Bianca Arcangeli, Paolo Diana, Tatiana Capuano, Michele Pacelli

ELEARNING EDUCATION: BUILDING AN UPPER SECONDARY LEVEL COURSE FOR PRISONERS

What we present here is the format for an upper secondary level e-learning course (in particular for the italian “Liceo scientifico”).

The course is intended at first for the ICATT detainees of Eboli (Italy) as well as for the Italian detainees in general.

However it will also be suitable for other disadvantaged groups.

The format

Dipartimento di Sociologia e Scienza della Politica - DISSP now

Dipartimento di Scienze Politiche, Sociali e della Comunicazione - DSPSC

University of Salerno (Italy)

Liceo Scientifico “E. Medi” - Battipaglia (Italy)

I.C.A.T.T. Eboli (Italy)

Promoters

Tatiana Capuano, Michele Pacelli

Associazione Professionale Rapa Nui

Salerno (ITALY)

Design and implementation

its usefulness for disadvantaged groups and prisoners has been widely demonstrated in Europe

Main course issues

The choice of distance learning is based on:

consistent with data on the education levels of the Italian prison population

in line with general European recommendations on lifelong learning

To create an extended course leading to the recognition of a specific qualification, namely the high school diploma. This choice is:

its ability to accompany the prisoner in learning both inside and outside prison

The student’s needs are at the centre of the course design. A great deal of importance is therefore given to:

Main course issues

course accessibility in terms of contents as well as technology

clear and appropriately structured learning paths

well-defined roles assigned to students, tutors and faculty

Learning by doing

Collaborative e-learning: an educational design based on collaborative e-learning offers many cognitive and emotional benefits to prisoners. The main elements that distinguish it are interdependence, individual accountability and interaction, and are also required in the wider rehabilitation path i.e. in the construction of a new identity and in the detainee’s relationships within society, with particular reference to values and norms.

Main course issues

To achieve the project objectives a systemic conception of design has been adopted. This multi-disciplinary approach considers all the characteristics of the actors involved in the course, guaranteeing their active involvement in its design.

A complex system like the one under consideration has a variety of actors with different goals, roles and backgrounds; it is therefore necessary that the various figures involved communicate through the use of negotiated design techniques in order to add efficiency and quality to the entire learning system.

Design issues Systemic design and negotiated design

Design issues Target

Cognitive gaps which can be attributed to interrupted or at least not recently concluded schooling, marked by problematic experiences.

Impact of the digital divide: prisoners often have not acquired any basic technology skills and may not have any hardware available at the end of the sentence.

Cultural divide: it shows how, even among those who have the technology and the basic skills to use it, do not necessarily have a full and informed use of these instruments.

Design issues Limited context

The user has to operate in a context of restricted computer use because of the general restrictions of the prison. These limitations and the context of use significantly modify the use of the learning system.

In prison student:

accesses the contents in a local context from which he cannot get away, with a tendency to change slowly;

can not update or improve himself independently.

Within this context is possible to directly interact with peers, tutors and facilitators, and the contents and learning activities therefore being used in a less individualized social environment.

Design guidelines

The particular characteristics of the context led to the use of a hybrid form that is represented by a full-distance course where all the contents and activities are provided on-line, with the presence of tutors and facilitators in order to support students in the multimedia classroom of the institution as well as act as mediators in relation to the external environment.

An asynchronous form of e-learning was chosen. It generates a use of more personalized content, greater adaptability to the context, less organizational investment and lower costs in terms of hardware requirements.

Type of e-Learning

Design guidelines

by mediation with the external environment guaranteed by the presence of class tutors;

by the use of educational items capable of responding to the specific communication needs of the teacher, such as study tips and tricks for dealing with the study;

by the provided learning contents that were made as comprehensive as possible, with particular attention given to the use of simplified language;

by an extended use of modular design.

Opening/Closing

The “closed” learning path, required for security reasons, is balanced:

Design guidelines

This feature makes it possible to partially use the material, as well as to re-use the didactic resources in various learning projects.

Modularity: high-mid-low level

High-level modularity allows users to independently follow individual subjects or time periods evaluating the results achieved according to specific goals.

Mid-level modularity develops a division of each subject into Modules, Didactic Units and Learning Activities, thus allowing to trace into the learning contents reading paths in chronological or content order. On the same level, didactic support tools were designed that autonomously aided.

Low-Level modularity allows students, to construct an access to the content most suited to their condition. Students can decide to use the learning resources as either a continuous linear flow or can select, even at different times, the most suitable didactic elements, thus creating a personalised path able to optimize his learning.

Take a look at the Art.34 DEMO

Prof.ssa Bianca Arcangeli, Università di Salerno, Italy, arcangeli@unisa.it

Prof. Paolo Diana, Università di Salerno, Italy, diana@unisa.it

dott.ssa Tatiana Capuano, Associazione Rapa Nui, Italy, tatiana.capuano@gmail.com

dott. Michele Pacelli, Associazione Rapa Nui, Italy micpacel@gmail.com