The project aimed to achieve several key objectives by implementing a digital education program for incarcerated learners. By promoting digital competence and algorithmic thinking, the project aimed to create a pathway for inmates to develop new talents and gain practical skills relevant for employment after release. Moreover, ASSIST project aimed at: - increasing access to digital tools and technologies for incarcerated learners, facilitating their engagement with practical computing and programming skills; - strengthening digital readiness inside SDE Domokou by developing tailored, sustainable multimedia lessons adaptable for its learners; - enhancing instructors’ knowledge and competencies in adult learning pedagogy issues and empowering them to deliver effective digital education to their learners - promoting inclusion by supporting the diverse and multicultural population of Domokos correctional facility - providing incarcerated learners with algorithmic thinking and programming skills to discover and develop new talents and improve their personal expertise and digital literacy knowledge; - improving inmates’ future employment opportunities by supporting their successful reintegration into society.
The decision to apply for the ASSIST project arose from the need to address the persistent digital exclusion of incarcerated learners at the 1st Second Chance School of Domokos. Prisoners faced restrictions on access to computers and digital resources, which isolated them from the rapid digital transformation shaping everyday life and employment. The leading organization (SDE Domokou) observed that inmates, due to incarceration, were deprived of acquiring digital skills crucial for social reintegration and personal development. ASSIST specifically targeted this gap by introducing multimedia-based digital education in a prison environment, aiming to: - empower learners through computing and acquiring programming skills; - help incarcerated people lower recidivism by giving them opportunities to learn new useful skills; - encourage participation in digital and computing activities, making prison time more productive; - reduce prison misconduct by empowering healthier attitudes toward authorities; - familiarize learners with a digital environment and computing-related material; - improve skills that will enhance future employment prospects; - help post-release opportunities in order to successfully reintegrate into society.