Computer-Based Education in Prison Schools

Abstract

The PLATO Corrections Project (PCP) is implementing PLATO computer-based education in Illinois prisons. Since October 1975, the PCP staff has assembled a pre-GED and GED curriculum of over 400 already available PLATO lessons; has developed the PCP instructional management, communications, and evaluation system; has designed an instructor training package; and more recently has developed forty hours of mastery-based instruction in adult reading comprehension and vocabulary development. Some 2,000 students and 120 staff in three Illinois prisons have used the system for over 32,000 hours. The PCP network also has expanded to the Minnesota Department of Corrections. Data collected on student/instructor usage, attitudes, and achievement demonstrate that the PCP System is feasible, attractive, and effective in corrections education. Moreover, educational strategies employed in PCP's current curriculum development program will form the basis for a comprehensive basic skills curriculum for educationally disadvantaged youth and adults.

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References

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