INTRODUCTION

 

Thank you for joining me on my journey while reflecting on the different generations of eLearners. This assignment is the first for the EDUC 4150, Principles and Processes, program at Vancouver Community College. As defined in the assignment description, “reflection through journaling provides concrete evidence of one’s evolving thought processes, documenting valuable insights and understanding.” Through the suggested questions and my own research, I will explain the different generations of learning, give some of my personal thoughts on the subject, and how the generations affect online eLearning.

This reflective writing entry will follow the ORID (objective, reflective, interpretive, decisional) focused conversation model. Further information about the ORID model is in, The Art of Focused Conversation: 100 Ways to Access Group Wisdom in the Workplace (2000) by R. Brian Stanfield.

I will begin with a learning example occurring today while my fiancé and I were purchasing car roof racks for our two kayaks. Once installed, we asked for a demonstration of the loading and unloading of the kayaks for safe traveling. Fortunately, my fiancé and I had previously watched the YouTube video so were aware of the mechanics of the technique. The employee was a male in his mid 20’s. While he explained the details to my fiancé and me, I could hear his thoughts screaming, ”Why can’t these people just look at the video, query the internet, or at the very least pick-up their smartphone and check out the myriad of sources on the installation of kayak roof racks.” As nice as he was, my fiancé and I made him earn his salary and asked every question we could think of about kayak roof racks. The question is, “Why did I get the impression and feel this young employee wanted us to stop asking questions and just go to some quick and easy type of technology to get the answer?”

Prior to completing the research for this assignment, I gave no thought to the different generations of learners let alone how or why I should vary my style or philosophy of teaching to accommodate their learning styles.  The five learning generations are Traditionalist, Silent Generation 1925 – 1945, Baby Boomers 1946 – 1964, Generation X, Gen X 1965 – 1976, Millennials, Gen Y 1977 – 1995, and Generation Z 1996 – TBD. (Center for Generational Kinetics, 2020)

 

I am a baby boomer born in 1956 with attributes such as being self-aware, a little self-centered, strong work ethic, lifelong learner, very social, dislike authority, and sensitive to criticism. My formal education was at a time before calculators and my math and physics classes in high school were with a slide rule only. The learners I have taught are a mixture of generations but about 70% millennial. I seem to meet all my student’s learning needs and I do not really care what generation they are. My student evaluations are generally quite good and as the proverb says, “If it is not broken why fix it?” Maybe I should think of adopting the saying, “You can always make a better mousetrap.” However, I have always known that my adult learners were fundamentally different than their younger counterparts. I have done my best knowing each class had a different set of challenges, demands, and expectations, and generally a different level of maturity. Take it apart and put it back together better than before.

 

OBJECTIVE: What have you learned about working with different generations of learners in an online forum?

            I have not taught an online course, but I have seen the generational differences among the students in the two online courses I have taken.  I resist technology due to a lack of familiarity with the technology and previous learning experiences.  Prior to taking the PIDP 3240 (Media Enhanced Learning) course, I feared using a variety of technology in the classroom because it might be more of a distraction than aid and it scared me to think it would not work properly. For example, when I teach face to face at the start of a new course on the Monday morning after introducing the class, I would ask my learner’s who was going to be my IT person for the week. In every class, there was one learner who would volunteer to ensure the compact disc in the personal video recorder was prepared and take care of any glitches in the guest speakers’ PowerPoint presentation. Yes, that learner was usually one third my age and glad to help. Up until now I have resisted the incorporation of technology in my classroom and had plenty of excuses. For example, I did not have the time to learn new technical knowledge, and do I really need WordPress, Facebook, and Twitter? Give me a flip chart and chalkboard and I was good to go.

For many young students of all generations, the idea of taking an online course is nothing new because they are often comfortable with the technology and a student-centered learning environment. My generation was used to a traditional, lecture-based learning environment and reluctantly enrolled in online courses only when there were no other options. For example, I have on my official Vancouver Community College transcripts an ‘F’ in the Media Enhanced Learning course in 2005 because I failed, pun intended, to grasp the importance of online learning. I was frustrated by the technology and did not withdraw from the course properly. I since completed it and received a final grade of “A-”.

I enjoy getting students from different generations to interact with each other. The younger students help the older students and visa versa. I Learned that understanding and appreciating different generations is critical for being an effective and productive teacher both online and face to face.

 

REFLECTIVE: How does this fit with your experience? What has your own learning been like related to interacting and learning with different generations?

 

Thinking back to my formal education experience, there was no concern from teachers for my style of learning. I was overweight, embarrassed easily, and had a girl’s name.  I failed at standardized testing and remember acquiring exam anxiety at an early age. I was not being prepared to meet the many challenges I may face in life or in my academic career. There was so much more to learn to become a well-balanced and healthy learner, but my schools were not designed to replace extended families.  My less than stellar grades showed I may have learned the basic concepts of formal education, but they did not consider me as a whole person. Some of my greatest challenges and obstacles were at school but so were some of my greatest successes

I am now more aware that understanding everyone’s opinions, views, and values will allow different generations to increase their appreciation of one another. People will then talk from a sense of appreciation and acknowledgment. We need people of all generations to help make education effective.

While watching the YouTube video by Michael Wesch (Wesch, 2007), it reminded me of sitting in the lecture room in 1982 at Simon Fraser University with two hundred other students listening to an elderly professor, pipe in his mouth,  old English accent, ramble on about Economics 101. Why did I take that class? How will I ever use the little bit of information I will remember? Why was I sitting there? How could the University pay this man for such pathetic teaching? In the video by Michael Wesch, I felt the student’s pain. It brought back so many bad memories from school for me. To me, teaching and learning must be fun. You can easily mix humor and enthusiasm into every class. They are so important and undervalued.

The students I teach are mostly millennials and I am now aware they are being taught by a digital immigrant. I speak an outdated language and struggle to teach a population that speaks an entirely new language.  Apparently, I am like many digital immigrant teachers who assumed learners are the same as they have always been, and what worked for me when I was a student will work while teaching my learners.

Thankfully, I have taken online courses and aware of communicating with my teachers online, participating in forums, dropping my assignments into a dropbox, and being disciplined enough to complete the assignments

 

INTERPRETIVE: What does this new learning mean to you? What new insights do you now have? How has your thinking changed because of this learning?

            The research for this assignment made it clear to me the difference among the learning generations while the articles on digital natives/digital immigrant’s articles  made it clear how I must adapt to all my learners learning styles and not just the majority. Just because I have only taught face to face and my teaching style seemed to be adequate, I know more can be done to improve the class so my results are exceptional. Thirty years ago, the baby boomers were young adults in the 17 to 36 age range, whereas now they are in the 47 to 66 age range. I know my teaching of millennials cannot be the same as teaching three other generations of learners.

“Adult learners have much more variability of experience that needs to be considered in postsecondary instructional design. This diversity of personal perspective and history provides a rich medium for growth, interaction, reflection, and change when used for positive purposes.” (King, 2017, pp. 166). I believe in a holistic education which is multi-disciplinary. It may include reading and writing of poetry, photography, feature films, theatre, dance, or music. Traditional education puts the curriculum before the person resulting in learners with anxiety and social handicaps. As an instructor, I try to re-write the wrongs, so my learners are not anxious or afraid and they feel empowered to succeed.

As stated by J. Krishnamurti, “The highest function of education is to bring about an integrated individual who is capable of dealing with life as a whole.” It is clear holistic teaching should consider a learner’s emotional well-being and consider the whole person. I like the idea of transformative learning and changing the frames of reference of people including their points of view and world views. Teaching learners to reflect critically on how they come to know or understand information is an important skill set for personal growth. Holistic education promotes these strategies and addresses the questions of how to teach and how people learn. These paradigms apply to different generations of learners too. As stated by Marc Prensky, “Our students have changed radically. Today’s students are no longer the people our educational system was designed to teach.”

 

DECISIONAL: How can this new learning be applied in your online course?

I have a participatory curriculum and my learners can be involved in developing the course and objectives. I have always asked my learners at the end of a quiz or exam, what questions they felt were unclear or unfair so they can make suggestions for improvement. In the future, I can have my learner’s critique and modify the subjects to get the most benefit from the course and have my students guide me.

In my classroom, I will be concerned if what Dr. Rosemary Tannock in her video Knowledge Translation Stories (Tannock, 2011) says is true, “By the time Gen Z students enter the workforce, what you know will matter less than what you can find out and how you can use that information.” My students will have to know all the questions, who, what, where, when, why, and how and use the knowledge immediately upon completing the program. It will be challenging to hold the attention of Generation Z who are easily distracted and hard to reach and ensure Millennials receives quality instruction and high return on their investment.

Whenever I have a new group of students, I will have them do a learning styles assessment. It will identify how the students prefer to learn and identify things such as their ability to upload and download documents, view video clips, and other learning technologies. With my mixed age groups, I will group students with similar learning styles and experiences, so they become initially comfortable. As the course progresses, the students could choose their groups. I will respect the learner’s generational differences with respect to their attitudes, work habits, and motivators. However, I will be aware that ‘one size may fit all’ in my instructional designs and I may change some but not all different learning technologies.

My digital natives are used to receiving information fast and they like to multitask. My course is designed for that pace of learning and I will continue to challenge those learners. I will include networking with instant gratification and frequent rewards, whether it be a verbal job well done or an Oh Henry chocolate bar. I will purposely incorporate technology into the classroom and change activities often to stimulate my millennials. For my baby boomers and generation X, I will ask for their professional experiences and stories while working in a team environment, but they will receive more explicit instructions and guidance when learning with digital media.

I will continue to add to my blog on WordPress and have information available to my learners for online instruction or general interest.  I will introduce Ted videos, Utube videos, and scan my photographs. I will look at recording my lectures where they can be added to the learner’s homework assignment. I’ll continue using PowerPoint, videos, and television.

“There are only two ways to influence human behavior: you can manipulate it, or you can inspire it.”^[1] As an instructor, I will continue to be seen less like a person of authority and more as a mentor, coach, and facilitator with open and honest communication. Changes to the educational system will only take place if enough people are inspired to make the change to a more holistic approach towards education. I am inspired and I will make changes because I have a passion for teaching. I will learn to communicate in the language and generation style of my learners. I will think about how to teach both legacy and future content while adapting my course to the language of digital natives and immigrants. (Marc Prensky, Part I, 2001, pp. 4).

I will continue to treat my learners as the adults they are, be aware their classroom skills may be a little rusty, consider and acknowledge the technology gap, be efficient with lessons and activities, be creative, and above all – have fun!

 

CONCLUSION

            What I have learned from this assignment is newer generations can pay attention to the older generation’s lessons and knowledge, while older generations can learn from the younger ones. “Each generation has its own unique perspective, challenges, and contributions, and we can all grow by listening to and learning from people who are different than us.” (Mulder, 2018).

“I think there’s going to be some challenges for faculty to understand the differences across generations, and we have the responsibility to find ways to adapt our delivery and engage our students or we’re always going to have this core of students who are not going to be happy.”[2] My challenge will be trying to deliver a course on-line while creating engaging environments for all learners. Millennials prefer collaboration but Generation X wants to work independently. Traditionalists have a “getting the job done” attitude, Baby Boomers have the teamwork skills, Generation X is self-reliant, Generation Y (Millennials) are multitaskers, and Generation Z is entrepreneurs and have experience with online education. It will be important to explain the rationale on how teamwork will contribute to their overall success and handle any challenge to come their way and how the lessons learned will be transferred into their respective careers.

 

 

References

            Ahmad, Mohd & Tarmudi, Shafiee. (2011). Generational Differences in Satisfaction with E-Learning among Higher Learning Institution Staff. Retrieved on June 11, 2020, from https://pdf.sciencedirectassets.com/

Center for Generational Kinetics. (2020). Generational Breakdown: Infor About All of the Generations. Retrieved on June 14, 2020, from https://genhq.com/faq-info-about-generations/

Doherty, Brooks. (2012). Tips For Teaching Adult Students. Retrieved on June 12, 2020, from https:// https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/effective-teaching-strategies/tips-for-teaching-adult-students/

Ferlazzo, Larry. (2018). [Image]. Nine Ways to End This Crazy School Year Strong. Retrieved on June 13, 2020, from  https://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/classroom_qa_with_larry_ferlazzo/2020/05/four_ways_to_end_this_crazy_school_year_strong.html

            Hoover, E. (2014). Techniques in Learning and Teaching, Teaching Across Generations – Part II, Retrieved on June 12, 2020, from https://uminntilt.com/2014/07/14/teaching-across-generations-part-ii/

Kelly, Rob. (2008). Teaching to the Learning Styles Across Generations. Retrieved on June 12, 2020, from https://facultyfocus.com/articles/online-education/teaching-to-the-learning-styles-across-generations/

King, Kathleen P. (2017). Technology and Innovation in Adult Learning. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Krishnamurti, J. (2020). J. Krishnamurti, Chapter 2 – The Right Kind of Education. Retrieved on June 14, 2020, from https://jkrishnamurti.org/content/chapter-2-right-kind-education

 

Mulder, Lotte. (2018). Lablogatory: Why is it Important to Learn About Generations? Retrieved on June 12, 2020, from https://labmedicineblog.com/2018/03/30/why-is-it-important-to-learn-about-generations/

Prensky, Marc. (2001). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants. Retrieved on June 12, 2020, from https://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf

Prensky, Marc. (2001). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants, Part II: Do They Really Think Differently. Retrieved on June 12, 2020, from https://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part2.pdf

Sinek, Simon. (2009). Start with Why. New York: Penguin Books

Stanfield, R. Brian. (2000). The Art of Focused Conversation. Toronto: Canadian Institute of Cultural Affairs.

Tannock, Rosemary. (2011). Knowledge Translation Stories #3. Retrieved on June 13, 2020, from https://youtube.com/watch?v=Lsq5oeEunsw

Warren, Linda. (2012). Are Learning Differences Between Generations A Myth? Retrieved on June 12, 2020, from https://www.microassist.com/author/lwarren/

Wesch. Michael. (2007). A Vision of Students Today. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9o

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[1] (Sinek, 2009, pp. 17)

[2] (Kelly, 2008)