I was recently scrolling Instagram, where a quote posted by a friend in her stories caught my eye. This seemingly simple, unattributed quote caused me to pause:

“Deep conversations with open-minded people is an underrated luxury.”

I immediately wondered when was the last time I had had a deep conversation with an open-minded person. And more important, as a leader, when was the last time I made time for those conversations to occur with those I lead. Fortunately, for me, I get to have those conversations with lots of open (and closed) minded people on the regular. But I also know I might be an anomaly.

The fast-paced nature of our work ensures that a lot of conversations look and sound completely different. These conversations may feel productive, but they’re really born out of necessity. We plan and produce like ships passing in the night. We hold clipped conversations that foster convenience over comprehension because time is too precious a commodity.

Peter Carpenter is facilitating session PC06 | Breathing New Life into Adult Learning at the Learning Forward 2025 Annual Conference on Sunday, December 7, 9 a.m.-4 p.m., Eastern (includes midday break).

Do any of these sound familiar? (Two people rushing past each other in the hall on the way to a meeting). “Hey…did you get all the supplies ready for tomorrow’s session? You did! Great. I’ll see you at 7:30 tomorrow.” (Goes on to the next meeting).

Or, perhaps something like this sent in a text message to a co-presenter for an upcoming learning experience:

“I was thinking about changing the activator for tomorrow’s session to something more engaging. Don’t worry about it…I’ll take care of it, and we can roll with the rest of our presentation as planned.”

I know I’ve experienced those moments.

The reality is, adult learning is under fire at the moment. Across the nation, offices, positions, and funding that support adult learning are being slashed. At this pivotal point in time, it is time to stop the quick conversations, and take a lengthy pause to have those deep conversations about quality adult learning. Because here’s what we know:

We have adult learning theory.

We have adult learning practices.

And the real question is…do they really and truly align? And most importantly…do they impact student achievement?

The Learning Designs standard of the Standards for Professional Learning is a helpful guide for shaping experiences that are engaging, relevant, and grounded in research on how adults learn. The standard articulates the need for learning professionals to “set relevant and contextualized learning goals, ground their work in research and theories about learning, and implement evidence-based learning designs” (Learning Forward, 2022).

As the stakes continue to rise, it’s important to lean into what we know is best practice and to take a pause to have a very deep conversation with open-minded people about adult learning. And that’s what this session will do. Specifically, we will create space to:

  • Understand what the evidence says about adult learning and what the different types of adult learning are and how they impact (or don’t) student learning;
  • Challenge our current practices to ensure proper alignment that promotes student achievement;
  • Create a plan for effective adult  learning for your context;
  • Investigate new tools to inspire adults to action;
  • Have an absolute blast doing it!