Future Studies and Adult Education

Gary, thank you for your kind words.  In particular, trend forecasting speaks to demographic trends, economic trends, technological trends, and social trends that will impact adult learners in the future.  Now, ideally, is the time to anticipate and position ourselves for them.  You may or may not know this, but I became aware of adult education as a field through the late John Ohliger, who died in 2004.  He was a personal friend of Malcolm Knowles, the famous andragogy expert, and Ivan Illich, the famous advocate of "de-schooling."  My alma mater, the University of Wisconsin - Madison also has a long, powerful history of leadership in this field.  For example, Jerold Apps, whose work is still on trend, is world famous; I have the pleasure of meeting him in person several times since we live in the same area.  Adult education is an exciting field; I am glad you have decided to enter it.  As you may know, the USA spends more on training and development (adult learning) than K-12 and higher education combined - each year!   I have been a member of ASTD  (www.astd.org ) and recommend it to you if you have not taken advantage of its students rates and local chapters.  Yes, trend forecasting is vital to planning for adult learners.  Dr. Rux