{"id":8676,"date":"2021-02-28T09:03:05","date_gmt":"2021-02-28T13:03:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/?p=8676"},"modified":"2021-02-28T09:08:22","modified_gmt":"2021-02-28T13:08:22","slug":"how-technology-is-transforming-adult-education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/?p=8676","title":{"rendered":"How Technology is Transforming Adult Education"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"<\/a>Deb Livingston, a former business consultant, was always curious and eager to learn just about anything.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/header>\n

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\u201cWhen the pandemic hit, I was confined at home and found myself diving into online exploration,\u201d said Ms. Livingston, 61. She discovered\u00a0GetSetUp<\/a>, an interactive website that delivers virtual education to older adults.<\/p>\n

Even former chief executives like Jeff Mihm, a Miami resident who led Noven Pharmaceuticals, sometimes need a new life direction.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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After resigning from his corporate post, Mr. Mihm, 55, decided to go back to school \u2014 virtually, because of the pandemic \u2014 and enrolled in the University of Texas\u2019s\u00a0Tower Fellows program<\/a>\u00a0in September. \u201cI have a love of learning, and it was an opportunity to step back, study and explore,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Read on The New York Times<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The internet has empowered adult learners by providing new online tools to ramp up education and training. \u201cThe need for workers to keep pace with fast-moving economic, cultural and technological changes, combined with longer careers, will add up to great swaths of adults who need to learn more than generations past \u2014 and faster than ever,\u201d said Luke Yoquinto, a research associate at the M.I.T. AgeLab and co-author of \u201cGrasp: The Science Transforming How We Learn<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

By 2034, the number of adults age 65 and older will outnumber those under the age of 18, according to the\u00a0Census Bureau<\/a>. \u201cThat growth of older age demographics will translate to new demand for enrichment in the form of digital education,\u201d Mr. Yoquinto said. \u201cI would say that, for both good and ill, older demographics are going to serve as a proving ground for learning technologies in the coming years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adult education, however, is \u201cthe Wild West\u201d of education technology, according to Mr. Yoquinto. There are many outlets experimenting with ways to get a handle on the online adult education marketplace, including community colleges and universities, for-profit learning platforms, workshop providers and nonprofit organizations.<\/p>\n

The new platforms are also opening doors to more adults. \u201cThere are already tons of people who, once upon a time, by dint of age or circumstance, wouldn\u2019t traditionally have gotten the chance to partake in education, but can now sign up for free online courses,\u201d Mr. Yoquinto said. Participants can choose a class here and there, without strapping on a backpack and heading to campus or signing up for expensive degree programs.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n