Sunday 17 January 2010

Teaching the generations

Steve Corbett published a must-read portrait of the four generations learning today:
  • "Traditionalists (Born between 1920 - 1945). They are also called the Silent Generation, the War Baby Generation, or the WWII Veteran Generation.
  • Baby Boomers (Born between 1946–1964). They are also called the "Me" Generation because their Traditionalist parents wanted to give them a good life.
  • Generation X (Born between 1965–1980). This generation is the children of both Traditionalists and Baby Boomers.
  • Millennials (Born between 1981–2000). They are also called Generation Y, Generation ME, Generation WE, or Nexters."
He created a Venn diagram summarizing the generations' learning styles, saying that it's a generalization. But much rings true.

I recognize myself as a typical GenXer:
  • "the first high technology generation"
  • "independent. Will work in teams when absolutely necessary, but would prefer to work alone"
  • "Like to use technology as a means for access and sharing information."
  • "Entrepreneurial – Prefer to build portable skills. ... Prefer solving problems on their own."
  • "Informal Learners - Prefer to be engaged in their learning, instead of being passive recipients. Dislike structured environments."
The points of conflict I see with the Baby Boomers, our older colleagues:
Baby Boomers tend to be
  • "Team Oriented - Embraces a team based approach to everything"
  • "Competitive - Value peer competition"
The points of conflict I see with Millenials:
Millenials tend to be
  • "Collaborative - Team players with a capital T."
  • "Structure Driven - Prefer structure in the classroom and are accustomed to following rules."
How about you, do any of these issues ring your bells?

Thank you to Neal Davis.

2 comments:

KALINAGO ENGLISH said...

Hi Anne,

That was a very interesting post and I enjoyed the trip over to Corbett's article!

I'm not 100% convinced either and see conflicts: namely in terms of who one's parents were, the society and culture one was brought up in and each person's individual personality.

Still I enjoyed the piece and your take on it.

Thanks for sharing,
Karenne

Anne Hodgson said...

Every simplification... I do think the generations are entities, though individuals obviously vary across cultures...

Found this interesting tweet by Sean Banville:
RT @charlie1312: RT @englishcomp: "Meet Mr. and Mrs. Gen X: A New Parent Generation." -the next gen of parents. http://bit.ly/6KbgT3