What's available?
The National Institute of Corrections provides training in leadership, management and specialized corrections topics for staff of state, local and federal corrections throughout the U.S. and its commonwealths and territories. This training covers a broad range of correctional disciplines and topics, including leadership, jail and prison programming, offender reentry, and corrections mental health. Together, these courses support the continuous achievement and ongoing development of corrections professionals serving in a wide range of fields.
Training Options
NIC holds the following types of training options for corrections professionals in federal, state, local, and tribal agencies.
Classroom
Traditional classroom instruction may require students to travel to the NIC Academy in Aurora, Colorado, or other locations for training. While virtual training is convenient for everyone, we still feel that there are some experiences and connections that can only be made in person. In-person classes often focus on a highly-focused schedule that is then supplemented with additional virtual sessions surrounding the classroom experience.
Web-Based
Signing up for a web-based course through the NIC Learn Center offers students options for self-paced instruction. Students work with and engage in material for as long or short of a time as they need to retain the information they want.
Internet Broadcasts & Webinars
Internet broadcasts are 3-hour panel discussions with field experts and corrections practitioners who tackle the latest issues in corrections in a free-flowing dialog with participants. Viewers participate via satellite or the Internet. These short-form productions are ideal for gaining in depth information on a contemporary topic in a short length of time.
Virtual Instructor-Led Training
Combining the best of both online learning and traditional classroom instruction, virtual instructor-led training is live training taught to a group of students online in real time. Students log on together at designated time and receive online instruction with all the benefits of classroom learning. Group work, class participation, independent activities all occur online and can take place without students ever having to travel.
The NIC Training Experience
In most NIC training programs, participants develop individual action plans or initiate projects to implement in their agencies. After the training, they may be asked to provide information about implementation to help NIC assess the effect of the training on their agencies. In some cases, technical assistance is available to help participants implement their action plans when they return to their home agencies. Using the evidence-based methods of the Instructional Theory into Practice (ITIP) model of instruction, NIC courses focus on the adult leaner and rely on modeling and practice with hands-on activities, group exercises, and applied learning to introduce and encourage retention of core concepts. Furthermore, because NIC offers a broad range of learning options, students with rigid work schedules, who cannot fit traditional classroom learning into their daily activities, have the option of signing up for one NIC’s self-paced online courses or engaging in a short-form program that may span two days or three hours.