Understanding the Millennial Generation: Key Traits and Characteristics

1. The Millennial Generation For the times, they are a changin’ Bob Dylan

2. The Millennial Generation Generation Y The Nintendo Generation Echo Boomers The Net Generation The Sunshine Generation

3. Who They Are - Demographics • Born from 1980-2000 • Nearly 80 million in population Baby Boomers = 72 million • 41 percent of the U.S. population • Ethnically diverse – sensitive to diversity 34% are Black, Hispanic, Asian, or Native American • One in four live in single–parent households • 75% have working mothers

4. Who they are - Culture Events that shaped this generation • Columbine High School massacre • The death of Princess Diana • 9/11 – lst event parents couldn’t filter Famous Millennials • Danica Patrick • Dwyane Wade • Avril Lavigne • Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen • Bow Wow • Prince William

5. Who they are – Pop Culture • Cabbage Patch Kids • Vanilla Ice, Spice Girls • The Simpsons, Beavis & Butthead • Gigapets • Nintendo 64, GameCube, Playstation • Pokémon • Blogs • MySpace • MP3 players

6. Seven Core Traits Special Sheltered Confident Team Oriented Conventional Pressured Achieving

7. Characteristics • Finding information on the internet is the end rather than the beginning • Quick speed – the world is a click away • Learned what is valued from tv or computer • Feel entitled – if I don’t understand it is my right to sit back

8. First time adults have turned to kids for tech help • Come with scattered energies • Like to get answers immediately • Have to be taught what is important and how to focus • Learn by multi-tasking • Aren’t as many teacher-pleasers

9. Must be convinced rather than commanded. Not so impressed with your “role” as holder of the knowledge • Important to stay connected with peers every minute • Adults are “cool” when we give them important information. Knowledge is valued if it has meaning.

10. Social • Extremely focused on grades and performance • More interested in math and science, less interested in the humanities • Think it’s cool to be smart • Feel close to their parents • Respectful of norms and institutions • Peer pressure produces positive behavior rather than negative behavior • Prefer action over observation and cool above all else

11. It’s all about perspective • They grew up plugged into the Internet • Always cooked their popcorn in a microwave • Never watched television without a remote control • They think Kansas, Chicago, America and Alabama are places, not musical groups

12. Baby on Board Gen • They are most protected generation • They regard themselves as collectively special, because of the time in which they were raised • The most watched-over generation in history • Never ridden a bike without a helmet • Never ridden in a car without a seat belt • Or eaten in a cafeteria that serves peanut butter

14. How they think • Graphics oriented, see text as supporting visual material • A picture is worth a thousand words • Thrive on change • Variety = a few things that change frequently • Demand quick, if not instant, gratification • Asserting their "intellectual authority" over parents, teachers because they are more techno-savvy and capable of accessing greater breadth of information quickly • Have “hypertext minds” that prefer to leap around rather than follow a linear thought process

15. “Digital Natives accustomed to the twitch-speed, multitasking, random-access, graphics-first, active, connected, fun, fantasy, quick-payoff world of their video games, MTV, and Internet are bored by most of today's education, well-meaning as it may be. But worse, the many skills that new technology [has] actually enhanced (for example, parallel processing, graphics awareness, and random access)—which have profound implications for their learning—are almost totally ignored by educators.”

16. Technology • Get news on the latest and greatest, what’s hot and up-to-the-minute cool from the Internet – their primary media vehicle • 1/3 of their life – that’s 23 years - on the Internet • The average student has 2 email addresses! • First generation to grow up with computers in the home • Using computers since nursery school • Email is preferred form of communication • If you can’t communicate on email…what’s wrong with you? • Totally "plugged in" • Video games • Cell phones, PDAs • Music downloads, MP3 players • Instant messaging

17. Tech Savvy • Technology is at the very core of their existence • They carry an arsenal of electronic devices, the smaller the better • The Web is the hub for all their activities • Use the Web to create and share content • Staying connected is essential • Millennials are prolific communicators that gravitate towards activities that promote and reinforce social interaction: • IM, Text Messaging • Social Networks (facebook, friendster, orkut, meetup.com) • Smart Mobs

18. Smart Mobs Large, geographically dispersed groups connected only by thin threads of technology (cell phones, pagers, PDA’s, etc.) brought together in moments notice like schools of fish to perform some collective action.

19. The Information Age Mindset • Computers aren’t technology • The Internet is better than TV • Reality is no longer real • Doing rather than knowing • Nintendo over logic • Multi-tasking is a way of life • Typing is preferred to handwriting • Staying connected is essential • There is zero tolerance for delays • Consumer and creator are blurring - Jason L. Frand

20. The Parents of Millennials • Helicopter parents – always hovering, ultra-protective, unwilling to let go and quick to enlist the team (physician, lawyer, psychiatrist, etc) • Parents will meddle, fuss and even rant if they don’t feel their special child isn’t getting the best of everything. • Cell phone is often blamed for the explosion of helicopter parenting - "the world's longest umbilical cord."

22. Changing Perceptions • Higher education no longer a luxury • Now a requirement for almost any job • Available to a greater portion of the population • More students live at home either during college or afterwards • College no longer a gateway to adulthood - more an extension of high school • Over the next decade, college freshman enrollment due to grow by roughly 300,000 per year

23. “We aren't expecting, when we enter college, that campus will be the technological equivalent of a science-fiction movie. What we hope, however, is that student services will evolve alongside our own society to reflect the changes we have undergone as passengers on the Information Superhighway.”

24. Permanent White Water The world is changing Our students are changing The Web is changing

25. New Communications Technologies IM E-mail Web Sites RSS Text Messaging Discussion Boards List-Serves Wikis Blogging Chat Podcasting Social Networks

27. What is it that 90% of students in grades 3-8 have been hurt by . . . but only 15% of their parents even know it exists?

28. Name a common object in this room that 70% of high school seniors have never used.

29. Name the most important invention of the 20th Century. Hint: Just about all of you have one in this room right now.

30. Evaluating Communications Technology • Push vs. Pull • Audience (1-1 , 1 to many, many to many) • Social Aspects (formal vs. informal, anonymity, privacy, spontaneity) • Cost • Single response or dialog • Searchability and archiving

31. The New Medias • IMing • Chat Rooms • Email • You Tube – Video VLOG • Google • Blackberries • Social Networking (My Space/Facebook) • Picture Messaging • Virtual Schools

32. Instant Messaging (IM) • Gartner predict IM usage will pass E-mail for corporate communications • IM is more popular than e-mail for Millennials • Millennials often carry on several conversations at once, and have several screen names • System based on presence

33. Blogs • Preferred by Millennials over discussion boards • Persistence • Close the feedback loop • Become a blogger

35. Podcasting • The power of RSS • TIVO • Proliferation of portable MP3 Players • Coursecasting

36. TNSEGTA(The New Social Etiguette Guide To Abbreviations) • LOL (laugh out loud) • BRB (be right back) • JK (just kidding) • GA (go away) • DTMITY (don’t text me, I’ll text you) • IHFY (I’m hot for you) • HLBOM (He looked better on MySpace)

37. ROFL (rolling on the floor laughing) PWN (to win or shame someone) LEET or 1337 (skilled, awesome) THANX or THX (thanks) PLS (please) K (okay) L0L0L0L0L0L0L0L0L0L0L0L (really funny)

38. Emoticons 101 :-) - smiley face ;-) - the wink :-P - sticking out tongue :-D - laughing :-$ - money mouth :-( - frown :’( - crying :-* - kissing

39. This is the first time in history: • Learning is different – no longer teacher tells you, you do it, teacher tells you, you do it. . . • Now teacher has to ask: What do you need me to do tomorrow for you to learn this?

40. Teaching Generation Y

41. How we learned • Associative: Hear it/do it/learn it NOW • Generative: Ask why or how, then give an example

42. How they think • Graphics oriented, see text as supporting visual material • A picture is worth a thousand words • Thrive on change • Variety = a few things that change frequently • Demand quick, if not instant, gratification • Asserting their "intellectual authority" over parents, teachers because they are more techno-savvy and capable of accessing greater breadth of information quickly • Have “hypertext minds” that prefer to leap around rather than follow a linear thought process

43. Generation Y’s Learning Style • Don’t ask them to memorize, teach them to think about their thinking and generate examples (metacognition) • Ask them to explain the processes they use to get their answers • Teach vocabulary each day, no more than 10-15 words per week

44. Instructional Changes • Responding to their answers with why or how • Ask what process do you use to get your answer • Use graphics, images, hands-on activities • Use technology • FASTMAPPING: 6 why/how examples in a row

45. FASTMAPPING • Students must be able to generate at least six explanations/examples of a concept before we teach another major concept • This enables students to build a neurological pattern to increase metacognition, and retain information (neural connections)

46. Metacognition Generation Y needs us to help them: • Focus attention on what is important • Organize thinking to see relationships • Visualize images from text • Put their thinking into language • Help them talk through their thinking • Reflect on their learning

47. Engaging Generation Y

48. How Rare is Engagement? • 2007 NIH Study on 2,500 American classrooms (lst, 3rd, and 6th grade) showed a child in USA has a 1 in ___ chance of being in a consistenly rich, supportive classroom. • A) 1 in 2 • B) 1 in 3 • C) 1 in 4 • D) 1 in 14

49. Q: High school students spend how much of their school day slumped and apathetic? • A) 6% • B) 16% • C) 22% • D) 28%

50. Student Engagement What’s It Like in Most High Schools? Indiana University’s High School Survey of Student Engagement released 2/28/07 shows that 2 out of 3 students are bored in class every day. One in six or 17% say they are bored in every other class. More than 81,000 students in 110 high schools across 26 states were surveyed.