Tomorrow
What can we learn from history?
History informs and inspires the future. Decades of adult education history raised some issues about the future of adult education research.
The first issue is about the identity of adult education. Adult education is built up by “borrowing” theories from other fields and by reflecting practice. The roles of adult education evolved from supporting adults’ learning and solving practical problems to being more and more concerned about social problems and creating a better and just society. Though adult educators made great efforts to develop adult education’s foundations and to extend the boundaries of adult education from researching individual growth to studying adult education in a larger society, in reality, people often narrowly conceptualize adult education as educating adults to read and write and often neglect or marginalize the value of adult education.
The second issue is about the leadership role of adult education research in influencing our society. Adult education research always reacts to the needs of society and follows the flow of society. The needs of society often drive the attention of researchers.
The third issue is about the impact of technology on adult education research. Adult education research can be characterized by some distinct features in certain decades. Before the 1980s, adult education was influenced by other fields, especially by the field of psychology, and it was more quantitative driven. Starting from the 1980s, adult education was gradually building its own foundations. Adult education since the 1990s was heavily influenced by critical theory and multiple perspectives.
Nowadays, society is more and more influenced by new technologies. Impacted by the new technologies, conventional ideas of space, time, locations, and relationships between educators and learners are gradually changing.
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Threads and Trends of AE
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Threads
Threads
Directions
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Borrowing theories
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Reflecting practice
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Solving practical problems
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Researching individual growth
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Building AE foundations
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Conceptualizing theories
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Dealing with social issues
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Studying AE in a larger society
AE reacted to the needs of society and follow the flow of society. For example, training 1960s and social issues in 1990s
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1950s-1980s: Quantitative research
1990s: Critical theories,
From 1990s: E-generation
What are the boundaries of adult education? How can it differentiate itself from other disciplines? How can we frame the discourse of adult education to enlarge its impact on society?
What is the role of adult education research on guiding our life and in changing our surroundings in a positive way? How can we use adult education as a site to influence public opinion and to promote a democratic and civilized society?
Impacted by the new technologies, conventional ideas of space, time, locations, relationships, learning structures, organizations and assumptions, and relationship between educators and learners are gradually changing. How can these changes impact the direction of adult education research in the future?
Questions