research on education using advancements in technology in alternative settings for a particular demographic

1. The Effects Of E-Learning On Prisoner Recidivism
Dr. Kimberley Garth
KAGL and Affiliates, Elk Grove, CA, USA
Dr. Joseph Francom
Computer Information Technology, Dixie State
College of Utah, St. George, UT, USA
E-Governance, Technology
and Education Conference,
Las Vegas, 2009

3. •Research indicates that when a prisoner is
returned to society that readiness for
successful reentry depends on many factors
such as
oEducation Programs
oVocational Training Programs
oWork Programs (Traditional Industries and
Private Industries)

4. Research of
American prisoners
indicates a link
between education
and crime, or
“street crime”(drug
sells, possession,
other) and reentry
success (Silverburg,
et. al, 2008; Steurer,
2003; Tolbert and
Klien, 2007). Chart II, Relationship between Education and
White-collar Crime

5. Statistics indicate more • Excons Leave Prison and Returns
than 50 % of ex-
Home
offenders recidivate
within the first 12 months
of release from prison.
Nearly 3/4ths fail to get
jobs and become
contributors in the family
and community (Bureau
of Justices Statistics,
2008; NAALs Report,
2003)
There’s a strong
association between
education and excons’
success.

6. •The demand for •ELearning has a vital
technology-delivered
role in mediating the
education to inmates is
excons successful
not new, but advocates
reentry back into the
want to prevent high
community .
parole failure due to
low literacy and
•Prison-based
education using
improve reentry.
•Purpose of our computer technology
may be statistically
research.
significant to

7. Rehabilitation Theory focuses on psychotherapy,
counseling, vocational, work training and education.
Technology Learning says “Learning through
‘discovery’ is best supported through ‘interactive’
media of the field trip… This is the richest mode of
learning and of course, the most expensive, requiring
both the intimate involvement of the teacher, and the
‘teacher constructed worlds’” (Laurillard, p. 44).
Task Technology Fit Theory focuses on interactivity
between user and computer; developing computer-

8. Accurately defining computer- or technology-assisted
education for prisoners was problematic. What exactly is
eLearning in a prison setting?
ELearning is defined as:
•use of technology as an instructional medium;
•a way to convey pedagogical material to the student inmate
•Literature review refers of corrections research uses terms as
“education technology” or computer-aided instruction.
ELearning is the use of any form of technology to enhance
Instruction; including use of:
• computers, networks, the world-wide web, streaming video,
streaming audio, chat or discussion boards and forums.

9. •Security Issues
Kargl, Futschek, and
Kalinyaprak (2005),
suggest that the eLearning
is a “suitable and
economic answer to
education in prisons,” but
two main security issues
must be addressed:
Network infrastructure and

10. • Cogburn’s (1990) study • But insufficient data on
of adult prisoners at Rikers computer-assisted
Island Prison in New York, education, especially on
Found that prisoners with eLearning and improved
“vocation education”—i.e. prisoner learning gains.
Emphasizing work-related
Literacy do better than • Literature mentions that
those without education. essential to adult learning is
relevancy and interests; from
the behaviorist theory also
vital is learning through
Reinforcement.

11. The US Department of Justice surveyed corrections
professionals who indicated a “strong interests” in the topic
of prisoner education and technology usage.
Politicians base decisions to support (or oppose) policies to
promote prison-based education based primarily on one
field of research, which is corrections.
The benefits of an interdisciplinary approach to “what
works” in prisoner reentry is to invest in gaining research
information from two fields—corrections and information
technology. Klein and Tolbert (2007), argue for quality of
education, using this approach.

12. • In this study we attempted to identify any strategic
goals that would sustain the growth of eLearning
education in American prisons; research is limited
and insufficient.
• A successful eLearning program in any setting
should minimally have the following two component
1) A good instructor to engage the learner and to
teach;
2) An easy to learn course management system
(CMS) for non-technologically oriented students so
that they don’t get lost in the tools and frustrated with
the eLearning mode.

13. • “Correctional education programs are intended to break this cycle of catch-
and-release by giving inmates the skills they need to succeed in the workplace
and the community.
• Research indicates a lack of vividness defining the essential features of a
prison-based eLearning model in which prisoners can gain an education and
achieve desired learning outcomes (Valacich and Nicholson, 2008). Also, the
• continuity of using the same teacher behind bars and in the community is an
issue that our research could not examine:
• Can teachers work through the local educational agency/district in which the
excon is returned to continue education?
• If so, how might technology facilitate the continuity of learning?
• We caution the reader to conclude that inmate participation in eLearning is
correlated to lower recidivism and improved reentry; although, there is an
association. Additional research is required to produce baseline measures of
the inmate populations involved in eLearning, for policy outcomes and to set
program standards that facilitate and not retard prisoner learning using