Using digital technologies to implement distance education for incarcerated students: a case study from an Australian regional university (2014)

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Type of Content
Journal ArticlePublisher
International Council for Open and Distance EducationISSN
1369-99972304-070X
Collections
- Law: Journal Articles [221]
Abstract
As universities become increasingly reliant on the online delivery of courses for distance education, those students without access to the Internet are increasingly marginalised. Among those most marginalised are incarcerated students who are often from low socio-economic status backgrounds and have limited access to resources. This article reports on four projects that incrementally build on each other, three of which are completed, at the University of Southern Queensland that seek to provide access to higher education for incarcerated students. These projects developed a modified version of Moodle, called Stand Alone Moodle (SAM), which doesn’t require Internet access, but provides the same level of access and interactivity as regular Moodle. EBook readers were also used in two of the projects. A description of the projects, a summary of the results and issues is provided. The projects will be extended to deploy Stand Alone Moodle and tablet computers to correctional centres across Australia with a focus on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.
Citation
Farley HS, Doyle J Using digital technologies to implement distance education for incarcerated students: a case study from an Australian regional university. Open Praxis. 6(4). 357-357.This citation is automatically generated and may be unreliable. Use as a guide only.
Keywords
access to education; digital divide; distance education; higher education; incarcerated studentsANZSRC Fields of Research
39 - Education::3903 - Education systems::390399 - Education systems not elsewhere classified46 - Information and computing sciences::4608 - Human-centred computing::460801 - Accessible computing
44 - Human society::4402 - Criminology::440202 - Correctional theory, offender treatment and rehabilitation
45 - Indigenous studies::4502 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education::450205 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander higher education
Rights
All rights reserved unless otherwise statedRelated items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
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Digital equity: Diversity, inclusion and access for incarcerated students in a digital age
Willems J; Farley, Helen (2019)ELearning has been touted as the way in which universities can enable participation by large numbers of students from non-traditional cohorts. There is no doubt that the flexibility of access that eLearning allows makes ... -
Making the connection: Allowing access to digital higher education in a correctional environment
Macdonald J; Hopkins S; Dove S; Abraham C; Cox J; Seymour S; Lee C; Patching L; Farley, Helen (2019)In most Australian correctional jurisdictions, prisoners are not allowed access to the internet precluding them from participating in higher education online. This paper reports on an Australian government-funded project, ... -
e-Learning Incarcerated: Prison Education and Digital Inclusion
Hopkins S; Farley, Helen (Common Ground Research Networks, 2015)This paper explores an Australian trial of mobile learning technologies, including internet-independent eBook readers loaded with tertiary preparation materials, which attempted to improve access to tertiary courses and ...