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Abstract
In 2019, the United States incarcerated nearly 2.3 million citizens in correctional facilities across the country. One main issue with mass incarceration is the high recidivism rates of formerly incarcerated people. Correctional education has been proven to decrease recidivism rates for people who engage in this form of education while incarcerated. Therefore, there are many recent educational and political efforts to expand correctional education college programs. This expansion involves the modality in which instruction is delivered, whether in person, online, or hybrid. With these various formats, it is vital to gain insights into how correctional education instructors teach within different modalities. Past studies have gleaned the experiences of correctional education instructors who teach in face-to-face formats. But there is a gap in the literature concerning the insights of correctional education instructors who teach in online correctional education programs. Therefore, this study looks to address this gap by providing insight into the experiences of online correctional education instructors. Specifically, since many students must take gateway courses such as English and math for their college degree programs, this study will gather the insights of correctional education instructors who teach English composition. The qualitative study followed a transcendental phenomenology methodology. The research questions were as follows: 1) What pedagogical strategies do online English composition correctional education faculty use in writing instruction?; 2) How do online English composition correctional education faculty cultivate relationships with their students in online spaces?; and 3) What are perceived areas of needed professional development and support identified by online English composition correctional education faculty? Five correctional education instructors served as the sample population for the study. Data collection methods were semi-structured interviews, document collection, and a focus group. The researcher analyzed the data following four steps of transcendental phenomenology: epoche, phenomenological reduction, imaginative variation, and synthesis of meanings and essences. Findings from the study showed that the instructors work to determine how to modify their teaching practices based on the online modality they teach regarding how they provide feedback and how they approach the focus of their writing instruction. The instructors also noted that they are aware of their tone when communicating with students and encourage them consistently due to their students being incarcerated. They also noted challenges with teaching within online correctional education regarding the difficulty in forming relationships with students. Lastly, the instructors provided suggestions for professional development in learning more about the technology that their students use to access their learning platforms, needing more cultural and sensitivity training, and their desire to form more professional bonds with their fellow online correctional education instructors. Therefore, this information can be utilized by correctional education program directors and writing program administrators of correctional education programs to improve the experiences of current online correctional education instructors and create training and development for new online correctional education instructors for the ultimate benefit of instructors and students.