Summit on the Future of Adult Education in the New Digital World

November 5-6, 2009
The Literacy Institute at Virginia Commonwealth University
Richmond, Virginia

Keynote Speakers
Dr. Stephen Reder, Professor of Applied Linguistics at Portland State University
Marian Thacher, Director of the Outreach and Technical Assistance Network (OTAN), Sacramento, California

A supplemental census report (2005), Profiles of the Adult Education Target Population, states that, nationally, more than 40 million people over the age of 16 are in need of adult education services, while the American Community Survey (2007) shows that more than 18 million people over the age of 25 lack a high school credential. High school dropout rates and an increase in the nation’s foreign-born population continue to contribute to the number of adults who need literacy and education services. At the same time, the definition of literacy is changing as digital literacy skills are increasingly gaining in importance for employers. In the report Are They Really Ready to Work? (2006), more than 75 percent of survey respondents from a range of industries identified “information technology application” as one of the workplace-related skills they expected to increase in importance over the next five years.

At the Summit on the Future of Adult Education in the New Digital World, The Literacy Institute at VCU will bring together a select group of invited experts in the fields of education and technology from across the nation to focus on technology use in adult literacy education and the challenges and opportunities it presents. Participants will be asked to contribute position papers addressing one or more of the following questions:

• How might technological innovations change adult literacy education by the year 2020?
• What are the essential components of a research agenda to evaluate technology-supported learning in adult literacy education?
• How do practitioners identify and implement best practices that incorporate technological innovations in adult literacy education?
• What role should technological innovations in adult literacy education play in the global economy by the year 2020, and how can public policy support that role?

Since its establishment in 2003, The Literacy Institute at VCU has worked to raise awareness, conduct research, and develop innovative projects in literacy across the lifespan. This Summit on the Future of Adult Education in the New Digital World represents an opportunity to assemble and disseminate a diverse set of viewpoints on an issue that is of vital importance to our nation.