Incarcerated coders developed an LMS for offline remote learning
Robert Henke (in blue), director of the Washington University Prison Education Project, talks with graduates at the project’s first commencement ceremony in 2019. (Joe Angeles / Washington University)
Share Apr 21, 2021 | EDSCOOP
A group of incarcerated coders in Missouri have developed an offline learning management system for prisons that is now expanding throughout the state.
Washington University in St. Louis’ Prison Education Project won a two-year, $980,000 grant from the Mellon Foundation last December to build out its program, including new courses, staff members and a computer room. A major component is developing “The Learning Center,” a learning management system that allows instructors to communicate with prisoners engaged in self-guided courses without an internet connection.
Two-year $980,000 award to support education access, social justice in two prisons
Students at the Missouri Eastern Correctional Center in Pacific, Mo., in 2017. (Photo: Joe Angeles/Washington University)
April 19, 2021 SHARE
Washington University in St. Louis’ Prison Education Project (PEP) has won a two-year $980,000 grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The award resulted from the Mellon Foundation’s “Future of Higher Learning in Prison” competition.
“This has been quite a year,” said Robert Henke, professor of drama and of comparative literature in Arts & Sciences, who serves as PEP director as well as co-principal investigator of the Mellon grant. “Last spring, because we were no longer able to have on-site classes, we worked with WashU and the Missouri Department of Corrections to make the switch to virtual instruction. It has been a steep learning curve for everyone involved.”