Learning with digital technologies in prison: a scoping review

Abstract

The challenges of a knowledge-based society require the development of digital skills recognizing the potential of learning supported by technologies. Within this scope, and based on research published over the last decade, a scoping review of 66 articles was performed to create a framework derived from existing literature to analyze approaches to identify views about learning supported by digital technologies in prison environments. The results allowed both the presentation of an evolutionary perspective of the state of art regarding digital technologies in prison education and to identify four views: Technical, Humanistic, Regulatory, and Organizational, and Community. These views and the critical recognition of the approach that underpins them can contribute to understanding complementary roads to reach the political goals recommended for contemporary prison education, putting the focus on the promotion of conditions of lifelong learning in line with the challenges of the 21st century.