Supporting students in secure environments

Open University (OU) is one of the world’s leading authorities on helping isolated people learn new skills. For forty years it has helped educate the prison community. Which is why we’re proud to have them as a content partner.

We heard about one of their great initiatives - a research exchange between the OU Students Association and students in secure environments (SiSE).

For OU students in prison, their library resources and study materials might not always be adequate for their learning. If this is the case they can send an anonymised request to a volunteer student, detailing what information resources they were looking for. The volunteer would then carry out the research on their behalf.

The idea was piloted in 2018 to great success. In the three years it has been running the OUSA has received 210 research requests, with volunteer students and students in saying much they value the service.

Here at Coracle, we think this is such a creative way to empower learners whatever their circumstance or location.

You can read more about the idea here.

“In the three years it has been running the OUSA has received 210 research requests, with volunteer students and students in saying much they value the service.” The Open University