After dinner, before the kids wake up, in the middle of the night. Everyone has an optimum time for learning and corrections departments are making fast work to inject technology into their training systems to tap into those times.

The use of distance learning to train corrections staff has grown in recent years as state and local jurisdictions try to pull together partners and existing technology networks to expand the reach of training and reduce costs.

"Distance learning has advantages. I can do this training at my home when I am at the peak of my learning. I can go online, take this course then, if I have to go to work, [I can] shut down and return to it later. It's the convenience," said Mark Carey, a warden for the Minnesota Department of Corrections, President-elect of the American Probation and Parole Association and a consultant.

Different agencies are trying out various types of distance learning platforms and sticking with ones that they know and trust. But, despite technological advancements that expand the possibilities for multimedia training programs, many agencies have not found the funds to include them in their training plan. And, there's no real best practices standard for these training programs for agencies to follow.

"People are delving into this based on the opportunity that presents itself. I don't think we're far enough down the road to standardize and understand what we might be missing [in our programs], but it will happen over time," said Carey.

As a result, there is a widely varied approach to distance learning and online training for correctional staff.

Some programs basically transplant text onto a web interface, while others use live facilitators in the learning experience to assist students with the courses.

This approach is the model used by the Community Corrections E-Learning Collaborative, a joint project supported by the APPA, National Institute of Corrections, Federal Judicial Center, National Law Enforcement and Correction Technology Center-Rocky Mountain Region and The Education Coalition.

E-Learning Prototype for Community Corrections

Knowing that corrections agencies, and community corrections agencies in particular, are hard pressed to find the funds to launch online learning programs for staff, the Community Corrections E-Learning Collaborative was created to provide courses at little to no cost to these entities.

Frank Domurad, corrections consultant and Vice President of Summit View Consulting (headed by Mark Carey), began working with the non-profit The Education Coalition to formulate the online learning pilot project.

The idea was to collaborate with subject matter experts in the corrections field to develop courses for the five-course pilot project and in turn, those experts would be able to use the online training for their own agencies.

"Normally this is an expensive process. Developing an online course costs a lot of money. Collaboration is in our title because we knew people who were experts and we asked if they would help develop the courses," said Domurad, who previously worked for the New York City Department of Probation.

The difference between this online training project and others has to do with the use of facilitators for the courses, Domurad said. Facilitators for this project typically come online at least once a day to interact with students via the Internet in chatrooms or via email to grade papers or answer questions.

"A lot of what you [typically] see online is something close to a book online. There is just you and the computer; it gets pretty lonely out there.  Most research shows adults don't learn very well that way," said Domurad.

So, in addition to requesting that subject matter experts from corrections agencies help write the courses for free, the collaborative also worked with those experts to serve as facilitators for the courses.

The subject matter experts teach the course, assign students work related to the course, and comment on the work the students hand in.

"If a student has any questions, they can contact the facilitator. If a student is having some difficulty, they can have a private conversation with the facilitator," said Domurad.

The collaborative trained about 35 facilitators from across the country to do this for its courses. So far, the collaborative has delivered four courses to 400 students in 24 agencies. Those courses include Motivational Interviewing, Individual and Group Cognitive Behavior Interventions, Introduction to the Supervision of Sex Offenders and Family Dynamics and Domestic Violence. The collaborative's fifth course, Officer Safety, is due to be completed soon. All are geared toward community and institutional corrections.

Domurad believes that having facilitators as part of the online course is essential to making this learning experience a success.

"The drop-out rate for unfacilitated courses is 75 percent; the drop-out rate for facilitated is 25 percent. Students can get help; they are not alone out there and it becomes a social learning experience again," he said.

Carla Lane of The Education Coalition said students also stayed in these course more often because they must take an orientation to online learning course as part of their enrollment. 

 "You can't just put people into a situation without preparing them for that," she said.

Despite their initial success, the future of these courses, is not certain.

While the launch of the courses was supported by a $50,000 grant from NLECTC, the project's future development will likely rely on the creation of some type of cost structure.

Domurad said that he believes the cost for online courses needs to remain low for corrections agencies to justify it.

"Our goal is to provide quality online training at an affordable price. It can no longer be free. In the future if we can use this as the model, we can keep costs down," Domurad said.

The model, he added, might include the involvement of agencies with subject matter experts writing the courses, but also receiving royalty payments each time the course is used by another agency.

One thing the collaborative does know is that corrections agencies are willing to try online learning - if the price is right.

According to Carey, a survey conducted by the collaborative showed that agencies would be willing to pay $100 or less per student for a course online and many would be willing to pay $125.

In comparison, face-to-face training, Carey said, depending on the class size, can range from $50 a head to $250 and up, not including travel costs, hotel costs and other expenses.

According to Lane, the collaboration's five courses will likely be offered this summer and fall at reduced rates to corrections agencies.

Concern about those training costs, combined with a nation-wide budget crunch,  has caused agency leaders to look for training alternatives like distance learning.

Many states are going it alone to ensure they obtain the exact type of training program they want for their staff.

States Try Online Learning

Recently the Kentucky Department of Corrections began the planning process to move much of its academy courses for staff into an online format.

According to Kentucky DOC Commissioner John Rees, the plan involves taking existing pre-service and in-service courses traditionally given at the central academy and placing many of them in an online learning structure.

Those courses that would not adapt well to online learning, such as hand-to-hand combat or firearms training, would be given to staff members in a traditional form at three or four regional locations that are closer to the corrections facilities.

"The cost savings are going to be substantial. We get to eliminate the cost of maintaining the academy and, not to mention, the dollars for housing and travel," said Rees.

The project is a collaboration with Eastern Kentucky University, which has been a conduit in the past for some of the DOC's training, and the multimedia firm Screened Images Inc., which created the online learning platform - Crimcast. Crimcast will be the learning management system that the DOC uses to create and house its staff training courses.

Rees said the platform will allow the agency to build custom courses according to the DOC's specifications, which is an advantage over other products.

Currently, DOC staff are working to transform existing lesson plans into online learning courses, which will include graphics and testing mechanisms.

If all goes according to schedule, Rees said DOC staff could start using courses online by late fall or early winter this year.

Initially staff will log into the courses from computers in training labs at correctional facilities, but the end goal is to allow staff to log on to the online training courses from their homes.

Rees is excited about the possibility of providing training using distance learning and believes that staff will embrace the change as well.

"The society has changed. Five years ago we might have needed to provide computer training but our workforce is changing. We are using the PC in everything we do. Not only has technology improved, but it is more user friendly," Rees said.

Other states have already begun the online learning process for staff, but have found a lack of funding to be a barrier to expanding their projects.

The Iowa Department of Corrections Online Training Project began several years ago when corrections training staff were able to utilize leftover grant funding to create an online version of several best practices training modules.

According to Dennis Baugh, Training Specialist at the Iowa Corrections Training Center, the project's purpose was to allow staff to access these training modules either from the home or their institutions during certain hours.

Baugh said the training was based on the "What Works" best practices in corrections research done in the late 90s.

"It is used for information education to inform and educate staff on the concepts [of evidence-based programming]," Baugh said.

While this training was not the typical academy course, it was information that the department wanted as many staff as possible to experience.

According to Baugh, the training staff wrote the curriculum for online use and then gave it to the department's IT staff to transform it into a web application.

The courses consist of text on web pages with tests that give users real-time answers. The courses also allow staff members to start and stop the courses at any point along the way.

The staff who have accessed the courses seem to embrace the online learning concept, but the DOC has not been able to expand the project.

"There are a lot of people who are doing it. It is something that has to be factored into any corrections agency's budget and thought process. [But] like all states, there is a budget issue," said Baugh.

Nevertheless, Baugh is convinced that web-based learning for staff is up and coming.

Many states, he said, are trying their hand at online and web-based learning as well as satellite programs for staff training. One element that he said is important to the success of any distance learning project is interaction.

Iowa DOC staff have been able to create more interaction in distance learning through a satellite program through the state's communication network, which connects all state agencies. Corrections staff from all over the state have been able to be trained in programs that are taught by an instructor from one site via cable and satellite links. To interact with the instructor, a staff member simply presses a microphone button and then a video camera pans to that person.

"It is very effective for getting information out," he said. While agencies try these various methods of training, research is being done to nail down specifically what makes it effective.

Currently, research is under way through a National Institute of Justice grant to determine how effective distance learning is for staff training.

An Effectiveness Comparison

James Wells, Director of the Center for Criminal Justice Education and Research at the College of Justice and Safety, Eastern Kentucky University, is currently conducting a research project aimed at determining how well students learn from distance learning applications.

Wells has been involved in EKU's use of distance learning for students of the university who live in rural areas and has studied its effectiveness there.

"We've studied and evaluated that and found that learning can still be effective and it saves the students time. Each week we saved them 110 miles of driving," he said.

What it takes for these classes to be successful, he adds, is a thorough approach by the instructor and a real effort to be organized.

The NIJ grant that Wells is involved in calls for the study of the effectiveness of criminal justice-related training, including online training.

Using courses taught at The Moundsville Center in West Virginia, host of the Mock Prison Riot and Mock Disaster each year, Wells plans to evaluate one course that is being taught both in a traditional classroom and online.

In addition, Wells' team is comparing the learning that students obtain using these courses.

Typically, an online course provides a student several chances to answer a question correctly or offers multiple chances to take an exam. This does not happen in the traditional classroom setting. So, Wells plans to study the differences in course effectiveness by measuring the results of these different test-taking formats.

"The traditional class will have the opportunity to take the test only once. [And] we're going to have two online groups, one that takes it once and another that gets multiple opportunities to take tests," he said.

The results of research like this combined with the kick-the-tires approach that many different corrections agencies are taking with online and distance learning projects is an indication of the rise in its popularity.

And, as the corrections field strives to train its staff in a tough economic market, more and more agencies will be looking for creative ways to train their staff.

"I believe the profession is poised and ready [for distance learning] with some barriers.
For some it is the technology barrier and for others it is the learning curve issue, [but]  I think we'll get there," said Carey.

Resources:

Iowa Department of Corrections Online Training Project
http://www.infoweb.state.ia.us/corrections/

To reach The Education Coalition call 949-369-3867 or email
carlalane@aol.com

The Distance Education Clearinghouse
http://www.uwex.edu/disted/home.html

Crimcast - www.crimcast.com