Courageous and Visionary Adult Education Leaders: 2056

 

 By Janet Poley (HOF 2002)

"Where you stand depends upon where you sit." Nelson Mandela

"Knowledge is telling the Past. Wisdom is impacting the Future." W. Timothy Garvey

" There is no sadder sight than a young pessimist." Mark Twain

"Head, Heart, Hands and Health." Mahatma Gandhi and the 4-H Motto

 

I have lived my life by sayings, stories, models, equations, principles, and shorthand ways to act: ways to easily pull on past wisdom and apply it to the future. In that spirit, I share this blog.

RALE 

Arne Carlson did a great job of laying out the Recommendationon Adult Learning and Education (RALE) framework in his blog post. I see no reason to repeat his post. I support what he said. Arne exhibits strong international leadership qualities: dedicated to Lifelong Learning, an excellent listener who integrates concepts and synthesizes them in clear writing that we can read across national and cultural borders. Yes, Yes - Arne!

 

A Real-Life Leader and a Story We Can All Understand (Told to the Associated Press)

"Rajendra Dawadi was inside his classroom when a colleague rushed in with a warning: Floodwaters were racing through Nepal's Trishuli Valley, tearing apart homes, bridges, and entire villages. He immediately decided to stop the school and get the children out; His decision to evacuate saved at least 900 students from devastating flash floods in Nepal, unleashed after a glacial collapse in the Himalayas. The disaster killed over 950 people in Nepal and Tibet, while more than 4,000 remain missing. As Nepal grapples with the catastrophic natural disaster, Dawadi's story emerges as a striking example of why leaders need foresight and courage.  Maybe someday Automated Intelligence (AI) will substitute for human leadership but more probably it will augment it.

 

The Future: 2056 International Hall of Fame Induction of AE Leaders

Stories like this will become more prevalent 30 years hence, and the International Adult Education Hall of Fame will induct leaders at the 2056 ceremony who were prepared and acted heroically to empower learners. After spending many years in Adult Education practice, scholarship, and policy formulation in the U.S, and many other countries including in rural villages of Tanzania, Malawi, India, Nepal, the Caribbean, Central America, and more, some powerful leadership lessons stand-out.

 

Foresight – Seeing ahead is grounded in preparation, hard work, and homework. It requires brain and muscle memory, fortitude and risk-taking, and engagement with others.  Past and future leaders read even weak signals indicating what is to come. They integrate knowledge attained with those signals of the future. They take non-foolish risks, and put learner interests above self-interest. They co-create in learning communities and construct ways to help others learn and achieve.  They network and use whatever tools, technologies, and learning resources available. These leaders are themselves lifelong learners, willing to share what they know and understand that learning is a reciprocal process of teaching, learning, adapting, and acting.

 

Past Leaders I Knew: Their Leadership Lessons Are Powerful and Can Apply to 2056 Inductees. Will They? 

I was fortunate to be influenced and mentored by so many in the IHOF and I am including a few of the most powerful aspects of what I personally learned from them about future educational leadership.  I love “shiny new technologies,” but it will be people with the will and capacity to lead that will shape the next 30 years of education.  There will always be change and significant challenges.  Here are a few lessons from them I carry with me in both my head and my heart:

Wes Meierhenry: (IHOF 2003): My PhD Advisor who taught 4000 undergraduate and graduate students. He believed in the Multiplier Effect of Education: he believed the more enthusiastic learners everywhere could change the world.  He received the First Carnegie Foundation Grant to study motion picture use in adult education and tapped into my passion for discovering how not just knowledge but other less well understood dimensions that impact who gets to learn and how.

 

Howard McCluskey: (IHOF 2002): My first PhD “Visiting” Professor from the University of Michigan.  He was the Founding President of AEA, predecessor of AAACE, and a premier educational psychologist who articulated the theory of Adult Learning, Lifelong Learning, Adult Psychology, and Gerontology. From him I learned M=L/P.  Margin=Load/Power.  When applied to learners and learning communities it provides a profound formula for assessing what adult learners are facing and how to decrease their load and increase their power.  It is applicable everywhere.

 

Julius Nyerere(Mwalimu/Teacher) (IHOF 2008): He was the first President of Tanzania and Founding President of the International Council on Adult Education (ICAE), (IHOF Organizational Awardee). He was the reason I spent six years designing and leading programs in Tanzania after his request that the U.S. work with Tanzania to improve adult education at all levels with emphasis on agriculture, rural development, self-reliance, women’s empowerment, and healthy children.

 

Myron Johnsrud (IHOF 1996): He led U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Cooperative Extension team that established the first adult education Extension program in Poland at the end of the Cold War. He was a PhD adult education graduate from Wisconsin, read future signals, appreciated innovation, and always shared leadership. Together, we worked with all the U.S. Cooperative Extension System to adopt issue-based programming and the use of new technologies, including satellite and internet.

 

Daniel Godfrey (IHOF 2006): He never met a stranger he couldn't introduce to learning something new and useful.  He advocated for public land-grant universities and the 1890 land-grant Historically Black Colleges and Universities. He inspired learners young and old serving communities from rural North Carolina to Fort Hare in South Africa and influenced the WK Kellogg Foundation’s approach to serving learners in minority communities. His last chapter was introducing distance education to rural learners and communities.

 

Charles Wedemeyer (IHOF 1998): Inspirational leader and author of "Learning at the Backdoor". The Charles E. Wedemeyer Award is given annually for outstanding application of distance education in North America. (I was honored to receive it in 2000).

 

Chere Campbell Gibson (IHOF 2011):  Wedemeyer Award winner for outstanding distance education research, she was the leader and co-founder of the Wisconsin International Distance Teaching and Learning Conference in Madison, WI. A dual citizen of Canada and the U.S., she never met a border she liked. Her motto was "Quality Distance Education (QDE): Access and Success. Education was her focus, and all techniques and technologies were flexed, mixed, matched, and shaped to fit hungry learners wherever they might be.

 

Ashook Frank Mayadas (IHOF 2007): From India to IBM to the Sloan Foundation, he was a true advocate for distance education and online learning. Frequently referred to as the Father of Online Learning for his leadership at the Foundation. He used corporate constructs to engage "best minds" into a consortium focused on “Quality Educational Delivery at Scale”, internationally available through the Online Learning Consortium (OLC).

 

Importance of Courage – In my humble advice, say “yes” to challenging and important opportunities even if they are moderately risky and outside previous experience. That's learning, and that develops courage. "Take it as it comes." (That came from my Mother and Grandmother and growing up being a rural Nebraska farmgirl.) But never give up - just get up when you fail and try, try again. Step back and move away to think about what went wrong, process your emotions, and reflect on the experience. Real leaders in adult education believe learning is central to individual, national, and cross-cultural life. Courageous and authentic leadership can't be faked and is most apparent in moments of truth, like the teacher leading his students up the hill.  Leaders dare to try to climb when things are difficult.

 

Growth and positive change means meeting challenging future situations and environments in community with others to Learn, Inspire, Serve and Act (LISA). This was the name of my recently departed daughter, who taught me so much through her amazing international life of service and her courage in a far too early death.

 

Continue the Conversation

Please share Your Take on what will define Leadership in 2056, drawn from your own reflections on powerful leaders. Who in the field inspired you to follow? What prepared you to read the signs of the future and to meet the moment? What energized you to act with foresight and courage in difficult adult educational situations?

 

From Norman, OK, to the World: The International Adult and Continuing Education Hall of Fame

 

By Jost Reischmann (HOF 1999), Germany

In 1996, Thurman White of the University of Oklahoma in Norman, Oklahoma, launched a new initiative: the International Adult and Continuing Education Hall of Fame (IACEHOF). The central idea was to honor leaders in continuing education and adult learning and to serve as a record that inspires the next generation of continuing education leaders.

In its inaugural induction class, the Hall of Fame recognized 72 individuals as “outstanding leaders. A look at the 1996 induction list of the “International” Adult and Continuing Education Hall of Fame reveals a perhaps unsurprising fact: all of the inductees were American. In 1997, two non-Americans were recognized as “outstanding”: Roby Kidd from Canada and Peter Jarvis from the United Kingdom. Nevertheless, in the following years, the Hall remained firmly an American institution.

A major step toward establishing the Hall as a truly international institution was the decision to hold an induction ceremony outside the United States. At the AAACE conference in Pittsburgh in 2005, Jost Reischmann of Germany (Class of 1999) and John Henschke of the USA (Class of 1998), inspired by a bottle of “Yellow Tail” wine, began brainstorming about the possibility of bringing an induction ceremony to Europe. The Hall’s Board of Directors was initially quite ambivalent about the idea. As a result, Jost Reischmann traveled from Germany to a board meeting in Dallas to present and advocate for the initiative. Jim Pappas, then Executive Director of the IACEHOF, was a strong supporter of the idea. His argument was both simple and compelling: “We do call this Hall international …” And so, in 2006, the first induction ceremony outside the United States took place in Bamberg, Germany http://halloffame-europe.andragogy.net/2006-Bamberg/06-HOF-Bamberg.html). Fourteen European leaders were inducted into the Hall, marking an important milestone in its development as an international institution.

Since then, the international character of IACEHOF has become an established feature of the organization. Induction ceremonies outside the United States have since been held in Budapest, Hungary (2008); Iași, Romania (2014); Suwon City, South Korea (2017); Belgrade, Serbia (2019); Cork, Ireland (2022); and Florence, Italy (2024). Today, an increasing number of outstanding leaders from many countries contribute to the richness and diversity of the IACEHOF.

What began in 1996 as a predominantly American institution has evolved into a truly international community dedicated to recognizing excellence and leadership in adult and continuing education worldwide.

Jost Reischmann’s reflection traces the Hall of Fame’s journey from its beginnings as a predominantly U.S.-based institution to an increasingly international community, highlighting the individuals, relationships, and pivotal decisions that helped expand its global reach.

Continue the Conversation

The Hall of Fame’s evolution reminds us that becoming truly international requires more than a name—it requires people willing to build relationships, cross boundaries, and create opportunities for diverse voices to be recognized.

We invite you to share your perspective:

• What does it mean for the Hall of Fame to be a truly international community?
• How has connecting with adult educators from other countries influenced your own thinking, practice, or leadership?
• What can the Hall do to strengthen participation and representation from regions that remain underrepresented?
• What relationships, partnerships, or initiatives could help expand the Hall’s global reach?
• As we look toward the next 30 years, what would you like the Hall’s international legacy to become?

Join the conversation. Share your experiences and ideas for how we can continue building a Hall of Fame that reflects, connects, and celebrates the global adult and continuing education community.  

From Awareness to the Human Edge: What Three Years of AI Adoption Taught Us

 

Belinda Biscoe, Ph.D. (HOF, 2018)

Senior Associate Vice President for Outreach/College of Continuing Education, The University of Oklahoma, and Executive Director, International Adult and Continuing Education Hall of Fame

In late 2023, artificial intelligence (AI) landed in higher education almost overnight. At University Outreach and the College of Continuing Education at the University of Oklahoma, an organization of about 1,400 employees, the questions came fast: Would AI take jobs? Would it undermine learning? Could it even be trusted? Instead of leading with new tools or new rules, we decided to lead with people.

Starting With Fear, Not Features

Our 2024 baseline survey told us exactly where we stood: half of our staff had never used AI at all, 42% were worried about its impact on higher education, and only 28% saw any real benefit to their own work. One colleague put it bluntly: "I absolutely do not support Outreach using AI in any form or fashion."

Rather than argue people out of that fear, we made space for it. Our first State of Outreach event in February 2024, Outreach in the Age of AI, gathered roughly 240 employees not to sell them on AI, but to let them ask hard questions out loud, together. That single decision, treating skepticism as useful information rather than a problem to fix, shaped everything that came after.

From Curiosity to Everyday Use

By our second year, the shift was unmistakable. Of 208 employees surveyed after our 2025 event, 74% were now using AI regularly or occasionally, mostly for writing, research, and brainstorming. Optimism nearly doubled, from 28% to 48%.

What changed wasn't the technology; it was relevance. Six workshops in 2024 grew to nine in 2025, plus an all-day Microsoft Copilot training for 80 employees. People stopped asking "what is AI?" and started asking "how does this help me on Tuesday?" That's classic adult learning theory at work: as Malcolm Knowles (1980) observed, adults engage most when learning connects directly to real, immediate problems, not abstract concepts. And their concerns matured right along with their skills: the top worries were no longer existential; they were practical questions about ethics and accuracy.

The Real Turning Point: The Human Edge

Our third year, themed The Human Edge: Evolving with AI, is where the story got interesting. By May 2026, 95% of our roughly 275 attendees could name the human skills that matter most in an AI-enabled workplace: judgment, ethics, creativity, collaboration. Ninety-four percent understood why human oversight still matters, and 86% left the event committed to strengthening a specific human skill.

One response stuck with me: "The fear that AI will take over jobs was nullified." Another: "Professional judgment is more important now than ever." That's the real headline. We didn't just teach people to use a tool. We helped them rediscover what makes their own contribution irreplaceable.

A Five-Stage Path Other Institutions Can Use

Looking back across three years of surveys, workshops, and events, a clear pattern emerged, one I believe any institution can adapt:

•       Leadership Commitment — leaders model curiosity publicly, not just policy.

•       Baseline Assessment — survey honestly before you design anything.

•       Organization-Wide Awareness — shared events build common language and reduce isolation.

•       Hands-On Skill Development — role-specific, practical workshops, not generic overviews.

•       Human-Centered Integration — deliberately reconnect people to judgment, ethics, and creativity.

Skip the first two stages, and even the best training falls flat. Skip the last one, and you'll get AI adoption without wisdom, which is its own kind of risk. The pattern tracks closely with John Kotter's (1996) classic model of organizational change, which holds that transformation sticks only when leadership commitment, communication, and reinforcement are sustained over time, not delivered in a single push.

What I'd Tell Any Institution Starting This Work

Begin with literacy, not policy; rules mean little to people who don't yet understand what they're governing. Survey before you design and take the fear seriously instead of rushing past it. Build shared experiences that give people a common language. And never let the conversation stay only about the technology. The organizations that will thrive with AI are the ones that invest as much in their people's judgment, ethics, and creativity as they do in their platforms.

Three years ago, half our workforce had never touched AI, and many feared what it might do to their jobs. Today, most use it regularly, and nearly all of them can tell you, clearly, what no AI can replace with their own work. That shift in self-understanding, more than any usage statistic, is the outcome I'm proudest of.

Continue the Conversation

Belinda Biscoe’s reflection invites us to think beyond whether we should use AI and consider how we can integrate it while strengthening the human qualities that technology cannot replace.

We invite you to share your insights:

• How has your own perspective on AI changed as you have gained experience using it?
• What helped—or would help—people in your organization move from uncertainty about AI to meaningful use?
• Which human skills do you believe become even more important as AI becomes part of our work and learning?
• How can leaders create space for questions, concerns, and experimentation as organizations adopt AI?
• What does the “human edge” mean to you in an AI-enhanced world?

Join the conversation. Share your experiences, questions, and lessons learned as we explore how adult and continuing education can help shape a future in which AI strengthens—not diminishes—the human dimensions of learning and work.

References

Knowles, M. S. (1984). The adult learner: A neglected species (3rd ed.). Gulf Publishing. 

Kotter, J. P. (1996). Leading change. Harvard Business School Press.

 

Be All You Can Be: The True Meaning of Adult Education

 

By Grey Edwards (HOF 2012) After five years in public school education as a teacher and coach, I completed my master's degree in education supervision and was selected to serve as an elementary school principal. I held that position for two years. Then, in 1972, I left Virginia Beach, Virginia, for a two-month assignment working at the Munich Olympics. Before I knew it, that brief assignment had opened the door to an entirely new career. I contacted the Department of Defense about working in an Army Education Center, and in September 1972, I began what would become a 45-year career in adult education. I remained in that field until my retirement in August 2017. The Army slogan Be All You Can Be came to represent what adult education meant to me. It later became the theme of quarterly articles I submitted to Military Educator. In those articles, I highlighted the educational journeys of deserving service members in the Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard. Their stories showed how men and women in uniform continued serving their country while also working toward important personal and professional goals. Helping Service Members Earn a Diploma I was fortunate to hit the ground running as a supervisor for the High School Completion Program, or HSCP. At the time, the high school diploma was becoming the expected standard for service members, rather than the General Educational Development, or GED, credential. Through the HSCP, service members earned diplomas from American high schools in Frankfurt, Nuremberg, Stuttgart, and Kaiserslautern - the same schools attended by their dependent children. Classes were offered in nine-week terms, with as many as four courses taught in two-hour periods. The program continued successfully for more than ten years. The Education Centers offered much more than high school completion. They provided counseling, testing, and learning centers, as well as access to academic and technical programs leading to associate, bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees. These opportunities were available to service members and their spouses. To me, this was adult education at its best: practical, accessible, and capable of changing the direction of a family's life. Germany, Fort Hood, and a Return Overseas I was fortunate to remain in Germany from 1972 to 1994, despite the Department of Defense's five-year overseas rule. At the Department's request, I continued receiving extensions that allowed me to take on greater responsibility, earn promotions, and keep building the Adult Education Center programs that service members deserved. When my final extension ended in 1994, after 22 years in Germany, I was assigned to Fort Hood, Texas - the Army's largest installation at the time, with approximately 50,000 soldiers. As supervisor of the 1st Cavalry Division Education Center, I worked with an outstanding staff to help soldiers pursue their goals as adult learners. It was one of the most productive periods of my career. After the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, I had the opportunity to return to Germany, and it was one I could not pass up. I brought four Fort Hood educators with me to work in Army Education Centers. The years that followed were demanding. We faced the events of September 11 and conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, along with missions connected to Uzbekistan, Macedonia, and other locations. Even during those unsettled times, service members continued working toward their educational goals. Education in a Time of War Two of my final three years in Germany, from 2003 to 2005, were among the most memorable of my 45-year career. I joined colleagues in establishing testing, counseling, and learning centers, as well as online and traditional college programs, in deployed locations. Our work took us to Baghdad with the 1st Armored Division; to Tikrit, where we stayed in Saddam Hussein's former palace with the 4th Infantry Division; and to Mosul with the 101st Airborne Division. We also worked in Balad, Iraq, in 2003. In 2004, similar work took us to Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Uzbekistan. Seeing service members take part in testing, counseling, and college courses under those conditions was inspiring, moving, emotional, and heartwarming. I will always be grateful for those experiences. Whenever I think about professional challenges, I remember what the 101st Airborne Division, the 4th Infantry Division, the 1st Armored Division, and many others were facing in combat. Yet they still wanted to improve their education and provide more opportunities for their families. Their commitment put every challenge into perspective, and I will always remember their sacrifice. A Career Devoted to Lifelong Learning In 2005, after nine more years overseas, I was offered another promotion and returned to my birthplace, Fort Rucker, Alabama, as director of education for military installations in the Southeast.  By then, I had also become deeply involved with the Commission on Military Education and Training, known as CMET. CMET was one of eight divisions of the American Association for Adult and Continuing Education (AAACE), one of the nation's oldest organizations devoted to adult and lifelong learning. My goal was to increase awareness of military education and its connection to adult education, lifelong learning, and andragogy - the practice of helping adults learn. I was honored to serve as president-elect, president, and past president of AAACE from 2006 through 2008. In those roles, I had the privilege of sharing with adult educators the important place military education holds within the larger field. The subjects people study may change as civilian careers and job markets change, but the purpose of military education remains constant. Whether service members stay in the military, transition to another role, or retire, military educators want to help them reach their educational goals and prepare for civilian employment. Their studies may include information technology and Microsoft programs, HVAC, food service, automotive technology, aviation, and many other fields. I am especially proud that ten members of my former staff have gone on to leadership positions in military education centers. Their success reminds me that an educator's influence extends far beyond one classroom, one office, or even one career. Looking back, Be All You Can Be was more than an Army slogan. It captured the true meaning of adult education: meeting learners where they are, helping them see what is possible, and giving them the support they need to move forward. I was privileged to spend my career doing exactly that. Continue the Conversation Grey Edwards’s Be All You Can Be: The True Meaning of Adult Education reminds us that adult education can transform lives wherever learning takes place—from education centers and workplaces to military installations and even deployed settings. His experiences demonstrate the importance of making education accessible, responding to adults’ changing circumstances, and supporting learners as they pursue personal, professional, and family goals. His story also reminds us that the influence of an adult educator can extend well beyond a single learner, classroom, or career. We invite you to continue the conversation: ·       What does “Be All You Can Be” mean to you in the context of adult education? ·       How can adult educators better meet learners where they are and help them see new possibilities for themselves? ·       What can we learn from military education about providing flexible and accessible learning opportunities for adults facing demanding or changing circumstances? ·       How have you seen education change the direction of an adult learner’s career, family, or life? ·       As an adult educator, how do you hope your influence will extend beyond the learners you directly serve? Join the conversation and share your perspective. How can we continue creating opportunities that enable adult learners to be all they can be?

 

Courage to Lead: Adult and Continuing Education’s Leadership Role for the Future

Dr. Don Olcott, Jr., FRSA (HOF 2024)

 

Good judgment comes from experience

and a lot of that comes from poor judgment (Will Rogers)

 

Introduction

 

The challenges and complexity of today’s world create an unprecedented inertia that embraces technology and fast-track solutions to critical problems. Digital innovations, most notably artificial intelligence (AI), dominate corporate and public dialogue about the brave new world we are creating for education, business, the military, government, healthcare, and society in general. Indeed, this accelerated focus on technological innovation to empower our futures seems out of sync with the need to reflect on the present and preserve the past. Indeed, sometimes we have to look back before we can look forward and engage the future. Understanding our legacy and history can help us work more effectively together and solve the challenges on our doorsteps and those that lie ahead.

 

This essay discusses selected issues and the potential efficacy of adult and continuing education practice and research that may help us deal with the complexity of this innovation-driven world we now inhabit. There are no simple answers. Moreover, it is increasingly clear that the challenges of modern society are impacting a broader sector of older adults, not just today’s children and young adults. Adult education and engagement are not a panacea for resolving all the issues we face now and those approaching on the horizon. They may, however, remind us that where one stands on issues is often influenced by where one sits, which perhaps will allow us to reboot and recalibrate our views and approaches to the world.

 

Courage to Lead: Beyond Silence in the Shadows

 

Indeed, if there is one lesson I’ve learned in my forty-plus years in adult, continuing, and online education, it is that our role extends far beyond just educating adults. We have an indelible responsibility to humanity and the protection of human rights, inclusion, social justice, and equality.

 

It is unfathomable to think that the insular and parochial traditions of universities absolve them from engaging in the geopolitical landscape of the world we live in. If we are truly honest with ourselves, universities and their leaders have enjoyed decades of silence in the shadows, emerging usually when the stakes are of self-interest. When the issues are too divisive and politically loaded, universities have preferred silence in the shadows. A recent example that accentuated this point was the failure of many universities to protect the rights of their students and, in some cases, Jewish and Palestinian staff, due to the events in Palestine and Israel. What does this say about the role of educators and our centers of higher learning if they are unwilling to stand up for what is clearly right and just for human rights? There are no easy answers.

 

In all fairness, adult educators permeate all sectors of society from education, banking, and the military to international corporations, social service agencies, and NGOs. The message here is simple – adult educators can play a major role in advocating amongst these sectors and organizations to come out of the shadows and dispense with the silence just because the issues are complex, controversial, and, in many cases, potentially divisive.

 

Leaders—and by extension their followers—who remain silent in the shadows are neither leaders nor courageous. As Lawrence said to Ali in the film Lawrence of Arabia (1962) when confronted with the impossibility of crossing the barren Nefud desert to attack Aqaba from the land, “Aqaba is over there . . . it’s simply a matter of going.” In sum, university leaders and adult educators can play a critical role beyond the classroom and boardrooms for humanity – it’s simply a matter of going.

 

The Need for an Agile Lifelong Learning Framework

 

In an earlier IACE Leadership essay, I argued that lifelong learning needs to be reframed for the 21^st century.

 

Lifelong learning in its purest form means that learning occurs

across the lifespan and that an 18-year-old can start with

micro-credentials first and then return for a degree later. It

means no imposed chronology of credentials to get a degree

first, and then lifelong learning begins. As it stands, we advocate

lifelong learning as long as it fits within the traditional organizational

structures that have stood for decades and yet are clearly not

serving the needs of students, employers, and societies. Reframing

this misalignment between education and society is perhaps among the

greatest challenges we face in the next fifty years, particularly the

challenges facing students and employers in the developing world.

 

Universities and adult educators are at a crossroads to restructure in ways that truly put students and their futures first. We must unbundle the university bureaucracy, which is under attack from all sides and nearly all of its stakeholders, if we are to create a social organization that can respond, adapt, and remain agile enough to create an agile and empowering lifelong learning model. At present, it exists only in rhetoric and speeches.

 

Re-Empowering Adult Education’s Past Legacies

 

Indeed, sometimes the obvious blinds us to the potential of past practices and strategies that can be adapted for the future. When we reflect upon all the remarkable resources of adult and continuing education, we need to ensure we don’t discard them without due diligence for the future.

 

What are some of these legacy practices? There are many. The power of experience to inform, teach, and apply to new situations. The role of praxis to reflect repeatedly to refine our own views, theoretical tenants, and approaches for everyday life. Conversely, can we use these invaluable legacies to guard against gerontocracy by ensuring that we cover the broad spectrum of views of adults in society? Our elders are not always right – c’est la vie -- and neither are our youth. 😊

 

We can also remind ourselves that intergenerational learning in the classroom, on the job, and in the home is one of the great gifts for sharing, learning, and reflecting upon our world. Adult educators can play a transformative role in leveraging these experiences that ultimately benefit humanity.

 

Lastly, our conceptual and theoretical body of knowledge about how adults learn is as applicable and beneficial today as it was decades ago. We must remember to use this repository for humanity.

 

AI Unplugged

Lastly and with all due respect to educators across the globe, AI will not save us from ourselves. The truth is that judgment, context, and timing are critical actors in making decisions that benefit the majority. Moreover, a second truth is that we have a history of ignoring our own advice about technology. We argued that we could not let technology dominate the teaching and learning process, and yet once again we embraced, with little real analysis, that “technology = progress,” forgetting that all digital transformations have consequences and unanticipated impacts. AI has been escorted to the pinnacle of human existence without any real due diligence. And in the distant background I hear echoes of 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) where Dave asks Hal to open the outer bay doors to the spacecraft. Hal responds: “I’m sorry Dave, I cannot do that.” We must manage AI, not the reverse.

It is mind-boggling to think that, in 2026, AI has made more progress in refining new ways to kill people on the battlefields of Ukraine and Palestine than in education and democratic processes. Let that sink in for a moment. If this is the beginning of the brave new world, perhaps we should reconsider AI and its priorities.

The key points of this essay are clearly not definitive. Adult and continuing educators in all sectors have an opportunity to play a greater leadership role for humanity beyond the classrooms and boardrooms.

 

Lifelong learning is a powerful asset... it empowers, enables, and builds human potential and community. We need to adopt an agile, flexible framework so past structures do not become immovable barriers for young adults choosing their best educational pathways and making career choices.

We must celebrate the history, traditions, practices, and legacies of adult and continuing education AND we must continue to use these to create new strategies to resolve today’s issues and challenges. AI is but one solution, not the only one.

Indeed, the first role of leadership is to lead. It’s simply a matter of going.

 

References

Kubrick, S. (Director). (1968). 2001: A space odyssey [Film]. Stanley Kubrick Productions.

Lean, D. (Director). (1962). Lawrence of Arabia [Film]. Columbia Pictures; Horizon Pictures.

 

Olcott, D. J. (2025). Mission possible: Renewing adult and continuing education futures. IACE Leadership Blog Essays (November). https://iacehof-leadership-perspectives.blogspot.com/2025/11/