Reaching Digital Millennials

PAUL DEVRIES
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR
JOHNSON & WALES UNIVERSITY
Me on Coffee!
 Who are the Millennials?

Born between 1982 and 2000

They have been called Millennials because the “first
wave” graduated in the year 2000. Note this is just
the first wave!
These students were born digital, figuratively they
were born already attached to a keyboard.
They read more web pages than books.
 Character Traits

The average college freshman has spent nearly 10K

hours playing video games, another 10K on a cell
phone.
The average college freshman has spent over 20K
hours watching T.V.
73.7% own a laptop with 98.4% owning a computer of
some distinction.
93% access the internet on a regular if not daily basis.
Have sent over 250,000 texts or emails before the age
of 21.
Will hold 10-15 jobs by the age of 38.
 They Are Connected

They have never known a world without the internet.

They are able to access almost any word ever written,
almost all of it for FREE!
Email is a communication of last resort, they prefer
texts and social networking sites.
Without stimulation they become bored very easily.
They are able to email the president of the United
States, who by the way raised 55 million in 29 days
using social networks.
 Time to Reach an Audience of
50 Million

Radio----- 38 Years
T.V ----- 13 years
Internet ------ 4 years
Facebook------ 2 months
(increase from 350-400 million)
 Computer Appendages

They have become very sophisticated at finding

information by utilizing electronic mediums. Their
computers and cell phones have become a central
learning tool. Don’t think so, consider the following:

 37 billion Google searches per month, conversely the

average student asks one question every ten hours.
 More youths turn to the internet for answers than any
other source of information.
 50% of youth under 21 have created web content.
Who did students ask B.G.
 Oh and They Love to Socialize

Average student has 75 friends

91% use social networks on a daily/weekly basis
250 million visitors per month
They rely on these networks for support and decision
making
How Does This Impact Me?

1900’s 2000
 Are we engaging our students?

Over 42% of freshman

students fail to graduate
from the same college

30% of high school

students fail to graduate
 So You’re Thinking,

I’m all good, my classes are engaging; in fact they

are practically all hands-on.
We teach the fundamentals.
All our students can cook upon graduation. Does
this mean they can be successful in a global
economy?
I worked for years, I’m not giving this away for
free!
I don’t want computers in class; students might
access non-class related websites.
 Consider This…..

In 2007 nearly 20% of students took an online class.

UOP graduates more MBA’s than Harvard.
MIT has uploaded almost their entire curriculum for
free.
OpenCourseWare has courses from over 200
universities from 35 countries, all for free.
Open Content Alliance has uploaded over a million
books for free access.
Curriki, free access to K-12 curriculum.
 The World is Not Waiting For Us

Pearson Ed is one of the largest providers of online

education products in the U.K.
Wiki books has over 2,400 online text books, in over
100 languages available for free.
Openculture offers over 250 courses in liberal arts
and science all for free. Universities include
Stanford, Yale, Berkeley and UCLA.
OpenLibraryProject has scanned over 1.7 million
books, all viewable for free.
Ahh, but these are not culinary!
 We are no longer the keepers of information

Google found over 89 million

sources of information for “how
to cook,” and 421,000 videos.
Youtube: How to braise, the first
ten videos had been viewed over
80,000 times. Not one was from
a culinary school.
Youtube: how to cook, first
video had been viewed over
770,000 times.
20 top paying jobs that you can get without a degree
 1. Air traffic controller: $102,030
 2. Funeral director: $79,517
 3. Operations manager: $77,839
 4. Industrial production manager: $73,000
 5. Transportation manager: $72,662
 6. Storage and distribution manager: $69,898
 7. Computer technical support specialist: $67,689
 8. Gaming manager: $64,880
 9. First-line supervisor/manager of police and detective: $64,430
 10. Nuclear power reactor operator: $64,090
 11. Computer specialist: $59,480
 12. First-line, non-retail supervisors/manager: $59,300
 13. Nuclear technician: $59,200
 14. First-line supervisor/manager of fire fighting and prevention worker: $58,920
 15. Real estate broker: $58,720
 16. Elevator installer and repairer: $58,710
 17. Sales representative, wholesale and manufacturing, technical and scientific
products: $58,580
 18. Dental hygienist: $59,790
 19. Radiation therapist: $57,700
 20. Nuclear medicine technologist: $56,450
 Our reaction should be?

Over 75% of teens own a cell phone,

70% of schools in the U.S. have banned them.

April 20th 2010

American Life Project
 Are you smarter than a 5Th grader?

What animal contributes

more than any other to the
world’s eco-system?
Answer: Salmon!
 Reaching Millennials

The industrial model of pedagogy will no longer

suffice for teaching in the 21st Century.
Classes should be more student-Centered.
Learning today is less about absorbing vast amounts
of knowledge but more about the ability to:
 Think
 Research/Find information

 Analyze

 Evaluate

 Collaborate and Communicate

 Reaching Millennials

Millennials are prolific communicators and gravitate

to social interaction and community.
A collaborative approach to courses enforces this
proclivity.
Project-Collaborative based learning:
 Increases self direction
 Improves researcher skills
 Allows for a deeper knowledge of subject
matter
 Exploration of real world problems
 Sites that support Collaboration

Prezi --- non-linear presentation software.

Google Docs--- Supersedes operating systems.
Slideshare --- Online PowerPoint, but not.
 Google Reader --- Allows the aggregation of all
your favorite sites and blogs.
Ustream --- Allows live streaming of
presentations/classes.
 Integration of Technology

It’s not about technology per se, but the connections

that technology enables.
Technology is used to support curricular goals, and
not necessarily an end in itself.
Education has transcended the classroom.
Technology has allowed learning to occur anytime,
anywhere.
Just-in-time teaching.
 Curricular Modification ?

Graduating students will owe

over $714 Billion in student
loans.
Are we doing the best we can
at providing a curriculum
needed in the 21st Century?
Students are challenging us to
substantiate our curriculum.
 What Students Thought

• A way to interact with others, not necessarily in a classroom setting”

• “Staying current with all the information that relates to us today and tomorrow, not yesterday”
• “A way to interact more fluidly with the student”
• “Another tool in the instructor’s toolbox to help create a stimulating environment”
• “A great way to aid learning, but can be used too much”
• “Helpful if utilized in an effective manner”
• Should not be overly used in class”
• “Technology allows instructors and students to successfully experience learning”
• “Consuming today’s youth”
• “The networking of the world, it is what the new generation turns to, to find information and stay connected to
the world around them”
• “Not as important as actual person to person interaction”
• “A good augment but not a substitute for good teaching skills”
• Useful but non-essential, a bad professor is still bad w/a powerpoint and a good one can make chalk and talk
riveting”
• “What shapes education and our society today”
• “To be able to compete against others applying for our field”
• “Annoying and aggravating”
Thank You