From access to success: improving the higher education learning experience for incarcerated students

From access to success: improving the higher education learning experience for incarcerated students

Higher education institutions are increasingly relying on digital technologies that require internet access to support learning and teaching, particularly from a distance. Disadvantaged student groups that do not have access to the internet, such as incarcerated students, are often excluded as a result. This paper reports on a project that will develop and trial a sustainable and innovative learning management system (LMS) called Stand-Alone Moodle (SAM) that is able to operate without internet access. SAM will enable institutions to provide these students with similar course materials, activities and support available to other students, thereby improving the quality of the student learning experience. SAM will be trialled within a Queensland correctional centre and evaluated using a design-based research methodology. The findings and recommendations from the project will be disseminated to learning institutions and correctional centres across Australia to encourage equitable access to education for disadvantaged students. The digital literacies of staff and students, the maintenance of the technology and sufficient access to computer labs all had to be accommodated within the design of the project.

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Workshop no. 39.