A Portuguese Model of E-learning for Prisoners as an Example of Successful Application of New Technologies in Education of Convicts: A Case Study
Abstract
The article presents a discussion on the application of e-learning in education of prisoners in Portugal. Today, e-learning has already become a significant complementation and extension of the current education offer. Avoiding application of modern technologies in education may lead to intensification of digital, social, educational and economic disparities in the society. There are also threats of complete digital exclusion of some social groups. One of those groups is formed by people serving their imprisonment sentences. A serious problem in offering the opportunity to benefit from e-learning to this particular group pertains to infrastructural disparities and availability of computer equipment and access to the Internet. Furthermore, considering the specificity of penitentiary institutions, security becomes an important issue as well. In Portugal, education of prisoners, including e-learning, has been focused on the context of life-long learning. Modern tools have been created and applied in education of prisoners and their learning processes. The projects, such as EPRIS@@ and Open University have been already in operation for some time. They can be an inspiration for prison staff members in other countries. The aim of the article is to show the solutions pertaining to e-learning dedicated to prisoners applied in Portugal as an example of the successful use of new technologies in education of convicts. The research methods include a case study. The techniques applied in the research include document analysis, a free-form and question-targeted interviews. The following research problems have been formulated: What solutions in the field of e-learning dedicated to prisoners are applied in Portugal and how are they implemented? What are the objectives of the discussed projects? How does the course of the learning process look like, with the consideration of the applied tools? What problems are presented to prisoners? What are the weaknesses and strengths of the applied solutions? How is the evaluation of the learning outcomes achieved? What does the innovative character of the solutions applied in the field of e-learning dedicated to prisoners consist in? In order to collect the discussed material, the analysis of content, statistical data and interviews with educators working with prisoners have been used. The materials referred to in the article were collected in 2022, in the Institute Piaget and the Open University of Porto in Portugal.
Keywords
e-learning; new technologies; penitentiary system; Portugal; read-aptation of convicts
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