The benefits and challenges to accessing open educational resources in correctional education settings

Presented by Joyce Oswald, M.Ed., ProfessorTacoma Community College

A 2000 anger management class at Tutwiler Prison for Women teaches female inmates how to cope and change. An instructor talks with her class in a classroom set up in the back of a dormitory. (Frank Couch/The Birmingham News)

Benefits of OER1. Huge cost savings as correctional education programs

must provide a textbook for each student2. May allow for more current materials used each school

year due to the ability to reproduce in house textbooks3. May be able to allow students to keep textbooks due

to low cost4. Will enable instructors to access more timely

worksheets, videos and other creative commons or public domain materials

5. Will empower instructors to seek out the best material possible for their students and connect students to internet resources

Challenges for OER1. Prison educators are given very little time for research and

the ability to acquire OER resources

2. All OER materials must be reproducible or easily converted to an offline, non-internet based teaching platform

3. Are materials adequately reviewed and do they meet each college’s curriculum guidelines?

4. What if an educator does not properly research the materials and copyright violations exist?

5. Will there be ancillary materials to assist instructors with exam creation, grading keys and other teaching tools?

OER may become a vital part of a correctional educator’s world—albeit internet access is difficult but budgets are stretched to their limits. My hope is that correctional educators and colleges will support one another by collaborating on appropriate materials for their students. We need staff that will be able to research and confirm that the materials selected meet course outcomes and that we’re providing quality resources to our students. I hope to have CANVAS in my classroom soon so I can link my classes to existing OER materials and see how best to deliver OER to my students.

The future of OER for for correctional educators