What question did this study set out to answer?

To reflect on the significance of Charles Wedemeyer's book, Learning at the Back Door, and its impact on non-traditional learning.

March 21, 2026

Reprinting a Classic

Key Points

To reflect on the significance of Charles Wedemeyer's book, Learning at the Back Door, and its impact on non-traditional learning.
Reread the book and personal review from 1982
Critique the content through accumulated experience
Discuss the historical context of the book's influence
Reassessment reveals the book's enduring value
Acknowledgment of initial critical review and personal growth over time
Recognition of the book's importance in educational discourse

Abstract

Once again, thanks to the efforts of Information Age Publishing, an out-of-print classic is available. Charles Wedemeyer's Learning at the Back Door: Reflections on Non-traditional Learning in the Lifespan has been reprinted. This book has a special place in my professional mind because, as a young associate professor, I reviewed it for Educational Technology in 1982. The book was unforgettable, but I hoped my review was forgotten. I panned Wedemeyer's classic.Here are two excerpts from that review:Recently, I reread Learning at the Back Door, as well as my decades-old review. Looking through the prism of experience rather than enthusiasm, I now see what a great and classic book Professor Wedemeyer offered us. I still had a hard time reading much of it. My fault, not his.

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