Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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Teaching Techniques for Young Adults:
Implications from Millennials Research
o Poor: generational poverty/welfare background, health issues, transportation issues,
desire for instant gratification
o Immature: Compared to peers, poor decision making skills, unrealistic (high AND low)
expectations, impulse control, poor organizational skills
o Pessimistic: poor self-esteem, low expectations, low value on the education process
(although they want what the paper can get them)
o Socialization Needs: peers are their primary social group, need to belong, gangs,
drugs/alcohol as a way to escape/belong
o Unsuccessful at school: Atypical learners, learning disabilities, mediocre/poor
readers, prefer video/visuals, hands-on, music & discussion; ADHD, ADD
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Teaching Techniques for Young Adults:
Implications from Millennials Research
o 1999 & 2000 Families First Idea Books: Integrating Work Skills and Basic Skills.
http://www.cls.utk.edu/2000_idea_book.html
http://www.cls.utk.edu/1999_idea_book.html
Note: The goal/real life focus is related to Millennials desire to know exactly what is
required to complete the activity/assignment. Do not be surprised if they do ONLY what is
required and no more. Provide explicit and clear expectations of performance and
behavior, and follow through on consequences. Provide strong positive feedback if they
meet expectations, and set expectations at the level you *want* performance.
24/7, Mobile, On-demand, customized I want to learn stuff right when I need it any
time, any where. Learning should be fun and aligned with my preferences.
AVOID passive learning -just sitting and receiving. Opportunities for *everyone* to
discuss and/or use what they have just learned should occur every 7-10 minutes.
Build choice into learning as much as possible students have input into the pacing,
frequency with which they switch tasks, learning or performance modalities, etc.
o C-Pal: Basics of Adult Literacy Education: Pacing &Practice
http://www.c-pal.net/course/module4/m4_pacing_practice.html
o Provide individualized learning plans based on long and short term goals.
Allow Millennials to multi-task (which is really microtasking) participate in several
tasks at once. Work with them on options if microtasking does not lead to efficient
learning.
Millennials prefer instant feedback, and need ways to attain it other than from the
instructor. See Social/Web 2.0 strategies online communities can meet this need.
Media/Digital-based I seek multiple sources for information and distrust best or only
way statements/learning. Doing several things at once keeps things interesting.
Multiple Learning Modalities (Learning styles, Multiple Intelligences Theory, etc.): While
these learners have a slight preference for visual learning, they are comfortable accessing
many different learning styles. Also, they are comfortable accessing more than one
modality at the SAME TIME.
o AVOID Text in large blocks and as an intro to topics. Text is generally not their
1st choice, but is perfectly acceptable for deeper investigations.
o C-Pal: Basics of Adult Literacy Education: Learning Modalities http://www.c-
pal.net/course/module4/m4_learning_modalities.html
Trial & Error Learning
o Provide opportunities to find information, seek patterns, and build knowledge from
many disparate sources. Not afraid of failure and repeated tries as long as they
have many solution options.
o Gee, James Paul ( <2005) Good Video games and Good Learning
http://www.academiccolab.org/resources/documents/Good_Learning.pdf
o Using Games to Promote Communicative Skills in Language Learning
http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Chen-Games.html
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Teaching Techniques for Young Adults:
Implications from Millennials Research
Note: Technology is one TOOL for addressing millennials needs. They are comfortable
accessing many types of resources, via many types of tools. Do not assume they want to
use tech all the time (they dont). Use Technology when it is easy, smooth and effective
otherwise they will want to switch to another method/tool.
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Teaching Techniques for Young Adults:
Implications from Millennials Research
Our contact info:
Duren duren.thompson@utk.edu Center for Literacy Studies, University of
Beth baponder@utk.edu Tennessee
865-974-4109 312 UT Conference Center Bldg
Knoxville, TN 37996-4135
Easy Reads:
Coates, Julie (2007) Generation Y The Millennial Generation, from Generational Learning, LERN Books
Excerpt at http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/GenY.htm
Focus Adolescent Services (2007) Youth who Drop Out http://www.focusas.com/Dropouts.html
Oblinger, Diana (2003) Boomers, Gen-Xers & Millennials: Understanding the New Students.
http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/erm0342.pdf
Pew Research Center for The People and The Press (2007) How Young People View Their Lives, Futures,
and Politics: A Portrait of Generation Next
http://people-press.org/report/300/a-portrait-of-generation-next
Deeper Stuff:
America Connects Consortium (2002?) America Connects Consortium Noteworthy Practices: Serving
Youth in Adult Education Programs. [No longer online]
Dede, Chris (2005) Planning for Neomillennial Learning Styles.
http://www.gse.harvard.edu/~dedech/DedeNeoMillennial.pdf
Jekielek, Susan and Brown, Brett (2005) The Transition to Adulthood: Characteristics of Young Adults in
America A Kids Count/PRB/Child Trends Report http://www.prb.org/pdf05/TransitionToAdulthood.pdf
Lynch, Art (2009) Ready or Not: Adult Education and Millennial Generation
http://open.salon.com/blog/alynch/2009/03/27/ready_or_not_adult_education_and_millennial_genera
tion
Oblinger and Oblinger (2005) Is it Age or IT: First steps toward understanding the Net Generation
http://www.educause.edu/educatingthenetgen
Prensky, Marc (2001) Digital Natives Digital immigrants Part II: Do They Really Think Differently?
http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part2.pdf
Sale and Sims (2008) Online Learning Design: Does generational poverty influence the young adult
learner? http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/melbourne08/procs/sale.pdf
Stearley, Sean (2008) What Generational Diversity Means to e-Learning, Aetna. (Good overview of
generations, and interesting research findings on media learning preferences.)
http://iil08.wikispaces.com/file/view/What+Generational+Diversity+Means+to+e-Learning.ppt
Wikibooks (2009) Web 2.0 Learning Styles http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Web_2.0_Learning_Styles
Miscellaneous:
SMS language (Text-ese) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_language
NetLingo list of Acronyms & Text Message Shorthand http://www.netlingo.com/acronyms.php
Fred Lynch (2009) Slang Dictionary http://wwwthesource4youth.com/teenlingo (caution R rated)
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