Martha Fields Cleveland-Innes is Professor at the Centre for Distance Education, Athabasca University. Her work in the field of adult and higher education spans eighteen years and includes program development, curriculum design and research. Her first two degrees are in Sociology, with a switch during her Master’s degree to ‘the sociology of adult education’. Her Ph.D. is from the University of Calgary with a concentration in the Sociology of Adult and Higher Education. This means Martha has a particular interest in social forces that impose themselves on learning and education.