Abstract:

In spite of the proliferation of academic articles about online learning modalities in K-12 as well as postsecondary education during the pandemic, relatively little organized research has emerged on this topic concerning jails and prisons. The United States, with only four percent of the world's population, has over 20 percent of the world's prisoners, so reducing recidivism, that is, returning to jail, would seem to be enhanced by leveraging online learning in the carceral setting. Yet incarceration rates remain at high levels. One in four persons released from jail returns in less than a year. More than half (53 percent) of all jail inmates have less than high school education, 23 percent are high school graduates, 17 percent have some college, and only seven percent have a college degree or higher.

This paper will examine what could be a very interesting paradigm for taking advantage of the potential of online learning, even in the restricted confines of carceral life—the General Education Development (GED) high school equivalency certificate. This certificate, when earned, has proven to be a successful stepping stone not only away from prison life but also toward long-term employability. Nearly every jail and prison offer some GED program, but online learning approaches for GED are rare. Despite the exceptional post-prison results by GED recipients, the number actually achieving the certification is a small percent of the prison population and has been drastically restricted during the pandemic. There has been very little innovation in teaching GED in prisons—traditional classroom and workbook approaches are still the norms. In this paper, we will examine some possible approaches by which the potential benefits of online education and its disciplines could increase GED success.

Why select the GED for special emphasis? First, it is one of a very small number of programs available in nearly all seven thousand U.S. jails, prisons, and other carceral facilities. Online learning technology might provide a breakthrough that could have broad positive effects. Secondly, GED teaching approaches have been characterized by traditional drill and practice classroom methodologies with little indication that alternative modalities are available, in spite of the success of online learning elsewhere. Finally, online learning techniques are beginning to be introduced across the entire jail and prison population, with special emphasis on specially configured tablets so that GED could become a good focus for their greater use.

To emphasize what might be possible more broadly, we single out a specific example where educational technology is already being leveraged. The Washington DC jail—it might be a paradigm not only for advantageous use of a range of I.T. innovations but especially useful for GED instruction.

Keywords:

GED, correctional education, online courses, e-learning, tablets