Non scholae, sed vitae discimus

That younger generation is certainly showing the way. According to Karine Nicolay (national coordinator for the European Agenda for Adult Education), many young people are already following their own learning path - or would like to follow their own learning path – but often still face obstacles.

“Colleges and universities are cautiously removing these obstacles, because more and more young people want to take an alternative path. I see that in my own children, too.” Change happens under the influence of technology, but it is also facilitated by technology. Karine Nicolay sees opportunities for artificial intelligence in the future. She refers to Donald Clark, who attributes AI a crucial role in motivating, supporting, giving feedback and adaptive learning. The Scottish EdTech entrepreneur illustrates this with an example from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Technology as a driving force for lifelong learning is also the trend that Marion Debruyne (Vlerick Business School) sees for the future.

“There are two types of learning. There is the classic ‘just in case’ learning, where you learn something for later on, for when you end up needing it. But in the future, ‘on demand learning’ will become much more important: you learn something when you actually need it. This requires a much greater integration of learning into everyday life. Online learning offers great opportunities there, due to its greater flexibility.

If you look at how the lifelong learning landscape is evolving, learning on demand is becoming much more important. This is made possible by digitalisation.”