The world is shrinking rapidly.  The Internet has brought the world together in ways that nobody would have expected.  You can now attend a college half way around the world, with students from any country with Internet access. 

Knowledge is expanding at a tremendous rate.  The class graduating H.S. in the year 2000 will be exposed to more new information in one year then their grandparents were in a lifetime.  Memorizing facts will have a much lower value, while utilizing information for analysis and decisions will be a critical skill.  

The typical worker will have many distinct careers in his or her lifetime.  Each of these careers will require new knowledge and skills.  Lifelong learning will be something that any successful person must do to compete.  It will no longer be worthwhile to learn something with the hope that it will be useful at some time.  Just-In-Time learning that meets the needs of individuals as they occur, makes learning more meaningful and effective.  

The companies and careers of the future will utilize technologies that have not even been conceived of today.  These technologies will require a whole new set of skills from the workforce.  Learning to use the new technology will be important, and so will using those technologies to learn.