Trainers Talk Tech

If this is your first time reading a web page, then let me introduce you to the upcoming generation that is causing everyone, everywhere to pause a moment and reflect. The generation is called Gen Y, or Millennials, and anyone born between 1981 and 2000 falls into that category.

Gen Y have been described as:

• Eager
• Impatient
• Type A stress machines
• They cannot make decisions on their own - they rely on their network of friends for input
• They are not loyal to any firm - the view themselves as perpetual independent contractors
• They have unrealistic expectations from the workplace - they adapt their work to fit their lifestyle
• Have an "everyone wins" mentality - they want a ribbon for 14th place
• They have an intimate relationship with technology

Follow up:

Gen Y grew up with the following:

• Massive corporate downsizing - their parents or friends' parents have been involved in at least one layoff
• September 11th - they lived through it during the most influential parts of their lives
• Dot-com failure - watched greed and big opportunities blow up - their parents or friends' parents were involved with the dot.com bust

Why am I thinking about this generation, and why should you, as an eLearning developer or training professional? Because these folks are going to be back filling our workforce and we have never seen anything like them.

Think about the world the live in and how they grew up: Computers and cell phones and IM and FaceBook and downloadable content have connected them to the world in amazing ways.

The eLearning we are creating for our organizations may be light years ahead of what the company has ever had, but our Gen Y folks are going to become bored and dump the training mid-stream. Issues of retention and completion are going to become heated conversations again as this group leaves our eLearning en masse. Why?

Page turners are not going to be enough...content on a screen will disengage these learners faster than ever before. Gen Y demands a learning environment that meets or exceeds the tech experience of their every day life. If if feels old or boring or "last year", they will leave it.

The integration of discussion forums, instant messaging, blogging and communication with the online facilitator are not "nice to haves", they are expected. With this generation, if we want to keep them engaged, we must add these elements to our programs. Remember the Gen Y's need for collaboration - it is going to become critical to keep them engaged and learning.

But, I believe that even outside the world of eLearning, these Gen Y folks are going to change the way we have to teach our stand up courses as well. If your preferred method is to stand up and lecture, these new business learners will fade away and find other things to keep them interested - like each other, their blackberry, iPhone and Twitter account. Adding pre or post work to the class, such as an email writing assignment, online quiz or Internet research project will add to the stickiness of the course, but I believe that this generation will challenge us in ways we cannot even imagine.

If you have been hesitant to start using Web 2.0 in your eLearning, now is the time to get off the fence and dive in. Once this economy turns around and companies start hiring again, the influx of a younger workforce means that you may have to rethink how you are using eLearning to train these workers.