Wp symposium-he in prisonImproving access and support for Higher Education in prisons across the UK. Anne Pike, Helen Maxwell, Hilary Jupp, Mel Wharton, Pat McCarthy, Rob Parsons, Val Hancock-1-11-11

Improving access and support for HE in Prisons Wide Open, 1st November 2011 Anne Pike, Helen Maxwell, Hilary Jupp, Mel Wharton, Pat McCarthy, Rob Parsons, Val Hancock

Hilary Jupp: Civilizing influences in a hostile environment
Pat McCarthy: OU Core Curriculum for Prisons
Rob Parsons: B201: A business school initiative
Helen Maxwell and Mel Wharton: The Virtual Campus
Val Hancock: Supporting OU prison tutors
Anne Pike: Stats, Students and Strategy

Civilizing influences in a hostile environment
Hilary Jupp
Student Services Manager, Prisons Liaison
Faculty Coordinator, Social Sciences
Open University in the North

‘ The degree of civilization in a society can be
judged by entering its prisons.’
Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-1881)

“… if we are serious about widening participation, we must do more … Giving all prospective students a chance, fuelling social mobility and helping to make the UK a fairer country are at the heart of The Open University's mission.”
( THE, 6th October 2011 )

“ Our Openings, Access & Taster courses are designed to encourage new and under-represented audiences into higher education by removing some of the barriers often faced by these groups.”
(MB letter to Guardian 30th September 2011).

‘ at the time, you know, I just got my sentence and my head wasn’t really around doing anything serious at the time.’
(Oliver)
‘ It’s the first lesson you learn, [to] keep a fairly low profile….’
(Ross)

‘ We had “Jane” and she was really really helpful, sitting down with me, talking about what I could achieve, that really did help, encouraged me a lot.’
(Oliver)
‘… the only person really was “Jane” , she was understanding.’ (Richard)

‘ It was a bit daunting because of the use of these word I hadn’t heard of … and also the question, you’re never
really sure if you’re on the right lines.’
(Louis)

‘ being able to talk to your tutor helps a lot, that helps a lot.’
(Ian)
‘ When I’ve had tutors coming in it’s actually helped me a lot.’
(Oliver)

‘ It’s the biggest change that’s ever happened to me, and the best thing I ever done. It’s been such a positive thing for me.’ (Richard)
‘ Apart from the learning aspect, self-confidence and belief in myself that I can achieve things again.’
(Ben)

ISSUES ARISING FROM WORK DONE ON THIS PROJECT FEBRUARY TO JULY 2011 PATRICIA MCCARTHY INDEPENDENT COURSE PRODUCTION AND PRESENTATION CONSULTANT The Open University Core Curriculum for Prisons

Challenges in Module Design
Use of resources on the internet
Requirement to do independent searches for material on or through the internet
Use of OU library managed links
Use of Collaboration as a learning and assessment tool
Use of Elluminate and VLE forums for tuition
Changes to presentation media and tuition during module life.

Programme level challenges
Ability to be able to offer coherent and complete programmes of study (prerequisite modules)
Academic judgement on how much of a course can be missed, in both learning materials and assessment, without losing academic credibility of quality?

Focus of the Core Curriculum and Resource
A higher focus on the Open Programme?
Making choices about what programmes are those the OU wishes to offer to the Prison Service
Resource in terms of course presentation and production (academic leadership and curriculum management support)
Resource in LTS.

A Core Curriculum for Prisons an ongoing process
Patricia McCarthy (Consultant to OLDG) [email_address]
Helen Maxwell, Offender Learning Programme Manager [email_address]

B201 Business Organisations and their Environments Offline project Rob Parsons

B201 Business Organisations and their Environments 60 point 2 nd level module Compulsory in several OUBS qualifications 5 assignments, one of which results from a collaborative activity, the other four including marks for peer interaction. End of module exam.

Organising taking the offline version requires considerable co-ordination

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Prisonbars.PNG

The Virtual Campus
Helen Maxwell & Mel Wharton
Offender Learning, Student Services

Virtual Campus & OU study
What is it?
The Virtual Campus enables prisoners to have access to a virtual learning environment which is both secure and supervised.
Working in partnership with the National Offender Management Service, Skills Funding Agency and Meganexus.
What are the benefits?
Offers students the ability to use IT skills
Offers range of media e.g. DVD/audio extracts
Offers communication between tutor and student
More time efficient for the prison e.g. direct submission of eTMAs

Openings pilot
Openings courses are available on the Virtual Campus for those prisons that have the system and students registered.
June pilot = 2 prisons (Featherstone/Stafford).
September pilot = 6 prisons.
November pilot = 23 prisons.
What next?
Ability to communicate with tutor and submit eTMAs via the secure relay messaging system (All modules).
Additional content and advertising OU on homepage e.g. Offender Learning Website/Tasters/Study skills
Work with partners and OU faculties to add further courses to the VC (Core curriculum route)

Alternative approaches to online activities for prisoners and others without access to the internet Centre for Open Learning of Mathematics, Science, Computing and Technology (COLMSCT) Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning Val Hancock AL [email_address] Val Hancock - WideOpen

Action research
Research
Student interviews
Prison education staff interviews
Prison tutors forum
Action
Prison tutor support wiki
M150 Trial
Research
Statistics
Tutor questionnaires
Val Hancock - WideOpen

PRISON TUTORS FORUM One of the first shocks was to discover that the prisoner had no internet access which made things rather challenging on a course that was using the eTMA system, issued TMAs via a website and required students to take part in FirstClass discussions for TMAs! I'm not clear on who provides the student with TMA questions when they are only available online (I sent a hardcopy of TMA01 just in case) There is no alternative to electronic submission of the ECA and if it can't be submitted electronically he will fail the course I think it is too much to expect either the prison Education Officer or myself to provide hard copies of everything they need He cannot do any of the iCMA's Just wonder what colleagues do in this situation? I hopefully can and will see the students F2F but what about all the online stuff? I don’t think he is allowed CD/DVDs Val Hancock - WideOpen

Content analysis Val Hancock - WideOpen Theme Number of messages Offering help & guidance 39 Lack of internet access 35 Asking for help & guidance 22 Reflecting on personal experiences 13 Welcoming forum creation 11

Prison Tutor Support wiki
Alternative Approaches
Solutions for overcoming problems due to lack of internet access in prison
Advice & Guidance Practical advice for tutors who have students in prison Prisons Guidance on the facilities and requirements of individual prisons Val Hancock - WideOpen

Forum & wiki 2011 Val Hancock - WideOpen

Useful Links
AL community site (auto-enrol if first visit)
learn.open.ac.uk /site/AL-FORUMS
(bottom block on the page)
Prison ALs Support wiki
http:// learn.open.ac.uk/mod/ouwiki/view.php?id =606674
Prison ALs forum
http:// learn.open.ac.uk/mod/repeatactivity/view.php?id =533732

Stats, Students and Strategy
Anne Pike,
Researcher (IET) & AL
Higher and Distance Education in Prison Research Interest Group http://kn.open.ac.uk/public/workspace.cfm?wpid=9535

Prior Qualifications 2010-11: Comparison Prison v Non-prison student

Non-prison v Prison student success rates

Top courses in prison 2011 Law Level 1 The Arts: past & present Personal Finance Learning to change Using Maths Starting Law Starting Maths Understanding society Starting Psychology Business Level 1 Social Science Level 1 Intro to management Title 40 W100 43 AA100 43 DB123 50 Y165 54 MST121 59 Y166 62 Y162 91 Y157 95 Y163 125 B120 130 DD101 141 Y159 No of students Course

The benefits: the student view “ It [OU] makes me feel a lot more like a human being. I’m not a number in a box, I’m an individual, I’m allowed to share and expand my mind” “ If it hadn’t been for the OU I’d have folded in on myself years ago.” (Andrew) “ I just can’t wait to get out and use the skills that I’ve learnt and try and put this behind me and I shouldn’t say this about jail and it sounds a cliché but jail is where I’ve found myself” ( Ethan )

‘ The degree of civilization in a society can be
judged by entering its prisons.’
Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-1881)

A visit to Norway see full account at http:// hdeprg.blogspot.com /

Thank-you, Questions

For discussion
How can the OU improve access and support for students in prison?

Wp symposium-he in prisonImproving access and support for Higher Education in prisons across the UK. Anne Pike, Helen Maxwell, Hilary Jupp, Mel Wharton, Pat McCarthy, Rob Parsons, Val Hancock-1-11-11

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Wp symposium-he in prisonImproving access and support for Higher Education in prisons across the UK. Anne Pike, Helen Maxwell, Hilary Jupp, Mel Wharton, Pat McCarthy, Rob Parsons, Val Hancock-1-11-11 Presentation Transcript