Knowing how adult education research shifted its focus in different periods of time and evolved into its current territory will help us understand the direction of the field of adult education research and remind us of the areas that are ignored in the field.

 

In this project, I will outline a picture of adult education research in America from the 1950s to the 2000s and describes how American adult education research was transformed and evolved, and what historical development of adult education can inform the future direction of adult education research.

 

The structure of the project is divided by decade. In each decade, I will present the social background of adult education and the features of adult education research via text, videos, or/and pictures.  Finally, I will list the changes of adult education research in each decade and how the historical changes of adult education can inform us the future of adult education development.

 

There are an enormous amount of publications in the field of adult education. I examined the topics relevant to adult education research in a variety of adult education publications, such as Yearbook of Adult and Continuing Education, Handbook of Adult and Continuing Education, Handbook of Adult Education, the journal of Adult Education, etc.