Tips and Strategies when Teaching Millennial Learners

1. Tips and Strategies when Teaching Millennial Learners Millennial Learners 21st Century Learning Dr. Audrey J. Penner VP Academic and Student Success Norther College August 29th, 2016

2. Objectives: • Define Millennial learners’ characteristics • Explore their needs and priorities • Identify innovation strategies for working with Millennials

3. In North America these young adults are called: The Net Generation The Echo Boomers Generation Y Millennials Who are the Millennial Learners?

4. Fast Facts* • Growing tendency to live at home as a young adult – greater then ever before in history • They are better educated then any other generational cohort in history • They are slower to permanently attach to the labor force • They start out earning less than previous generational cohorts at the same cross section, but they catch up rapidly • Currently, America’s largest living generation • The Millennial population is projected to peak in 2036 at 81.1 million. *Pew Research Center- US Data

5. What do we know about Millennials? Define their characteristics

6. Characteristics

7. Let’s check it out • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKfzpkpoPUE

8. Confident, Connected

9. Millennial Characteristics • Children of Baby Boomers • With the introduction of birth control, • Children by choice, adult by time • Parents have responded to political marketing of ideology ‘for the sake of the children’ or ‘the effect on the children’ • Children/adult immersed in consumerism • Older parents • Children with affluence, adult with less

10. Millennial Characteristics • Brains are wired somewhat differently • Hyper sense of connectivity • More ethnically and racially diverse than older adults. • Less religious • Generational priorities are different

11. Millennials are the only segment that doesn’t cite “work ethic” as one of their principal claims to distinctiveness.* Pew Commission Report

12. Characteristic Perceptions of Millennials learners • I have the right to: • Information access 24/7 • Customized service (ATM’s) • Things on demand (Fast Food) • Be recognized for ‘being’ • I expect: • Time organized for me • Negotiation on my behalf • Helicopter care • My feelings considered more important

13. Priorities • What are the Millennial priorities?

14. Priorities • Customization • Mobility • Access • Feelings/being

15. Ultimate consumer in a consumer driven society Have a positive view of technology Are visual learners and multi-taskers who get bored easily Expect customization in all aspects of their lives Millennials see themselves first and foremost as consumers

16. As a generation how do their needs differ? Explore their needs

17. Millennials view postsecondary education • Will it be specific to me? • Is it mobile? • Can I do it anytime? • Can I access it whenever I want?

18. Teaching methods from one era do no meet learning needs of a different era In North America teaching this generation has a challenge for non Millennials

19. The Millennial Quiz In the past 24 hours did you watch more than one hour of Television programming? did you read a daily newspaper? did you play a video game Millennials 43% 57% 72%

20. How important is being successful in a high-paying career or profession to you personally? One of the most important Very important but not most Somewhat important Not important Millennials 21% most important Boomers 41% most important

21. Keys influences for generations 1) Life cycle effects 2) Period effects 3) Cohort effects • It’s not just their gadgets—it’s the way they’ve fused their social lives into them” Pew Commission Report Millennials’ are first and foremost relationship oriented, and this is their measure of success

22. Priorities • Engage with causes for people not institutions • Ideas/issues not government or organizations • Heavily influenced by their peers • Decisions and behaviors • Cyber bullying a prime example • Millennials treat their time, money, and assets as having equal value. • Having a voice is an important asset • Millennials can experience the work without having to be on site. • Visuals, virtual reality, and platforms of information

23. Comparison of priorities Millennials’ GenX/Boomers Content Mastery Job • Mobility • Customization • Access

24. Let’s talk specific situations What do you think?

25. Each Group • Identify one situation where you have seen Millennials priorities clearly demonstrated in your class • How did you act/respond to that priority? • Do you need to respond differently? • If so, what might you do differently in the future?

26. What will work? Identify strategies for working with Millennials

27. Let’s switch our mindsets • IF A TURTLE DOESN'T HAVE A SHELL, IS HE HOMELESS OR NAKED?

28. Degrees of Innovation* 1. Doing the right things 2. Doing things right 3. Doing things better 4. Doing away with things 5. Doing things others are doing, better 6. Doing things no one else is doing 7. Doing things that can’t be done *The Power of Why- Amanda Lang quoting Sam Rolf

29. We need to understand how their learning works And the way they learn does not always make sense to us

30. Innovation space Innovation space How do we apply degrees of innovation to help everyone ?

31. Information access is a priority Doing the right things Doing things right Doing things better Doing away with things Doing things others are doing, better Doing things no one else is doing Doing things that can’t be done • So what degree of innovation do you need to meet this priority?

32. Solution space • Where is your solution ‘space’?

33. Case studies • Take a current learning activity/assessment/evaluation • How can you apply innovative thinking to assessment? • How would this innovation appeal to the Millennial? • What degree of innovation is it? Degrees of Innovation

34. Teaching strategies and Millennials Consistent application Personal touch Regular and specific feedback Procedures or protocols must be clear

35. Faculty approaches to Millennial learners must Involve them in the decision making process, where possible Use negotiation when it does not compromise learning Use a spectrum of technologies Be open to new ways of doing things

36. Faculty strategies • Transformation versus Transmission • Short term versus long term learning • Intellectual growth versus content growth • The ability to ‘manage information’ as opposed to ‘accumulating information’

37. Activity based learning is the essence of a competency based experiential learning approach Are the activities: • relevant to the learning experience or ‘authentic’? • technology based or affiliated? • assigned with clear outcomes? • a demonstrated learning gain for the student?

38. Examples degree of innovation? Group projects with clear rubrics Interactive with a community learning forum Collaborative skills and teams Approaches must build knowledge, the community of practice concept Communication before, during, and after is critical All forms of communication are more important now than ever, verbal, body language and text

39. Celebrate mistakes Give them: • a challenge, • competition between groups • a cross disciplinary approach • stress the achievement of the competition (positive feedback) • discuss what went wrong (improve information) and • how to prevent it from happening again

40. Share best practices with colleagues Socratic method: let the learner lead Focus on outcomes with learners Develop support systems with your colleagues to compare notes and build collaborative cross disciplinary activities

41. Quality of Learner/Faculty contact Participation in groups with learning partners, discussions, assignments Frequent, prompt, and specific feedback Variety in teaching, assignments and communications Be clear in syllabus, assignments, expectations Use technology where possible: on-line quizzes, chats, grading

42. Authentic assessments • Focused on specific skills • Occur in ‘real’ time and ‘real’ world (experiential) • Be as much about process as content • Be centered on problem solving as opposed to problem answering

43. Assessments can no longer be focused upon • Memorizing facts for the sake of facts • Regurgitating teacher led information • Simplistic exercises or assessments

44. To prepare for change • Recognize and accept Milllennials’ for who and what they are • Innovate delivery, change up methods, be fearless • Ask yourself what is your ‘degree of innovation’?

45. Will we have to change the way we teach? for the short term • Moderately for the long term • Drastically

46. True wisdom comes to each of us when we realize how little we understand about life, ourselves, and the world around us.-Socrates

47. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qou3w41iwms Thank you Questions?