Inmate Education as a Service Learning Opportunity for Students: Preparation, Benefits, and Lessons Learned

There is mounting evidence that prison inmates benefit from educational opportunities but may not be offered to them. In addition, when they are offered, priority is given to prisoners who will be released in the near future, and those serving long-term or life sentences are less likely to have access to classes. A service learning opportunity was created where students taught a life span development class to women serving long-term sentences. This article provides a guide to setting up the class while avoiding obstacles along the way. It also outlines benefits to students, inmates, supervising faculty, and society. In order to teach, students must apply what they have learned, and the prison experience challenges them to consider their power and privilege

Inmates Course Evaluation

The Inmates Course Evaluation (Meyer et al., 2016), was developed within the context of a study investigating an inmate educational course in a sample of female inmates serving long-term or life sentences. The measure assesses inmates\u27 evaluation of educational courses in prison covering the structure of the course, the content and workload, the overall quality of the instructors, and the contributions the course made to their learning. Inmates complete a short 3-item evaluation of each class meeting to provide feedback to the student instructors. The measure was revised after teaching the class one time because the prior scale was more applicable to a traditional college class. The final version consisted of 17-item on a Likert-type scale of 1 (agree) to 5 (disagree). No specific psychometric data were provided for the measure. (PsycTests Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved

Inmates Course Evaluation

The Inmates Course Evaluation (Meyer et al., 2016), was developed within the context of a study investigating an inmate educational course in a sample of female inmates serving long-term or life sentences. The measure assesses inmates\u27 evaluation of educational courses in prison covering the structure of the course, the content and workload, the overall quality of the instructors, and the contributions the course made to their learning. Inmates complete a short 3-item evaluation of each class meeting to provide feedback to the student instructors. The measure was revised after teaching the class one time because the prior scale was more applicable to a traditional college class. The final version consisted of 17-item on a Likert-type scale of 1 (agree) to 5 (disagree). No specific psychometric data were provided for the measure. (PsycTests Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved

Perceived Impact Scale

The Perceived Impact Scale (Meyer et al., 2016) was developed to measure inmates\u27 self-reports of the impact that a life span human development class had on their level of knowledge, abilities, and other characteristics, such as self-awareness, emotional growth, and confidence. Following completion of the first class, a focus group was held with inmates who had completed the class to determine in what ways it had impacted them. There were no scales available in the literature to measure the array of constructs they identified as having changed so a scale was created. A sample of women serving long-term sentences provided two ratings on the last day of class, one for their recalled assessment of themselves on each construct before the course and one for their current assessment on each construct after the course. In addition, at the end of the scale, the women were asked to answer the item, Overall, how has this human developmental class affected your sense of purpose on a scale from 1 to 5. Psychometrics specific to this 37-item scale were not presented by the authors. (PsycTests Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved

Perceived Impact Scale

The Perceived Impact Scale (Meyer et al., 2016) was developed to measure inmates\u27 self-reports of the impact that a life span human development class had on their level of knowledge, abilities, and other characteristics, such as self-awareness, emotional growth, and confidence. Following completion of the first class, a focus group was held with inmates who had completed the class to determine in what ways it had impacted them. There were no scales available in the literature to measure the array of constructs they identified as having changed so a scale was created. A sample of women serving long-term sentences provided two ratings on the last day of class, one for their recalled assessment of themselves on each construct before the course and one for their current assessment on each construct after the course. In addition, at the end of the scale, the women were asked to answer the item, Overall, how has this human developmental class affected your sense of purpose on a scale from 1 to 5. Psychometrics specific to this 37-item scale were not presented by the authors. (PsycTests Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved