Weapons of Mass Instruction — The Millennial Generation

March 21st, 2005 Stewart Posted in Uncategorized |

Weapons of Mass Instruction has posted an interesting piece on the Millennial Generation, mostly crafted from reading through the free Educause e-book, Educating the Net Generation. The book, BTW, is a solid read and I’d recommend it to anyone interested in these issues.

I agree with much of what WMI says, especially his conclusions. In the years leading up to college, it seems that Mils have been taught “to the test,” especially as regards standardized tests (SAT, Regents/Governors Exams, etc.). Traditionally, higher ed has focused on lifelong learning, creativity, originality, and critical thinking. Now there seems to be a general belief that higher education should change its model to more of a business-minded, goals-oriented diploma engine. This is a philosophical difference that will have a dramatic impact in the next few years in higher ed, mark my words.

That said, as someone who is frequently called on to present about Mils and their learning behaviors, I should mention that there are significant (and documented) differences between Mils and other generations. For example, Gen Xers despise team-based assignments and tend not to learn as much from working with a group as they do working on their own. Mils, on the other hand, tend to learn best working with other Mils. Boomers and other returning learners often have a harder time integrating multimedia and higher end IT into their learning models than do Mils. These are just a couple of examples.

The myth of multitasking, though, I think WMI hit dead on. Attention span is finite — split it between five tasks instead of just one and you’ll see a drop in quality across the board. Otherwise, many of the hallmarks of “good education” for the Mils are, as he suggests, simply hallmarks of good education in general.