Lifelong learning, long a fundamental aspect of the LF film business and the institutions that form its core, has taken major leaps forward in recent years. Changing technology is playing a vital role in how we learn.

And those changes will only come at a faster rate as the promise of broadband communications expands. At the same time, the concept of lifelong learning is a natural fit with today’s "anywhere, anytime" mentality.

In his 1990 book Power Shift, Alvin Toffler wrote: "Today we are living through one of those exclamation points in history when the entire structure of human knowledge is once again trembling with change as old barriers fall. We are not just accumulating more ‘facts’ – whatever they may be. Just as we are restructuring companies and whole economies, we are totally reorganizing the production and distribution of knowledge and the symbols used to communicate it."

Before the invention of the Web and widespread access to the Internet, Toffler was predicting what we see around us today: a growing number of major colleges and universities are offering continuing education classes and college credit courses online. Research firm IDC predicts that by 2002, 15% of students in higher education will be taking distance learning courses, up from 5% in 1998. The technology has also exploded in its use for corporate training as well.

The Web has become the world’s largest lecture hall. It may never replace live face-to-face presentations, but for many people the Internet may be the only avenue for continuing education.

Recently, I was astounded to read in the April 2000 issue of Upside magazine that "the savings and accessibility of e-learning alone will propel this marketplace, now in its infancy, to a massive $46 billion by 2005, according to the National Institute of Standards and Technology."

In today’s tight labor market, employees are demanding access to tools and education to enhance their skills. Corporations have responded by providing that support. Many companies also use online training to establish a uniform approach across their worldwide work forces.

In a May 15, 2000, Business Week article, business guru Peter Drucker said that "today in the U.S., only about 20% [of the labor force] do[es] manual work. Of the remainder, nearly half…are knowledge-workers. The proportions are roughly similar for other developed countries."

He continued, "with a potential market for continuing adult education thus embracing at least 40% of the typical developed country’s work force, conventional institutions no longer suffice."

As I conducted my research, I could not help but think of how technology could be used to advance the LF industry’s goal of promoting lifelong learning. Although I have not surveyed LF institutions on how they may already be using these techniques, I came up with the following ideas.

Since many LF films are accompanied by an exhibit, a Webcast demonstration or tour of the exhibit could be made available on the institution’s web site. Different versions might be geared to different age groups or demographic segments. These demos could provide an introduction before school groups attend the film.

Given that approximately 50% of US households have Internet access, reviewing the exhibit tour at home could be assigned to complement in-school lessons. It might also provide a project that would involve the whole family. Online versions of the film’s trailer or other brief clips could also be used to prepare groups or individuals for their visits.

Web-based lessons designed to be used after seeing the film and exhibit could reinforce the whole experience. The online experience might also bring the student back to the museum, perhaps with his family, thus creating additional revenue.

These concepts may not work across the board. However, with 95% of US classrooms wired for the Internet, those who do not have Internet access at home could probably complete these types of assignments at school or in the local library.

We grownups have to remember that our children are already completely comfortable with computers and the Net and will expect this kind of service to be available. My two kids have had their own computers and have been online for nearly seven years. Both are in high school. When a picture tube blew out on one of our TVs the same week as a hard drive failed last year, fixing the computer was a higher priority in our budget.

The changes will keep coming. These comments have only scratched the surface. Where are you taking this technology? Are you at the intersection of lifelong learning and LF films?