Providers of continuing professional education (CPE) all too often tend to identify with and practice within their individual professions rather than within the general field of adult education. Yet there is a great deal that CPE providers can learn collaboratively from each other, regardless of the specific profession to which they belong. This volume provides a resource to help practitioners examine and improve professional practice--and set new directions for the field of CPE across multiple professions. The contributors provide a brief review of the development of the field of CPE, analyze significant issues and trends that are shaping and changing the field, and propose a vision of the future of CPE. They explore, for instance, the important links between pre-professional and continuing professional education, and offer guidelines to help practitioners to develop those connections. They explain various models of learning in the workplace that foster the development of professional expertise, and outline a groundbreaking new method by which practitioners can assess continuing professional education programs. In addition, they examine current issues in marketing, ethics, and other topics key to the future of CPE. This is the 86th issue of the quarterly journal New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education,

Providers of continuing professional education (CPE) all too often tend to identify with and practice within their individual professions rather than within the general field of adult education. Yet there is a great deal that CPE providers can learn collaboratively from each other, regardless of the specific profession to which they belong. This volume provides a resource to help practitioners examine and improve professional practice-and set new directions for the field of CPE across multiple professions. The contributors provide a brief review of the development of the field of CPE, analyze significant issues and trends that are shaping and changing the field, and propose a vision of the future of CPE. They explore, for instance, the important links between pre-professional and continuing professional education, and offer guidelines to help practitioners to develop those connections. They explain various models of learning in the workplace that foster the development of professional expertise, and outline a groundbreaking new method by which practitioners can assess continuing professional education programs. In addition, they examine current issues in marketing, ethics, and other topics key to the future of CPE.