As we gear up to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the International Adult and Continuing Education Hall of Fame, I am reminded that we are also celebrating three decades of what has come to be called “e-learning”—the delivery of undergraduate and graduate degrees and professional certificates through online platforms to adult learners around the world.
E-learning has evolved over the years as educators use new technologies to better serve students wherever they may be and, in the process, help build and sustain local workforce communities and industries. Its early predecessor—correspondence study—emerged in the 1890s during the Industrial Revolution, when the United States was dealing with the combination of major immigration and rapid industrial growth. The 1960s saw the significant institutional innovation around the development of television and the creation of open universities modeled after the British Open University and, in the United States and elsewhere, “telecourses” that replaced classroom lectures with half-hour video lessons broadcast on public television and cable outlets.
The 1990s marked the start of a new era in technology-assisted adult education. It was in the 1990s that the Alfred E. Sloan Foundation began a multi-year project, led by the late Hall of Fame member Dr. Frank Mayadas (HOF 2007), that has helped many colleges and universities in the U.S. develop online courses and degree programs for students worldwide. In the process, the Foundation created a community of institutions to share ideas for innovation and their own experiences in the new field.
Today, the e-learning community is facing a new generation of technical innovation. The rapid development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its acceptance by institutions and individuals around the world mark the beginning of a new generation of e-learning that is already impacting education at all levels.
Many IACE Hall of Fame members have been involved in the decades of innovation in e-learning and are now experimenting with how best to incorporate AI into the higher education mainstream. The Hall’s 30th anniversary would seem to be an excellent time for us to share our thoughts on the future of adult and continuing education in the new age of AI. I invite you to use the Hall of Fame’s Leadership Perspectives Blog to share your thoughts on the future of adult and continuing education as the new AI environment matures.
Best wishes.
Gary Miller (HOF 2004)
