Written for the Commission on Technology and Adult Learning, Wayne Hodgins paints a futuristic picture of technology, adult education, and what he terms "learnativity." According to Hodgins, the direction of technology, the knowledge needs of society, and global economic forces are converging in a dramatic manner. History is at a point where the seeds of "learnativity" are nascent but brimming with potential if individuals, organizations, and nations are able to keep their minds open to the possibility of the opportunities created by the direction, needs, and forces just mentioned. Learnativity "is a new way of being that fuses learning, working, creativity, and knowledge creation into a synchronous state". The term is meant to describe a state of affairs wherein everyone is problem solving, working, planning, communicating, and learning "all at once and all at the same time." The concept of learnativity includes this fusion of human activities, technological developments, knowledge needs, and global forces.

The paper focuses on four elements of learnativity:

1) performing tasks and measuring competence
2) capturing and utilizing knowledge
3) managing knowledge in its increasing complexity, and
4) changes in learning offerings.

The sections on capturing knowledge and managing knowledge are most relevant to learning objects and learning object repositories. Here, Hodgins covers the nature of learning objects, metadata, interoperability, standards, and various implications for the future. This section is nicely interwoven with the remaining three elements of learnativity. Of particular interest are the "Points to Ponder" asked at the end of the sections. The questions are categorized as follows: Work & Learning, Individuals, Teams, Organizations, and Policy & Practice.

In general, Hodgins' paper touches upon many of the relevant issues to be discussed in Part III of this report. It is broken up into readable chunks and written for a general audience that may or may not understand why learning objects are important or how learning objects are connected to current developments in technology, learning, training, and human development. The vision paper's utilization of "learnativity" provides a concept by which to think about strategic measures for reaching a prime state of human, technological, and learning convergence.

For the full text, see http://www.learnativity.com/into_the_future2000.html