A report from the Alliance for Excellent Education and the Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education finds that technology in education can produce significant gains in student achievement.  Engagement and success where found to be improved especially among students most at risk.  As a result, prison education can benefit by augmenting current programs with secure technology.

Access to the Internet can improve the quality of prison education in many ways. It makes available a wealth of targeted information, knowledge and pertinent educational resources, increasing opportunities for learning beyond the prison classroom. Interactive teaching methods, supported by the Internet, enable individuals in the criminal justice system to learn at a pace tailored to their abilities.

The digital divide is the gap between people who have access to computer technology and people who don’t. Though largely a racial issue, the divide also affects rural areas of the country as well as prisons. A blended approach of traditional teaching and technology is common-place today.  Many schools use a mix of digital resources, touting potential benefits such as greater ability to personalize, higher engagement among students and an enhanced ability to keep content current.

Recommendations from  the report, “Educational Technology in Corrections (2015)” includes permitting access to dynamic content as well as expanding programming to include “more post-secondary and basic education coursework”.  SecureLearn’s innovative approach to providing secure Internet access overcomes limitations imposed by the digital divide in prison education.