Learning for Life: The Opportunity for Technology to Transform Adult Education

A two-part publication series on instructional technologies within adult education

The number of US adults lacking basic skills in the areas of literacy, numeracy, and digital literacy is substantial – nearly one in six US adults maintains low literacy skills, while nearly one in three possesses low numeracy skills – and the consequences are debilitating. Not only is education fundamental to individual welfare and lifelong opportunity, but the effect of a large low-skilled adult population on the US economy is considerable.

Over the past decade, innovations in educational technology have impacted nearly all preK–12, postsecondary, and corporate and professional learning environments, while largely bypassing the adult education market; this is a missed opportunity to apply the education sector’s entrepreneurial efforts to a community of 36 million low-skilled adults in need. In fall 2014, Tyton Partners, with support from the Joyce Foundation and the Commission on Adult Basic Education, conducted comprehensive research on the role of and potential for instructional technologies in the US adult education field. Tyton Partners conducted a national survey of more than 1,000 adult education program administrators and practitioners to determine their interest in, aptitude for, and current use of technology-based instructional resources.

This publication series, Learning for Life: The Opportunity for Technology to Transform Adult Education, explores technology readiness, access, and use within various adult education delivery channels, as well as market opportunities, program decision-making processes, and the supplier ecosystem for instructional resources. The research and analysis featured in these publications will assist suppliers, investors, policy professionals, and institutions as they explore opportunities in the adult education market.