Prof. Emmanuel Jean Francois
Dr. Emmanuel Jean Francois is Associate Professor of Comparative and International Education at Ohio University. He is the Coordinator of the Doctoral program in Educational Administration/Leadership, aswell as the doctoral specialisation in Comparative and International Educational Leadership.
CG7: Digitalization in Adult Education and Learning
Co-Moderators: Prof. Sabine Schmidt-Lauff, Dr. Lisa Breitschwerdt
The digital transformation that stemmed from dynamics in technological progress, which enables the emergence of new types of educational practices, creates demands for new educational offerings/programmes/strategies, and changes education (including teaching and learning ) in all areas. This also results in changing demands in adult competencies for a critical mindset / reflection / on the diverse consequences (i.e., from individual and social to planetary) that are indispensable. Organizations, educational institutions, and professional actors have used various digital technologies to facilitate adult education and learning in order to provide a better learning experience to adult learners. Such phenomenon is called digitalization of adult education and learning. Although such digitalization started decades ago, the lockdown caused by the global pandemic corona virus (COVID-19) and now Artificial Intelligence (AI) with its generative tools have produced an increasing digital acceleration at every systemic level (mega, macro, meso, and micro). Accordingly, the module will inquire and analyze how digitalization is changing adult education in different ways through:
- changing political (including infrastructural, strategic) conditions,
- digitalization-induced (professional) activities/competencies, approaches, and programmes, and
- new opportunities/challenges of (AI) learning tools.
The digitalization of adult education and learning affects, if not all, most countries in the world. However, the policies, guidelines, approaches, and practices of digitalization may vary based on socio-cultural, socio-economic, and/or socio-political contexts of nations and regions of the world. This module intends to enable participants to critically analyze the digitalization and implementation of digitalization policies in adult education and learning in national/cultural and cross-national/cross-cultural contexts.
