IAFOR in Washington, D.C. for Virginia Tech’s Adaptive Lifelong Learning Workshop 2019

Last month, Virginia Tech hosted the Adaptive Lifelong Learning for an Inclusive Knowledge Economy workshop in Washington, D.C. The main goal of the workshop was to bring theory and current practice together in developing a framework to inform and guide adaptive lifelong learning for an inclusive knowledge economy and build connections among participants.

The workshop brought together expertise in areas such as K-12 education, corporate learning and training programs, higher education, government, and the nonprofit sector.

IAFOR was represented by Dr Joseph Haldane, Chairman and CEO and Professor Barbara Lockee, IAFOR Vice-President (Education), and also a professor at Virginia Tech.


Workshop, Report, and Actionable Items

There is growing acceptance of the notion that socio-economic sustainability will necessitate the inclusion and integration in the knowledge economy of a much larger and diverse set of intelligences than previously assumed. It is now widely recognized that everyone learns differently and that different people excel at diverse things. The pace of change in the 21st century also necessitates lifelong learning and dynamic career paths. These developments also highlight the limitations of traditional learning and training practices in addressing these needs as well as the barriers that effectively limit access to the knowledge economy for many potential participants. Our current learning and training systems may be hindering the level of adaptability necessary for supporting widespread inclusion of radically different intelligences, their symbiotic interconnections, and the groundbreaking insights that may emerge from such a paradigm.

This project aims to explore the ideation and implementation of adaptive lifelong learning pathways relevant to an inclusive knowledge economy. The pathways will transcend traditional knowledge dissemination paradigms, support expansive notions of knowledge and excellence and aim for integrated personal and professional development. The pathways will be co-created by learners and institutions and will involve diverse outcomes, multiple entry points and open-ended connectivity of modular knowledge components.

The project has three parts:

  • A concept document that sets the theoretical basis for the project and connects the theory to different ongoing case studies/examples being realized by organizations participating in the project. The executive summary of the concept document can be found here.
  • A workshop on October 26-27 in Washington DC. The first day of the workshop will further develop and refine the seven chapters of the concept document through rotating editing groups. The second day of the workshop will be dedicated to synthesizing the different elements of the concept document into prototypes of integrative adaptive learning and the sketching of transdisciplinary partnerships that can realize actionable items resulting from discussions of the workshop.
  • A living document report will follow the workshop. The report will integrate the concept document and outcomes of the workshop. Lessons learned from the partnerships that will emerge from the workshop will continuously inform and update the report.

Originally published here.

Posted by IAFOR