Knowledgebase Adult Education: the online knowledge platform for topics relevant to the theory and practice of adult education in Austria. In addition, the Knowledgebase offers information on the structure, organisation, statistics and the history of the Austrian Adult Education Institutes as well as on continuing education offers.

Knowledgebase Adult Education: History and current development of Austrian adult education made experiential, researchable and applicable

The information offered by the Knowledgebase Adult Education provides a multi-lingual and internationally oriented, virtual education area for all those working in adult education and for all researchers and learners who want to receive quick, precise and comprehensive information on different aspects of adult education in Austria.

Easy-to-use data bases provide information on specialist literature (books, contributions in anthologies and specialist journals, academic research papers, and theses). The use of these data bases makes it easy to place enquiries about primary and secondary literature on topics such as the history of adult education, the popularisation of science, methodology, andragogy, and educational and scientific research.

In order to get an impression of the organisation, the structure, and the range of activities of the Austrian Adult Education Institutes, statistics and structural analysis data bases are available that not only provide information on the statistical development, but also on the latest organisational state and current offerings in continuing education, as well as on the partners for individual requests for continuing education.

Using visually appealing forms of representation that are appropriate to the complexity of the historical development, the historiography offers a lively picture of the history of public education and the popularisation of knowledge in Austria since the 19th century. Thus, current questions and problems in the field of adult education can be viewed in their historical context and, therefore, also be understood better.

The Knowledgebase Adult Education is not only a knowledge and information hub between past, present, and future trends and developments in adult education, but, in addition, it also should stimulate discussion on the central questions of the theory and practice of adult education. On the one hand, this is made possible by a news-bar for current daily messages from the work in adult education, and, on the other hand, by a text archive, in which important basic texts of previous and present discussions have been secured and made available.

Due to its function as a mediator, the Knowledgebase Adult Education is situated between the past and the future, between theory and practice, between experts’ knowledge and lay interest, and, by means of modern technology, tries to present the old demand of adult education, dating back to the European Enlightenment, for the democratisation and popularisation of knowledge, in a modern form.