Eastern). LSC run.

• Intranets – Whitemoor WW

Main areas of concern• Prison: Poor media and public perception. Main

purpose of prison to protect the public. Need to raise awareness of the benefits of HE

• Pedagogy: Unique prison culture and environment –

need an adapted pedagogy which effectively identifies this – informal and formal learning links, role of prison officer, staff training

• Technology: Appropriate use of modern technologies and the internet. Safe platforms exist but connectivity slow. Flexibility in program design, campus models the way forward.

Prison

• Much media coverage and academic writing invite us to view the ‘inadequate person’ not the ‘positive qualities and potential’

• Education occupies contested space within the prison regime • How do we nurture a society which believes that prisoners can

change? • Provide role models of prisoners ‘made good’ • Quantitative research required exploring links between HE and

reduced recidivism• 3-5% of European prisoners could undertake HE

(Callejo & Viedma, 2007).• Targets of just 2%, where possible, may provide

prison managers with a more compelling reason to

adopt HE (study group)

Prisons can be described as ‘human dustbins’ (Parkinson, 1997)

Pedagogy• Offender Education extremely demanding• Dearth of practical information • Initial induction and training for new educators• Day-to-day running of prison dependent on the good will of prison

officers• Students’ view prison officers as ‘indifferent’ or ‘obstructive’ (Pike,

2007)• Prison officers have untapped interest in learning and

resent offender learning opportunities

(Irwin & Wilson, 2008)• Provide prison officers with easier access to HE

and develop their role to allow more participation in

the rehabilitation of offenders

Technology• In 9 countries, 90% of prison HE students found computers and

internet access inadequate or very inadequate (Callejo & Viedma, 2007)

• Fears around using technology in prison should be clearly identified and addressed (Mitra, 2008)

• We need flexible learning programmes which use modern technologies and web access but allow for variability in the short term

• Campus models of education in prison, either physical or virtual, may encourage communities of practice by all learners in prison, including staff

• Linked e-learning networks could encourage the trial of virtual spaces and develop distance education in other languages

Anne PikeCOLMSCT CETL Fellow & Offender Learning Coordinator

The Open University

a.e.pike@open.ac.uk