Blackboard to the Rescue for US Probation and Pretrial Services

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Blackboard to the Rescue for US Probation and
Pretrial Services

• Cindy Caltagirone IT Training Specialist
• Administrative Office U.S. Courts
• Rick HouckIT Projects Liaison
• Administrative Office U.S. Courts

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Blackboard to the Rescue for US Probation and
Pretrial Services

• US Courts' successful use of Blackboard to train
  US Probation and Pretrial Services staff
  distributed across the nation.

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Presentation Overview

• The Presenters
• Cindy Caltagirone and Rick Houck
• The Federal Judiciary
• The Mission of Probation and Pretrial Services
• Role of Probation and Pretrial Services Officers
• The Mission of IT Systems Deployment and Support
  Division
• The IT Assist Program
• Training Challenges
• Blackboard to the Rescue

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Cindy Caltagirone

• Probation Pretrial Services Training Lead
• Team charged with Training over 8000 staff in
  new software applications
• Distance Learning Specialist
• Taught classes on Blackboard and satellite TV
• Educator
• Master of Science Management of Technology
• University of Texas, San Antonio December 2003
• Master of Arts Classical Humanities
• Texas Tech University, Lubbock- December 1990

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Rick Houck

• Chief U.S. Probation Officer for the District of
  Columbia, Retired
• Appointed Chief January 1995, Retired September
  2006
• Currently the IT Projects Liaison IT Assist
  Program
• Deputy Chief United States Probation Officer
  (1992 1995)
• Supervising United States Probation Officer (1983
  1992)
• United States Probation Officer (1975 1983)
• Master of General Administration/Management
  Information Systems
• University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland
  July 1989

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The Federal Judiciary the Constitution of the
United States
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The Constitution of the United States Article
III, Section I
The judicial power of the United States, shall
be vested in one supreme court, and in such
inferior courts as the Congress may from time to
time ordain and establish. By the authority of
this Constitutional Article, Congress passed the
Judiciary Act of 1789, establishing the Federal
Courts
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The Federal Judiciary

• The Federal Judiciary is comprised of federal
  courts and support offices throughout the United
  States
• Supreme Court
• U.S. Court of Appeals
• U.S. District Court
• U.S. Bankruptcy Court
• U.S. Magistrate Court
• U.S. Probation Office
• U.S. Pretrial Services
• Federal Public Defender

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Judicial Districts

• Congress divided the country into 94 judicial
  districts
• Districts have at least one District Court, but
  may have multiple courts
• U.S. Courts of Appeal
• 12 regional circuit courts of appeals
• 11 numbered Circuits and DC Circuit
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
• Special Appeals such as patent cases

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Probation and Pretrial Services Offices

• 94 Districts
• 120 total offices
• 26 Separate Pretrial Services Offices
• Pretrial Services Created with the Speedy Trial
  Act of 1974
• Pretrial Officers only handle pretrial functions
• 26 Separate Probation Offices
• 68 Combined Offices
• Probation Officers handle Pretrial functions

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Mission Of Probation and Pretrial Services

• Uphold the constitutional principles of the
  presumption of innocence and the right against
  excessive bail
• Provide objective investigations and reports with
  verified information and recommendations
• Ensure defendant and offender compliance with
  court orders
• Protect the community
• Facilitate long-term, positive changes in
  defendants and offenders
• Promote the fair, impartial, and just treatment
  of the defendants, offenders, and victims

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Probation and Pretrial Services Officers

• Play a critical role in helping the court
  determine whether to release or detain
  defendants, and supervise defendants released
  pending trial
• Prepare Presentence Investigation Reports and
  provide sentencing guidelines calculations and
  recommendations
• Supervise the activities of persons convicted of
  federal crimes for District Judges, Magistrate
  Judges, the U.S. Parole Commission, and Military
  Parole Boards
• Recommend and Enforce Treatment Conditions
• Supervise persons required to remain within their
  homes as a condition of their sentence, as an
  alternative to a prison sentence this may
  include location monitoring

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Information Technology in Probation and Pretrial
Services

• PACTS main database containing contact
  information, offender demographics, investigation
  materials, reports, forms, links to other court
  and law enforcement systems
• DSS, SIRS, VCCA, VNS, eDesignate, Adobe Forms
• Atlas Links to NCIC for criminal background
  checks, vehicle information, law enforcement
  contact system
• Mobile devices Blackberries, Smartphones,
  Laptops, cellular broadband
• Document Imaging Devices and systems to create,
  store, and retrieve, electronic documents
• KIOSKS for client checkin

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Administrative OfficeOffice of Information
TechnologySDSD Training Branch

• Curriculum planning, development, classroom
  instruction, electronic learning materials,
  distance learning, use of facilities
• Last implementation
• 40 distance learning/WebEx classes
• over 7800 downloads of manuals
• 3 Blackboard classes with over 7000 hits
• 11 Electronic Learning modules 1740 downloads
• 56 Peer Instructors and Developers

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Objective of IT Assist Program

• Communicate Share information with people
  across the district and the country about
  technology, information, process change, change
  management, and leadership
• Coach-Share the knowledge and skills of IT
  experienced officers with officers in the
  district to assist them to maximize their use of
  PACTS and ancillary systems
• Educate-Focus on information and PACTS output
• Encourage process review what can we stop doing?

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IT Assist Activities 62 District Visits
Yellow Visited Green Planned
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IT Assist Team Member Contributions

• Officers have credibility with their fellows
• Identification with audience
• Collaborative approach to addressing concerns
• Practical IT knowledge and experience
• Ability to address what is in it for officers
• Business subject matter experts

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The Challenges

• Communicating with Distributed team members
• Managing Training Content to Prepare Team Members
  from Disparate, Semi-Autonomous Districts, to
  present a unified national model
• Building a Team that has a unified purpose and
  social cohesion
• Training a distributed volunteer workforce
  consistently
• Enabling online self paced training to prepare
  for face to face auditions and ultimate service
  delivery
• Delivery of Training in a Rapid format to
  distributed workforce

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Blackboard A Solution for Communicating

• Communication vehicle for team members, team
  leads, and instructors
• Announcements, Schedules, Procedures, Teams
• Email, Resources

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Blackboard A Solution for Content Management

• Central posting of materials
• Internet Access
• Resource Depository
• Activities, Exercises

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Blackboard A Solution for Team Building
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Blackboard A Solution For Learning Management

• Learning Systems
• IT Assist Peer Training
• Training Assignments/ Exercises
• Adaptive Release using Gradebook, Performance
  Dashboard Groups
• Feedback

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Blackboard A Blended Learning Solution

• IT Assist Team Training / Peer Development
  Training San Antonio, TX
• Online Self-Paced Learning and Collaboration
• Face to Face Experience

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What can we clarify ?