A manager who brought e-learning and internet access to inmates at HMP Isle of Wight has had her efforts recognized with a prestigious national award.

Sarah Snowdon, head of The Isle of Wight College’s access to learning department won the 2009 Learning and Skills Improvement Service (LSIS) STAR Award for innovation at a glittering national ceremony at Old Billingsgate, London.

“I like helping people who have lots of barriers to learning,” said the 34-year-old head of department, “if I can get one person to find employment rather than re-offending then it’s all worthwhile.”

Sarah was instrumental in introducing e-learning and limited internet access to the prisoners at the Category C Camp Hill site of the prison.

“Guys in prison don’t have internet access because of the trust issue,” explained Sarah, “Understandably there is a security issue and it is easier just to provide no access to electronic communication. One of my challenges when I started in 2007 was to form an e-learning strategy and bring in internet access so prisoners would have the IT skills required to get back into employment after their release.

“If you step outside prison without any skills it is very difficult to find work so you are more likely to re-offend. We are equipping guys with the skills they need to interact with society and to compete for jobs. Learners can acquire all kinds of skills in programmes like Adobe Flash Player so that they can compete for work on a level playing field.”

Prisoners are permitted access to a limited number of sites which are skills and employment related, called the white list, which features websites such as learndirect, BBC SkillWise and the government’s Move On site.

Sarah also managed to ensure all PCs were networked and even had a wi-fi connection between the main education block and a temporary classroom. Previously all PCs were standalone and this created immense problems with sharing work and printing.

Sarah’s strategy had to take account of everyday practicalities such as the fact only prisoners due to be released relatively soon would take maximum benefit because longer term inmates could find their new skills out of date by the time they were released due to the lightning fast advances in the world of IT.

Before handing control of the contract to The Manchester College in August, Sarah also built a MOODLE site (MYPlea – Prison Learning Environment Application) with developmental funds from the Learning and Skills Council (LSC), which will permit learners to log on to their courses, study independently and submit work to their tutor. They can then receive feedback and make amendments.

This opens up a new world of offender learning and makes subjects more viable to offer as class numbers are not relevant. It also means learners can catch up on classes they miss and become used to online learning which is increasingly prevalent in the outside world.

The introduction of learning logs for students meant they could continue their studies after release and Sarah also created an external website (OPEN – Online Prison Education Network) for tutors to share resources as she could see many prison lecturers were creating resources for lessons which already existed in other prisons .

With Sarah also up-skilling tutors in IT teaching techniques the whole learning community benefited from her STAR quality.

The STAR Awards are held annually by LSIS to recognise the unsung heroes of the learning and skills sector. For more information about the awards and this year’s winners visit http://starawards.excellencegateway.org.uk