Professionals have normally become qualified through a period of formal education followed by a structured training program and continuing professional development. This traditional pattern is being replaced with a process of lifelong learning that, thanks to the development and application of a wide range of information and communication technologies, can be engaged in where, when, and how learners want. Moreover, the focus of learning is shifting from teachers and toward learners. These changes in the structure of learning are being accompanied by changes in the patterns of work. Increasingly, individuals are being expected to act self-employed but be team players, and the concept of learning is being applied not only to individuals but also to teams, groups, and organizations. The following are some of the things that fully effective adult learners are able to do: audit and assess what they already know and can do; formulate a career and learning development plan; integrate acknowledgment of their need for continuing personal development in private and professional realms into their learning; understand the qualities of different kinds of knowing and understanding, and of skills, and competence; and reflect on their knowledge and establish links between different kinds of knowledge. (Contains 12 references.) (MN)