The rapidly developing communications technologies (CT) have the potential to deliver education to more learners in more satisfactory ways. CT may overcome barriers to student participation in adult education, enable career educators to provide a higher level of career guidance to greater numbers, and facilitate currency in vocational preparation.…

In many of the stories foretelling the future of work, technology is assumed to be the irresistible driver of change. Both ends of the spectrum are foreseen: either technology will create new jobs and transform existing work to higher skill levels, or technology, especially information technology, will destroy jobs or degrade them into less…

Technology is more than applied science. It is the processes and products by which humans have coped with and changed their environment throughout history. People have always lived and worked in a "technological society." Never before, however, has technological change been so rapid or broad in scope. The concept of an "educated…

Interactive videodisc (IVD) offers a combination of media with practical applications in vocational education. IVD is superior to videotapes and other media in quality, applicability, and effectiveness. IVD can be used in different settings and for a variety of instructional applications. Although not appropriate for every learning situation, IVD…

To dispel concerns that career education does not belong in middle school, it may help to reinterpret a career more broadly as life, not just work. Middle school students should view career paths as a broad range of options available to them. In addition, early career education may help to dispel sex-role stereotypes and self-limiting practices of…

A new breed of nontraditional institution has arisen to meet the demands of working adults who want to participate in lifelong learning but lack the time for full- or part-time study at a traditional institution. These new institutions range from completely virtual universities, online arms of existing institutions, learning marketplaces, or…

Howard Gardner and others have continued to expand on Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences (MI), a broad range of abilities people use to learn, solve problems, and create. Whereas most past studies and practical applications of MI theory have focused on learners in grades K-12, recent projects are extending MI to adult education. For…

Directed at practitioners in adult and career education, this document defines qualitative research, compares qualitative research to quantitative research, describes the "war" between proponents of each kind of research, describes how to assess qualitative research, and explains how to choose and use qualitative techniques. Pitfalls of…