The higher education ecosystem is shifting. Lines are blurring. Continuing professional education--with its focus on nontraditional students, applied learning, support of workforce development, and use of innovative and technology-based pedagogy--was commonly perceived to function outside the core of the academy, which focused on a liberal-arts…

America does not have the workforce it needs for the economy that it has. That was a conclusion of the Commission on the Future of Higher Education in 2006. The Commission went on to note that if current trends are not reversed, the US economy and per capita income will actually decrease over the next 15 years, for the first time in US history. In…

Continuing education is facing greater opportunities and challenges than at any other time in history. In this article, the author focuses on the unique and identifiable circumstances that are presenting distance educators with unprecedented opportunities to assume greater leadership roles in their parent institutions. These opportunities are…

This annotated bibliography is a companion piece to "Putting Creativity and Innovation to Work: Continuing Higher Education's Role in Shifting the Educational Paradigm," also in this edition of "Continuing Higher Education Review." The author has provided citations for a selection of books and a brief description of the main idea in each along…

As universities respond to rapid changes in course delivery methods, economic shortfalls, and a re-examination of who their students are, continuing education (CE) units find themselves with an opportunity to influence significantly the direction of the response. Continuing education has long led the way in reaching out to previously unserved or…

Discusses how a fundamental disagreement between the values of distance education and traditional academics could be bridged by a mutual commitment to education driven by quality, access, integrity, responsiveness, and a central role for faculty. Notes adoption of distance education could be enhanced by integrating theories of organizational…

Writing and other media such as art and folk tales tell the story of a culture. No less important are scholarly writings about society, knowledge, ethics, and practices. Because continuing education is both an academic subject and a field of practice, practitioners have a responsibility to publish both scholarly and practical works. (SK)

Using the Integrated Practice Perspective model and data from 85 continuing education administrators, working roles in geographically decentralized organizations were examined. The resulting role composite for continuing educators differs from that in the literature. Contingency variables influence role importance and frequency of performance. (SK)