Generation theory ascribes general characteristics to groups of individuals born in roughly 20-year spans, in cycles that repeat approximately every 80 years, suggesting that we can, to some degree, predict the personality of a coming generation.

The theory is widely attributed to William Strauss and Neil Howe who described the generations in their 1991 demographic history of America, Generations. While some details are under debate (e.g., whether Baby Boomers’ birth years run from 1943-1960, as Strauss and Howe maintain, or from 1946-1964 as others say) the basic concepts of Baby Boomers, Generation Xers and Millennials have taken hold.

Many educators, employers and marketers are taking the theory seriously and adjusting their teaching/hiring/training/marketing strategies accordingly.

Your youngest students may cause you to rethink how you teach.

They represent 36 percent of the U.S. population. They will increasingly be filling jobs now held by Baby Boomers. And they like to take an "if it’s not working, I’m outta’ here approach."

Meet the Millennials.

They were born between 1980 and 2002, which makes them six to 27 years old today. They also go by the names Generation Y, Generation Next, Net Generation, Web 2.0 Generation, and Neo-Millennials. They are racially more diverse than any other generation. They are also large—two to three times Generation X and equal to or larger than the Boomers.

Most importantly for adult educators, they could very well have you re-thinking how you teach.

"A lot of folks have heard about the generational research now being done but haven’t taken the leap to what that means to them as an educator, why it makes a difference," says Duren Thompson, program coordinator at the Center for Literacy Studies at the University of Tennessee (UT). "Many have heard that this generation likes technology but not why or how they use it."

Thompson, a Generation Xer (born 1965-1979) and Beth Ponder, assistant director at the UT Center for Literacy Studies and a Baby Boomer, discussed teaching techniques for young adults and the implications from Millennials research at the recent COABE conference.

Warning: There is no one-size fits all

Thompson cautions that generational research is inherently general. We are, after all, talking about millions of people born in a given timeframe.

"Every person is an individual," says Thompson, "and has individual characteristics that may or may not align with their ‘generation.’ Also, most of this research has been done on people who have money to spend and weighted toward the upper- and middle class. We are not sure if it applies to most adult learners."

That said, the research does give adult educators a lot to consider. Take technology for instance. The general assumption is that these young people love technology and are fluent with it.

While that’s true as far as it goes, Thompson says we all tend to overemphasize technology when it comes to this generation and may not understand how Millennials approach it.

"Millennials see technology as a tool," Thompson says. "When it doesn’t work, they use another tool. They know that non-tech tools work, too, and use them when they are right for the situation. Millennials are multiple learning modality people.

"This generation is also known for being multitaskers, texting while simultaneously doing something else. Psychologists call it micro tasking—doing a little of each and going back and forth between the activities."

Also, unlike Generation Xers who preceded them and prefer to be given the information and learn on their own, Millennials prefer to learn by working together. They also prefer to learn by doing.

"Team activities were just what they did in school." Thompson says. "Millennials use MySpace and wikis and podcasting to collaboratively create knowledge. You can almost see the difference. Other generations study alone at their desk. Millennials believe you are supposed to work together with a group to learn.

"In addition, Millennials are digital natives, meaning that technology has always been a part of their lives. They are totally at ease with it. Most adult education teachers are Boomers. Many of them didn’t deal with computers until their 30s. While some are willing digital immigrants, others are technologically resistant. Gen Xers came to computers in grade school. While they are, therefore, not digital natives, they typically think technology is good and are willing digital immigrants. This creates vast differences in the comfort levels with technology and the preferences on how the different generations prefer to learn."

One more distinction.

As a group, Millennials work to expectations, according to Thompson.

"Colleges and universities are finding that Millennials want everything spelled out in the syllabus," she says. "If it is not in the syllabus, they don’t think they have to do it. They are product or completion oriented and real-life focused. They want to know exactly what is required and are not likely to do a whole lot more.

"This means teachers need to provide explicit directions and follow through. They need to give their Millennial learners strong positive feedback when they meet expectations. And they need to set the expectation high because that’s all they are likely to get."

A real-life example

Consider one of the most important tasks every adult learner must complete—the GED essay.

"Boomers prefer instructor-led activities and tend to be auditory learners," Thompson says. "They are used to being lined up and talked to. This is what school was and what they are most comfortable with. They like the traditional arrangement of a teacher in the front of the classroom, telling them step-by-step how to write an essay. They want the teacher to be there the whole time and to walk them through it.

"Gen Xers, on the other hand, tend to be independent visual text learners. They are fine with using technology and prefer a rubric or guide. They would like to see samples of completed essays and are comfortable using technology to look up these samples. They like for the teacher to give them the task, for them to do the task, and then for the teacher to come back and check it.

"Millennials find the GED essay goofy because nobody writes like that. It is an academic task only. They would prefer to do something that has a real-life purpose and they would like for it to involve a collaborative process. To help them, let them brainstorm together about topics or elements in an essay. Let them share papers and do peer editing. As the educator, provide structure and clear, finite expectations and clear examples of what they are to do. Millennials listen to authority; they just don’t believe information should come from one source. The sage on the stage won’t work for them."

Most of all, Thompson says to challenge assumptions.

"Just because it involves technology doesn’t mean it is a good fit," she says. "It is a common trap to believe that if you stick information on a computer, Millennials will be happy."

All of this may sound overwhelming if you are an adult educator with learners of all ages in your classroom and too much to do already. It’s not. Thompson suggests taking a middle-of-theroad approach.

"We recommend contextualized, multi-modal, active learning," she concludes. "We have been recommending these strategies for years. It is more of a tweaking of what most educators do than an overall change."

For more information, contact Duren Thompson via e-mail at duren.thompson@utk.edu.