A national celebration of adult learning would help to create a culture of adult learning and lifelong learning. Such a celebration should connect with the media, disseminate information about the diversity of adult learning opportunities, and direct people to learning opportunities formal and informal. The celebration would encourage individuals to recognize the learning that already occurs in their lives. It would also increase the usefulness of Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition (PLAR) as a tool in formal learning settings.

A National Celebration would promote what is fundamental to adult learning including accessibility, learner-centered education, inclusiveness, and diversity. A survey of individuals’ perception about learning, conducted prior to the celebration, would also contribute to a better understanding of learning.

A celebration of Adult Learning could begin to articulate the important role that adult learning plays in the development of communities. Currently Canada participates in the International Adult Learners’ Week through the Canadian Commission for UNESCO and its government and non-government partners. Since its purpose is to raise the profile and promote lifelong learning among the general public and in various learning environments, it could provide the forum for a more concerted National Celebration of Adult Learning.

The portal or clearinghouse (both terms, as well as others, were used) should meet international standards for inter-operability. It should be accessible and inclusive, bilingual and have the capacity for other languages where appropriate, user-centred, and participatory (i.e. similar to wikipedia, it should allow others, including non-researchers, to add information).

This discussion group recommended the development of a centralized provision of information on adult learning with a common source of bibliographical references and research resources that are selective but not ‘juried’. A portal could be a clearinghouse to exchange information and share knowledge and to include a directory of who is doing what, best practices, case studies, and profiles of adult learners.

While a centralized source of information on adult literacy already exists, this is not the case for other areas. The Gender and Adult Learning session recommended that a centralized website be established to serve as an information source on funding and to profile strategic research clusters. Case studies as learning tools were emphasized in the Barriers to Participation session; for example, the experience of the Prior Learning Assessment Centre of Nova Scotia and other centres could assist those in formal educational systems in developing sound strategies for recognizing prior learning.

The discussion group proposed that either CCL or ALKC establish a portal. A CCL portal would focus on all learning, whereas a portal developed by ALKC would focus on adult learning.

This initiative would build on the process already underway with the Canadian literacy thesaurus. The State of the Field reports called for clearer language and terminology in order to further relationships and collaborative efforts among researchers and practitioners. CCL and ALKC should take the lead in developing a lexicon of working definitions and widely accepted terminology.