Supporting Open University students in prison: a case study

Authors

  • Geraldine Huzar The Open University
  • Hossam Kassem The Open University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.47408/jldhe.vi23.609

Keywords:

studying in prisons, library support, online library, library resources, no online access, volunteer

Abstract

The Open University (OU) has around 1800 students studying in prisons (Students in Secure Environments, 2019) with no internet access. They study offline with no access to the OU library’s online resources. This case study explores the student volunteer scheme introduced to help students in prison to indirectly access online library resources. It looks at how and why the service was set up, the experience of running the service and an initial evaluation. Due to the small number of students taking part in the pilot and Covid-19 interrupting the service, further research is needed to assess the full impact on students studying from prison. This will be the next stage of our work.

Author Biographies

Geraldine Huzar, The Open University

Geraldine Huzar is a Learning and Teaching Librarian at the Open University (OU). Her passion is helping OU students to make the most of the library services and resources available during their studies. She is part of a team that does this through helping to develop digital literacy skills and enabling access for groups that are unable to study online. She has supported disabled students since joining the OU in 2002 and students in prison since 2016.

Hossam Kassem, The Open University

Hossam Kassem is a Learning and Teaching Librarian at the Open University Library. He specialises in delivering online teaching in Information Literacy and supporting disabled students and students in secure environments. Kassem is passionate about supporting disabled students and students in secure environments to become independent learners. He has been supporting these students since 2018.

References

Farley, H., Pike, A., Demiray, U. and Tanglang, N. (2016) 'Delivering digital higher education into prisons: the cases of four universities in Australia, UK, Turkey and Nigeria', GLOKALde the Official e-journal of UDEEEWANA, 2(2), pp.147-166.

Ministry of Justice (2019) Justice Data Lab statistics quarterly, England and Wales, July 2019. Available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/816029/Justice_Data_Lab_Statistics_July_2019.pdf (Accessed: 25 May 2020).

Open University, The (2019a) The Open University strategic plan to 2021/22. Milton Keynes: The Open University.

Open University, The (2019b) The Open University Financial Statement 2019. Milton Keynes: The Open University. Available at: https://www.open.ac.uk/foi/main/sites/www.open.ac.uk.foi.main/files/files/financial-statement-2019.pdf (Accessed: 27 August 2020).

Open University, The (2021a) Supporting students in secure environments. Available at: https://www.open.ac.uk/secure-environments/news/supporting-students-secure-environments (Accessed 07 February 2022).

Open University, The (2021b) Volunteer opportunities: library study volunteer. Available at https://www.oustudents.com/volunteer-library-study-volunteer-twenty-one-summer-1 (Accessed 16 August 2021).

Open University, The (2021c) Employability skills. Available at: https://help.open.ac.uk/employability-skills (Accessed 16 August 2021).

Open University Library, The (2020) Training and Events. Available at: https://www.open.ac.uk/library/training-and-events (Accessed: 7 February 2022).

Students in Secure Environments (2019) Students in Secure Environments (SiSE). Milton Keynes: The Open University.

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Published

16-03-2022

How to Cite

Huzar, G. and Kassem, H. (2022) “Supporting Open University students in prison: a case study”, Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education, (23). doi: 10.47408/jldhe.vi23.609.

Issue

No. 23 (2022)

Section

Case Studies

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