Adult Education Research on Digitalisation

Digitalisation is profoundly transforming adult and continuing education - in teaching, in institutions, in education policy, and not least in research. This book provides a comprehensive overview of current academic work on this transformation and shows how digital technologies open up new opportunities, but also what challenges and risks they bring.

The first part is devoted to the teaching and learning level. Based on current research findings, it illustrates how Artificial Intelligence (AI), Virtual Reality and digital educational offerings are changing adult/continuing education. The potential of digital learning formats is presented, but also the ethical, data protection and didactic questions that arise. The second part focuses on institutions, educational offerings and societal framework conditions. The contributions examine the use of digital platforms in the health sector, the influence of social media on political education, the design requirements for media-supported programmes, as well as questions of governance under the conditions of digitality. The third part illuminates theoretical and research-methodological questions on a meta-level. Topics discussed include competency requirements for dealing with generative AI, new questions in the context of digitalisation research, conditions for successful exchange between research and practice, as well as methodological approaches to analysing AI use in adult learning.

With these contributions, this volume offers a multi-layered and current picture of how the digital transformation is shaping adult education in Germany and which perspectives and questions are significant in this context. It is aimed at academics who deal with the effects of digitalisation on adult education in an international context and who are interested in current research and theoretical developments.



Jun.-Prof. Dr. Franziska Bellinger is an Assistant Professor of Media Didactics and Media Education at the Faculty of Human Scienes at the University of Cologne.

Prof. Dr. Ricarda Bolten-Bühler is a Professor of Education with a focus on Online Didactics at the Euro-FH University of Applied Sciences in Hamburg.

Prof. Dr. Matthias Rohs is Professor of Adult Education at the University of Kaiserslautern-Landau.



Matthias Alke

Preface



Franziska Bellinger, Ricarda Bolten-Bühler and Matthias Rohs

Introduction



Part One Teaching and Learning



Sabine Digel and Carmen Biel

Empowering Learners to Deal with Artificial Intelligence



Josephine Jahn, Philipp Oberparleiter and Bernhard Schmidt-Hertha

Constructivist and Experiential Learning in Virtual Reality



Ines Himmelsbach, Tjard de Vries, Michael Doh, Siglinde Bröder, Linda Grieser and Christina Klank

'As long as I still can, I'll keep doing it' - Chasing the Odds



Part Two Programs and Institutions



Kim Deutsch

Health Literacy and Digitalisation



Franziska Bellinger and Lisanne Heilmann

Political Socialisation in Mediatised Adulthood



Lisa Breitschwerdt

Adapting to the Digital Transformation



Nora Leben

Platform-Based Business Models in Adult and Continuing Education



Julia Koller and Ulrike Krein

Navigating Digitalisation in Adult and Continuing Education



Part Three Theories and Methods



Henrik Weitzel and Joshua Wilhelm

AI & Generative AI in Adult Education



Falk Scheidig

How Digitalisation Affects Adult Education Research



Katja Buntins, Anna Heinemann and Insa Reichow

From Knowledge to Application



Gregor Dutz, Kristin Skowranek and Anke Grotlüschen

Innovative Data Preparation for Adult Education Research