Motivating Millennials Through e-Learning

Last night I found myself laughing at an ad showing a man inspired to tango by the scent of his laundry detergent. It didn’t attract my husband’s attention, but a short time later he was laughing uproariously at an ad showing how a former drill sergeant would do as a therapist. We’re Baby Boomers, the most studied generation ever. We know so much about ourselves as a generation that we joke about how we are targeted by television ads. Scary.This got me wondering about younger generations and how to capture and hold their attention with eLearning. Our research tells us that the majority of Trivantis clients are Baby Boomers. We also know that the largest generation in US history, 80 million Millennials, are joining the workforce in droves and they are on the receiving end of much of the workforce training. They don’t watch much TV and they spend hours on the Internet and in social media sites. So the question: How in the world do we develop training for Millennials who don’t even spend time in the same media world?Millennials, also called Generation Y or the Net Generation, were born between 1982 and 2000 and starkly differ from their older instructors, managers and co-workers. The oldest Millennials are approaching thirty and facing training by people mostly in their forties, fifties or sixties.So what’s the difference? Expectations and learning styles. Boomers and Xers are most accustomed to lecture-oriented, text-heavy and PowerPoint-centric training formats. They view training as part of their jobs and courses tend to be linear with lots of structure, a clear beginning and ending. The end usually includes a big test. Earlier generations saw instructors or educators as authority figures. They expect lots of reading.Millennials view training and education as a means of professional development to further their careers. They have short attention spans and expect work and education to be fun and enjoyable. They want lots of immediate feedback. They see those who pass information or knowledge to them as experts or mentors. They are not as text literate and more naturally combine illustration, sound and text to communicate. They like to multi-task and are prolific communicators. Below are more characteristics with advice and ideas for developing motivating eLearning courses for Millennial learners:Millennials are:

• Group oriented and like collaboration and cooperation – design virtual classrooms that provide opportunities for interaction. Include chatting, messaging, blogging and other ways to share and communicate.
• Visual – accustomed to learning with visual aids, the appearance of information is important to this generation. Provide as much illustrative media as you can. Stream video, audio, use avatars and games, and include Flash. Poorly designed slides with heavy text will not attract these learners.
• Goal and achievement oriented – want to see and understand the big picture first and then get the break down to details, concepts and procedures. They see training and education as a means to improve their personal careers and need to know how it will help them progress.
• Experiential – provide trial and error scenarios that allow for risk taking and mistakes while discovering correct answers. Role-play scenarios and interactive games are both good at providing this type of learning. Both styles can also provide feedback in the form of scoring .
• Pragmatic and inductive – let learners make discoveries, observations, formulate ideas and answers. Visualizations, simulations and case analyses can be useful in this style of learning.
• Prefer interactive and non-sequential training – in contrast to linear and objective training, Millennials prefer an individual approach to learning. Because they have access to so many information sources, they like to choose and go directions that interest them while learning. Design courses that can cater to this style of learning by using branching logic. Tests and assessments can also be customized to give feedback and direct learners along different paths according to how they score.
• Easily bored with a slow pace – avoid lectures or one style of training. You can change the mode of training every eight to twelve minutes and keep the pace fast with screen changes. Provide frequent breaks with knowledge check exercises with feedback to let them know how they are doing.
• Expecting fun and enjoyment – create entertaining, interesting content that gives the learner a high sense of involvement, interaction and engagement. Providing video, Flash or other illustrative information, sound and game activities can help infuse a training course with fun and interest.
• Expecting technology-based training tools – additional class material should be multimedia and interactive as well. Develop podcasts, videos, interactive quizzes, flash cards, games, etc.

I found some advice in an essay by Christy Price, Professor of Psychology at Dalton State College. She conducts research focusing on engaging Millennial learners. In her article, entitled “Why Don’t My Students Think I’m Groovy? The New “R’s for Engaging Millennial Learners,” she describes Millennials’ perceptions regarding their ideal learning environment. Their Top Five List in order of importance says the learning environment should:

1. Be interactive and participatory
2. Include real examples that are relevant to their culture
3. Be in a multimedia format, including podcasts, on-line activities such as video, etc.
4. Be relaxed, enjoyable and fun
5. Involve students who know one another and work together in groups

What does this mean for eLearning course developers? If we want to avoid disengagement by a large and growing population of our learners, we need to change and adapt. Adopting new training techniques that align with the learning style of the Millennials will be rewarded with an interested and enthusiastic group of learners.Some examples of eLearning courses that incorporate tips for training Millennials include:

• This interview training course built in Lectora includes multimedia, interactivity, scenarios and a solid explanation of how the content is relevant to the learner.
• A “Golf Basics” course shows use of a “learning agent” that adds visual interest as well as a interactivity and fun. This html course was developed in Lectora.
• Here’s an example of a course assessment developed in Lectora that provides a break with some fun before going on to the test.

What have you done to make your eLearning coursework more effective for the Millennial generation?