15 July 2020
In this webinar, Daryl Jones and Richard Booth from Shrewsbury College speak about how they are bringing augmented reality to education departments in Young Offender Institutions (YOIs). The webinar is chaired by Andrew Dahl from Coracle Inside, who provide secure laptops installed with educational materials to be used in cells.
Click here to listen to this Webinar.After seeing how augmented reality was being used to facilitate learning at Shrewsbury College to great effect, Daryl Jones was blown away by its impact. Working with Richard Booth, who has 21 years of experience working with augmented reality at the college, the pair have been granted Erasmus funding to bring its educational benefits to learners in YOIs (Young Offenders Institutions).
Daryl talks about the potential role of for augmented reality in the prison system, quoting Dame Sally Coates’s 2016 review on prison education in which she states that education “should be at the heart” of prison reform. He outlines how augmented reality is unique in its ability to develop the technological abilities of prison learners and also to offer an alternative to the mainstream school system which people in prison may have negative experiences of. .
Richard then outlines the augmented reality resources he has created specifically for learners in the prison system, including mental health support, construction courses and even first night support.
The webinar offers an extremely valuable insight into the impact the development of digital technology within the prison system could have on learners, in particular during the current COVID-19 lockdown period.
To find out more about Richard and Daryl’s work click here and for the rest of the Wednesday Webinar series check out the Prisoner Learning Alliance SoundCloud.
Promoting the use of digital technology in prisons is one of Prisoner Learning Alliance’s key priorities. You can read more about the importance of digital technology in prison education in our blog on the importance of in-cell technology, and in our latest briefing:
Our briefing looks at the use of digital technology in prisons from Spain to Australia, of in-cell tablets to virtual reality headsets. We hope that England and Wales can learn from some of these lessons from abroad.
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