Web 2.0 and the Actualization of the Ideals of Adult Education

This chapter explores how the emergent information ecosystem relates to assumptions about adult learners articulated in andragogy (Knowles, 1970, 1984) and adult education concepts. The chapter discusses the evolution of the information ecosystem and how its defining attributes relate to access, voluntary participation, self-direction, and learning webs. The new opportunities offered by this information ecosystem emerged in the same social and intellectual milieu as the foundational principles of adult education. Current developments in adult education indicate that new innovations in the use of interactive and communication technologies are emerging in a transformed information ecosystem.