Adaptive Lifelong Learning Workshop

Adaptive Life Long Learning for an Inclusive Knowledge Economy
Workshop, Report, and Actionable Items
There is growing acceptance of the notion that socio-economic sustainability will necessitate the inclusion and integration in the knowledge economy of a much larger and diverse set of intelligences than previously assumed. It is now widely recognized that everyone learns differently and that different people excel at diverse things. The pace of change in the 21st century also necessitates lifelong learning and dynamic career paths. These developments also highlight the limitations of traditional learning and training practices in addressing these needs as well as the barriers that effectively limit access to the knowledge economy for many potential participants. Our current learning and training systems may be hindering the level of adaptability necessary for supporting widespread inclusion of radically different intelligences, their symbiotic interconnections, and the groundbreaking insights that may emerge from such a paradigm.
This project aims to explore the ideation and implementation of adaptive lifelong learning pathways relevant to an inclusive knowledge economy. The pathways will transcend traditional knowledge dissemination paradigms, support expansive notions of knowledge and excellence and aim for integrated personal and professional development. The pathways will be co-created by learners and institutions and will involve diverse outcomes, multiple entry points and open-ended connectivity of modular knowledge components.
The project has three parts:
- A concept document that sets the theoretical basis for the project and connects the theory to different ongoing case studies/examples being realized by organizations participating in the project. The executive summary of the concept document can be found here.
- A workshop on October 26-27 in Washington DC. The first day of the workshop will further develop and refine the seven chapters of the concept document through rotating editing groups. The second day of the workshop will be dedicated to synthesizing the different elements of the concept document into prototypes of integrative adaptive learning and the sketching of transdisciplinary partnerships that can realize actionable items resulting from discussions of the workshop.
- A living document report will follow the workshop. The report will integrate the concept document and outcomes of the workshop. Lessons learned from the partnerships that will emerge from the workshop will continuously inform and update the report.
Preliminary Workshop Schedule
Friday, October 25:
7:00 pm - 9:00 pm | Welcome Dinner/Reception
Grand Cru Wine Bar & Bistro 4301 Wilson Blvd #100, Arlington, VA
Tel: 703-243-7900
Saturday, October 26:
9:00 am - 9:45 am | Welcome, introductions and schedule
10:00 am - 11:45 am | Group editing of concept document, rotation 1
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm | Lunch
1:00 pm - 2:45 pm | Group editing of concept document, rotation 2
2:45 pm - 3:00 pm I Break
3:00 pm - 4:45 pm | Group editing of concept document, rotation 3
6:00 pm | Dinner – Ser Restaurant 1110 N Glebe Rd, Arlington, VA
Tel: 703-746-9822
Sunday, October 27:
9:00 am - 10:30 pm | Comprehensive document review and integration of document components into integrative framework
10:30 am - 12:00 pm I Actionable items to follow workshop
12:00 pm - 12:30 pm I Lunch
12:30 pm - 2:00 pm | Forming of partnerships for actionable items
2:00 pm - 2:30 pm | Closing remarks
INSTITUTION | PEOPLE |
Calhoun Center for Higher Education Innovation | Thanassis Rikakis, Amy Arnold, Jared Keyel, Dr Shahabedin Sagheb, David Tinapple |
Center for Humanities/College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences | Sylvester Johnson |
Institute for Creativity, Arts and Technology | Tom Martin |
School of Public and International Affairs | Ralph Hall, Thomas Skuzinski |
Office of the President | Anne Khademian |
Pamplin College of Business | David Tegarden |
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences | Matt Holt |
School of Education | Barbara Lockee, Glen Holmes |
College Access Collaborative | Karen Eley Sanders |
Vice Provost for Learning Systems Innovation | Todd Nicewonger, Catherine Amelink |
Vice Provost for Academic Affairs | Rachel Holloway |
College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences | John Boyer |
Technology-enhanced Learning | Dale Pike |
Student Affairs Director Learning Partnerships | Taran Cardone |
Building Coordinator, Housing Research | Andrew McCoy |
Strategic Partnerships Development | Scott Weimer |
INSTITUTION | PEOPLE |
Alpha Corp and IAEI | Kate Lindsey, Andrew Lindsey |
An Achievable Dream | Jonothan Lister; Chrystal Harris |
APLU (Association of Public and Land Grant Universities) | Shari Garmise |
Arizona State University | David Tinapple |
Autodesk | Randy Swearer |
Bank of America | Joel McPhee |
The Boeing Company | Robert Smith |
Carnegie Mellon University | Mark Kamlet |
Central Florida University | Dale Whittaker |
Children’s Science Center | Nene Spivy |
Fairfax County | Karla Bruce, Eta Nahapetian, Teresa Benincasa |
Future Talent Council | Daniel Kjellsson |
GE Appliances | Dave Hare |
Georgia Tech | Steve Harmon |
Hult International Business School | Mukul Kumar |
International Academic Forum (IAFOR) | Joseph Haldane |
Ithaka S+R | Jenna Joo |
Jefferson County Public Schools KY | Kristin Wingfeld |
Journeys Map | Clayton Hoyle |
University of Lynchburg | Owen Cardwell, Carol Adams |
Lynchburg City Schools | Jeff Garrett |
Lynchburg Beacon of Hope | Laura Hamilton, Christopher Glover |
Marsha Semmel Consulting | Marsha Semmel |
Maryville University of St. Louis | Feng Hou |
Museums and More | Dave Ucko |
Newport News Public Schools | Sherrell Ashburn |
Northeastern University | Manny Contomanolis |
Purdue Polytechnic and Purdue Polytechnic High School | Gary Bertoline, Scott Bess |
Refraction Points | Esther Lee |
Smart City Works | Bob Mazer |
Lead Editors

Jared (Jake) Keyel is a doctoral candidate in the Planning, Governance, and Globalization program in the School of Public and International Affairs at Virginia Tech. He will defend his dissertation on July 9th. His research interests include critical migration and refugee studies, democratic theory, and global ethics. Prior to enrolling at Virginia Tech, he worked for seven years in the non-profit sector focused on integration of new immigrants, particularly from the Middle East and North Africa. He holds a Master’s degree in International Relations with a concentration in Middle Eastern Affairs from Syracuse University. Jake is also the co-founding editor and has served on the editorial board of Community Change, a peer-reviewed graduate student journal housed at Virginia Tech’s Institute for Policy and Governance. He is also a board member and treasurer for the Blacksburg Refugee Partnership, a community initiative that supports nine resettled families in the New River Valley.

Amy Arnold is a doctoral candidate in the Instructional Design and Educational Technology program within the School of Education at Virginia Tech. Her research focuses on how professionals learn and reach expertise within the workplace for the purpose of creating online professional development guidelines. As a graduate research assistant, she aided in the creation of the digital prosopography for the Lord Byron and His Times archive under the direction of Dr. David Radcliffe, Director of the Center for Applied Technologies in the Humanities (CATH). She served as peer reviewer for the Journal of Research in Education and Tennessee Libraries. Prior to seeking her Ph.D., she worked as an academic librarian for the graduate and online learning communities at a regional university. During this role, she served on the ALA Publishing Committee and chaired the ACRL C.L.I.P. Notes Committee. More recently, she analyzed data on NSF Grant #1360665: Professional Engineering Pathways: A Longitudinal Study of Early Career Preparedness and Decision-Making, which was a collaborative project with Arizona State University, Purdue University, Stanford University, and Virginia Tech.
Assistant Editor

Rebecca Clark is currently attending Virginia Tech. She is a Ph.D. student in Instructional Design and Educational Technology within the School of Education. She holds an MA and BA in History from Brock University in Canada. She recently completed an online BEd. in Adult Education while working for 6 years in the corporate insurance sector. Her research interests include technological innovation use and adoption by instructors in higher education settings and adult literacy. In fall 2019, she will begin a graduate assistantship with the College of Engineering. In the community, she is a tutor with the Literacy Volunteers of New River Valley (LVNRV) and is currently designing instructional modules for the Blacksburg Museum & Cultural Foundation (BMCF). She is looking forward to working with the authors contributing to this project.
Contact Us
Report Editors
Workshop Logistics
Workshop registration is by invitation and will open in early July. For questions regarding logistics after registration (hotel reservations, travel to Washington, D.C., dietary needs, etc), please contact:
Briana Blanchard
Program Coordinator
Continuing and Professional Education
National Capital Region, Virginia Tech
Outreach and International Affairs
900 N. Glebe Road
Arlington, VA 22203
P: 571.858.3304
bnblanch@vt.edu