Supporting students in prison –
cottage industry
or big business?
Val Hancock
COLMSCT Associate Teaching Fellow
vyh3@tutor.open.ac.uk
Centre for Open Learning of Mathematics, Science, Computing and Technology (COLMSCT)
Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning
The Open University is incorporated by Royal Charter (RC 000391), an exempt charity in England & Wales and a charity registered in Scotland (SC 038302).
Action research
Research
• Student interviews
• Prison education staff interviews
• Prison Tutors forum
Action
• Prison Tutor Support wiki
• M150 Trial
Research
• Statistics
• Tutor questionnaires
Prison Tutor Support wiki
Advice & Guidance
Practical advice for
tutors who have
students in prison
Alternative Approaches
Solutions for overcoming
problems due to lack of
internet access in prison
Prisons
Guidance on the
facilities and
requirements of
individual prisons
Alternative approaches
Course Component
Alternative approach
Course news
Alert prison education staff by email, phone or post
Web references
Offline versions of web pages emailed or on CD
Printed pages
Internet searches
Mediated search by OU library, tutor or prison staff
Alternative sources e.g. books, DVD encyclopedias
Videos & podcasts
Offline versions emailed or on CD
Transcripts emailed or on CD
Collaborative tools
Offline tutor group (or dummy) forum/wiki/blog
Offline responses
Download assignment
Email as attachment
Print and post
Assignment submission
Email to electronic submission system
Paper submission
Computer Marked
Assignments
Post paper OCR form
Course website
Download to prison intranet running generic Moodle
EDO framework – a proportional response
Categorise activities requiring internet access
Essential
students will fail the course if the activity cannot be carried
out
Desirable
students can pass the course if the activity cannot be carried
out but their overall grade is likely to be affected
Optional
many students outside prison will not engage with the
activity
Trial
M150: Data Computing & Information 2009J
• 9 students
• 7 tutors
• 7 prisons
•
•
•
•
•
•
Getting started
TMA00
M150 course website
General support
Useful forums
Useful sites
General Advice
TMA01
• Question 1 (i) (b)
• Question 1 (i) (f)
TMA02
• Question 2 (v)
• Question 3 (i)
• Question 3 (iii)
Specific Advice
Tutor questionnaires (2008J)
• All 7 tutors completed the questionnaire
• No student had access to the internet
• Assignment submission
– Electronically: 5 students
– Paper: 1 student
– Mix: 1 student (TMA01 on paper)
• All the tutors would be happy to have another student in prison
• Comments:
Emails to Learning centre staff and material sent were passed on with
minimal delay.
Access to the podcasts was difficult - in the end I downloaded them
to a CD and then had to post it to the LC, as I wasn't allowed to take
the CD into the prison myself.
It is important for the tutor to know initially what the student can and
can't access
Statistics (2008J)
9 students registered
• 2 withdrew before the course started
• 1 did not complete the course
• 6 passed the course
Assignment Marks
90
80
70
60
Score
50
40
30
20
10
0
1
Offender Learners
Entire cohort
2
3
4
5
Assignme nt
6
Tutor questionnaires (2009B)
• 6 out of 8 tutors completed the questionnaire
• 1 student had access to the internet
• Assignment submission
– Electronically: 5 students
– Paper: 4 students
– Mix: 1 student (TMA05 on paper)
• 4 tutors would be happy to have another student in prison
• Comments:
A great deal of extra work for tutors above the normal expected workload
Education depatment seemed reluctant to dowload materials and submit TMAs via
the internet
System for supplying course materials from web should be provided directly by OU,
i experienced far too may problems and didn't know if any of it got to student.
.. communication with the education officer was difficult - extreme reluctance to
reply to emails. Material I sent was passed onto the student but nobody was
prepared to download anything apart from TMAs. [He] was fed up with the course
and his inability to contact me directly and decided to give up. Not the best
experience - but I would still do it again!
Statistics (2009B)
11 students registered
• 1 withdrew before the course started
• 1 withdrew part way through the course
• 1 did not complete the course
• 8 passed the course
Assignment Marks
90
80
70
60
50
Score
40
30
20
10
0
1
Offender Learners
Entire cohort
2
3
Assignment
4
Discussion
• Should support for OU students in prison continue as a
cottage industry?
• Or should it become big business by transferring the
onus for support to Walton Hall?
• What do we mean by ‘accessibility’?
• Is the EDO framework useful?
• Are there other learning design applications for the
framework?
Handouts
• Advice for ALs who have an M150 student in prison
– Getting started
– TMA specific
• Forum discussion
• Offline web pages
• EDO framework
Further information
• Alternative approaches to online activities for prisoners
and others without access to the Internet (COLMSCT
project):
http://www.open.ac.uk/colmsct/activities/details/detail.php?itemId=474c44f736651&them
eId=48a9748015077
• Prison Tutor Support wiki:
http://conclave.open.ac.uk/prisontutorsupport/index.php/Main_Page
• Val Hancock: vyh3@tutor.open.ac.uk