Education has suffered an increase in complexity, diversification and decentralisation with the advent of globalisation and technological advances. Similarly, there was a growing need to reduce training costs, primarily due to a lack of financing in various fields and organisations.This new context has impacted how training is delivered as it must now accommodate different target groups and learning styles, be easier to apply, and be more direct, interactive and cost-effective.
The COVID-19 pandemic exponentially enhanced these needs due to its direct consequences in in-person gatherings and the severe financial effort demanded from governments, institutions, and organisations. Indeed, training has had to adapt and find solutions to continue to promote necessary training but at a lesser financial cost. As such, we witnessed a move towards e-Learning programmes, resulting in the exponential growth of online tools and platforms at a speed that would probably not have happened otherwise.
E-Learning quickly became popular due to its various advantages – mainly its capacity to reach a much larger audience with a lower investment. Moreover, it has proved flexible as it can be accessed from anywhere at any time. This kind of advantages forecast a permanent change in training provision in several areas, such as adult education (Al-Fraihatet al. 2020; Kimiloglu et al., 2017). Nevertheless, e-Learning had already conquered its space in institutions and fields chronically plagued with logistic and financial issues, such as criminal justice systems.
Thus, as part of its aim to provide radicalisation prevention training to professionals in the prison, probation and community contexts, the HOPE project selected the blended learning (b-Learning) approach. This is a teaching and learning approach based on the combination of conventional instructor-led training, using classroom-based methods in face-to-face environments, with online formats to create an optimum training programme for its specific audience (Bersin, 2004; Olelewe & Agomuo 2016; Slayer, 2012).
The technique was opted considering the advantages of online and distance learning. Indeed, e-Learning is more economically advantaging than traditional learning, especially considering it reduces travel and infrastructure expenses or the need to recruit trainers (Peres et al., 2013). These are vital points for correctional facilities once they are usually located in remote sites and understaffed, requiring professionals to leave their workplace to receive training or bring an outside trainer to conduct it.
Besides,e-Learning allows trainees to access the content at any time or location, promoting training in a broader geographical and linguistic scope and allowing self-paced training (Trout, 2016: Oliver & Herrington, 2001). This is crucial for participants with low availability – as with the criminal justice professionals due to understaffing resulting from low-budgeting –, and leads to training harmonisation across countries and regions, such as the EU.Additionally, studies suggest that e-Learning allows trainers to better meet the trainees’ needs by targeting particular training to specific individuals (Trout, 2016). On the other hand, it can be a way to fight outdated information by allowing a quick and easy update of content, thus following the developments of the literature and practice (Costa et al., 2020). As such, the materials produced for the e-Learning training course can be reused and adapted by trainers in classroom sessions and workshops. Consequently, its potential for tailor-making and continued updating makes it more effective.
However, it’s true that e-Learning could have some disadvantages, such as the lack of personal interaction between trainer and trainee and among trainees, the lack of opportunities for clarification, its dependence on technological proficiency, and vulnerability to technical difficulties. Having this in mind, the HOPE project opted for the aforementioned b-Learning approach, so the classroom-based sessions or synchronous online sessions bring the advantages of both learning systems while minimising the challenges associated with each one.
In addition, the HOPE project aims to go beyond achieving cost-effective training. In fact, the direct involvement of public services (directorates of prisons and probation) – and European or international organisations’ representatives from several jurisdictions – facilitates the embedding of training curricula and programmesinto the different existing national training offer (especially in countries within the regional scope of the project), further guaranteeing the HOPE materials’ sustainability after the project’s lifespan.
Hence, the HOPE training programme for prison, probation and community staff was designed to take a critical difficulty into account: the generally low-funding level of institutions. In this way, the HOPE project will contribute to ensuring that radicalisation prevention training is job-specific, appealing, ready-to-use, up-to-date and cost-effective.
References:
- Rosenberg, M. J. (2001). The E-learning Revolution. In M. J. Rosenberg (Ed.), E-learning: Strategies for Delivering Knowledge in the Digital Age (pp. 19-38). McGraw-HillProfessional.
- Al-Fraihat D., Joy, M., Masa’deh, R., & Sinclair, J. (2020). Evaluating E-learning systems success: An empirical study. Computers in Human Behaviour, 102, 67-86. doi: 10.1016/j.chb.2019.08.004
- Bersin, J. (2004). The Blended Learning Book.San Francisco: Pfeiffer.
- Costa, V., Liberado, P., Abrunhosa, C., Esgalhado, G., & Cunha, A. (2020). Improving prison staff awareness and skills in dealing with mentally ill inmates through distance learning: Findings from the MenACE initiative. In A. Guerreiro, M. Henriques & D. Castilhos (Eds.), Proceedings Book of the II International Symposium on Gender and Prison Culture: Is prison a democratic space? (pp. 201). JUSXII.
- Kimiloglu, H., Ozturan, M., & Kutlu, B. (2017). Perceptions about and attitude toward the usage of e-learning in corporate training. Computers in Human Behaviour, 72, 339-349. doi: 10.1016/j.chb.2017.02.062
- Olelewe, C. J., & Agomuo, E. E. (2016). Effects of B-learning and F2F learning environments on students’ achievement in QBASIC programming. Computers & Education, 103, 76–86. doi: 10.1016/j.compedu.2016.09.012
- Oliver, R., & Herrington, J. (2001). Online learning. In R. Oliver & J. Herrington (Eds.), Teaching and learning online: a beginner’s guide to e-learning and e-teaching in higher education (pp. 1-23). Edith Cowan University.
- Peres, P., Lima, L., & Lima, V. (2013). B-learning quality: Dimensions, criteria and pedagogical approach. European Journal of Open, Distance and e‐Learning, 16(1), 1-18. doi: 10.2478/eurodl-2014-0004
- Strayer, J. F. (2012). How learning in an inverted classroom influences cooperation, innovation, and task orientation. Learning Environments Research, 15, 171–193. doi: 10.1007/s10984-012-9108-4
- Trout, G. (2016). E-Learning & Online Training: Keeping Up With the Evolving Workplace. Professional Safety, 61(6), 34-36.
