The Millennials have arrived! Is Adult Education ready?
Major Points of this Presentation
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Generational Research – overview and cautions.
What is a millennial? – sifting through the hype: definitions, characteristics, cautions.
Implications for Adult Education – in the Workplace, in the Community, in the
Classroom.
Overview of the Generational Research
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Silent Generation: (born 1930- 1945) – Depression & WWII; conservative, fiscally
prudent, loyal to employers, trust in chain of command; hands-on/collaborative learners;
hates waste
Baby Boomers: (born 1946 - 1964) – Civil Rights & Vietnam, Television: highly educated,
focus on career, meaningful work; linear, instructor-led/auditory learners; hates laziness
Generation X: (born 1965-1979) – Nixon, Berlin Wall, Iran Hostages: willing digital
immigrants; cynical of politics & corporations, skeptical of social media; independent/self
sufficient, technology-based, visual/text learners; hates red tape
Millennials: (born 1980- 2000) – Oklahoma City & Challenger Explosion, Kuwait & Iraq:
socially and environmentally conscious, trust authority for guidance; fluent in
technologies, learn via social media, mentors, collaboration; hates anything slow
CAUTION: Generational Research is inherently…general.
 Individuality: All generational research is expressed in generalizations. Every person is
an individual and has individual characteristics that may or may not align with their
“generation.” Be careful of labels!
 Statistics: All statistics have bias, and can be spun many different ways. Media and
marketers have different agendas from AE, and what they present about generational
research may be significantly different from what AE would see in the data.
Millennials – Who are they?
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Age Range: 6 – 25 yrs - Born between 1982-2002 (sources vary)
Many names: Generation Y, Generation Next, Digital Natives, Media Learners, .Net
generation, Web 2.0 Generation, Neo-Millenials
Diverse: on average, 45% Non-white (vs 38% GenX, 25% Boomer, 20% Silent Gen)
Large: 36% of population – 2-3 x Generation X, equal or greater than Boomer generation.
Characteristics:
o Raised very Sheltered – More easily stressed, look to authority/parents for
guidance, used to highly scheduled/structured life where desired were easily and
quickly met.
o Digital natives – while fluent in technology- it is just another tool; 24/7 “ondemand” lifestyle; multi and multiple media-based interaction with knowledge;
adaptable
o Social & Team oriented – Web 2.0 – collaborative creation of knowledge, live
publically online, staying networked is key –
myspace/facebook/twitter/texting/blogging
o Ambitious but Unrealistic - focused on notoriety, money, big ideas; unrealistic
expectations of workplace and “real-work” opportunities, goal-focused
http://www.cls.utk.edu/conferencematerials.html
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The Millennials have arrived! Is Adult Education ready?
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Globally, Socially, Environmentally conscious – embrace/accept diversity of all
sorts, activists – want to make a difference, more politically involved than GenX
Action-oriented – Focus on new experiences, trying things out, rather than
‘thinking about” or reflective activities, virtual world acceptable substitute for
“real-world” activities, highly mobile, “TV is boring.”
CAUTION: Not all youth/young adults demonstrate millennial characteristics.
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Bias: Generational research is strongly biased towards well-educated, middle and
upper class populations. Youth/young adult literacy learners (and ESOL) are
poorly represented in this research.
Rate of Change: What is true today, may not be so tomorrow. A recent trend
shows that ‘Millennial characteristics’ can be demonstrated by students of any age,
particularly those of ‘Generation X.’ These characteristics may better reflect a
mindset – rather than a specific generation. Stay informed.
Implications for Adult Education (Topics for discussion)
Workplace
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Recruitment & Retention of Employees – How to make AE jobs attractive, how to
increase job satisfaction for younger employees, job loyalty issues?
Orientation and initial Job Training – What skills will they bring? What will they
lack?
Inter-generational interactions – What to watch out for? What to work on as a
staff?
Professional Development issues – How will these employees want/be willing to
learn? How might this affect budgets/logistics? What about Technology and these
employees?
Community
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Community Attitudes/Awareness – What do we need them to
know/hear/understand?
Volunteers – How do we appeal to, retain and train this generation?
Fundraising/Support – Where are they? What can they do? What will appeal to
them?
Classroom
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How are Literacy Learners Different from “millenials?
Marketing and Recruitment – How/where to reach them? How to appeal to them?
How to cope with influx!
Orientation & Assessment – What will they need? What don’t they need?
Instruction
o Multi-generational classes – Frictions? Benefits?
o Youth-only classes – Benefits, barriers? Concerns?
o Instructor-student interactions – Conflicting expectations/approaches?
o Retention issues – What makes them stay? What drives them away?
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The Millennials have arrived! Is Adult Education ready?
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Learning preferences – What do instructors need to know? What training
will they need? What resources/supports?
Technology – What is the best USE of technology for these learners?
Research
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Generational Research in Adult Literacy?
ESOL issues?
Proffessional development issues (multi-generational differences)?
http://www.cls.utk.edu/conferencematerials.html
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The Millennials have arrived! Is Adult Education ready?
Our contact info:
Duren – duren.thompson@utk.edu
Bill – mcnutt@utk.edu
865-974-4109
Center for Literacy Studies, University of Tennessee
312 UT Conference Center Bldg
Knoxville, TN 37996-4135
References & Resources
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.ht
m
 Interchange Group (2006) 7 Secrets to Working with Millennials
http://www.interchangegroup.com/data/7%20Secrets%20to%20Working%20with%20Millennials.pdf
 Larrabee and Robinson (?) Ready or Not, Here They Come: Motivating and Retaining the
Millennial Generation, Bell Oaks Executive Search
http://www.belloaks.com/documents/Motivate,%20Retain%20Millennials_BellOaks.pdf
 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:
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Dede, Chris (2005) Planning for Neomillennial Learning Styles.
http://www.gse.harvard.edu/~dedech/DedeNeoMillennial.pdf
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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
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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_gene
ration
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Oblinger and Oblinger (2005) Is it Age or IT: First steps toward understanding the Net
Generation http://www.educause.edu/educatingthenetgen
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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
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Wikipedia (2009) Web 2.0 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0
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Woelfel, Stacey (2007) Cover Story: The Millennials
http://www.rtnda.org/pages/media_items/cover-story-the-millennials582.php
http://www.cls.utk.edu/conferencematerials.html
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