What Are The Top Learning Strategies For Millennials?
The reason behind this phenomenon is the fact that the generation that holds nearly 75% of the jobs globally is millennials (i.e., individuals who were born between the Disobey Art mid-1980s and early 2000s—although definitions vary). This generation was born when technology was on the rise or was already embedded into daily life during their formative years. As a result, they have become used to using technology to fulfill their daily needs. As learning is yet another need they need to fulfill, millennials need to use technology in learning as well. Another discernible feature of millennials is that they have short attention spans and get distracted easily. In this article, we’ll discuss 10 learning strategies that work effectively on millennials and those strategies that modern corporate organizations need to implement to ensure growth.
Top Learning Strategies
1. Social/Collaborative Learning
Millennials tend to spend a lot of time socializing, if only on social media. Thus, they enjoy communicating, sharing ideas and knowledge, as well as learning and discussing things with each other using technology. This tendency can be leveraged by including communication such as chat, discussion forums, social media groups, and the like in their digital learning program. This adds an informal feel to learning, and learners also appreciate the flexibility and relatability of social/collaborative learning.
2. Gamification
Millennials love fun and games. They’re also influenced by immediate gratification such as positive feedback, points, rewards, badges, and the like, all of which form the elements of gamification. As most millennials have been gamers in their time, or at least been exposed to games, they love gamified courses and love learning through them.
3. Microlearning
Of course, with attention spans so short, millennials cannot be expected to consume hour-long eLearning courses. Microlearning is suited to millennials, as it is short (no longer than 5 minutes), concentrated (only deals with one learning objective per unit), and engaging (uses a variety of digital learning formats). It can also be produced faster, which makes it perfect for training millennials.
4. Agile Learning
Millennials are always on the move. As their job responsibilities keep them on their toes, they require learning that can be accessed quickly, while packing the same punch as traditional hour-long courses, as well as learning which can be accessed anywhere, anytime, whenever they want it. Combining microlearning videos with mobile learning is a great way to provide agile learning.
5. Mobile Learning
As mentioned above, learners want quick learning that can be accessed anywhere, anytime they want. But that isn’t enough. Millennials have gotten used to features they see in apps on their smartphones, which is why organizations need to give their learners a learning app, which can be accessed through their mobile, through which they can access learning with a lot of features as well as choices.
6. Simulations
Millennials like relatability as well as things that mirror life. Ironically, they love it more when this is provided to them through a virtual environment. Simulations are the very definition of the last statement, which is why using simulations to train millennials is a great idea. Use simulations in which the environment is similar to what millennials see in their offices and characters that mirror them.
7. Branching Scenarios
Millennials also love to make choices, and the higher the number of choices, the higher their engagement. Branching scenarios are a great strategy to use to train learners, and one which teaches them the consequences of their choices by employing rewards and punishments for correct and incorrect choices respectively.
8. Informal Learning
Millennials abhor formal conventions. They like everything, including learning to be relaxed and informal. This simply means that you need to deliver learning to the millennial learners in a way that doesn’t seem structured or formal, such as video-based learning, self-study, articles, forums and chat rooms, performance support, coaching sessions as well as game-based learning.
9. Visual Learning
Millennials these days are used to high-quality visuals and graphics which capture their attention and engage them. The modern era is ruled by high-definition graphics such as images and videos, and they are what organizations will have to use to help learners identify with their learning and learn better.
10. Interactive Learning
Of course, this goes without saying, but using slide-based or text-based learning with millennials is a no-no. Forget about hour-long traditional learning courses with simple click-to-reveal, drag-and-drop, and flip elements. Think more of parallax scrolling, simulations, branching scenarios, hotspots, quizzes, and the like to engage millennial learners.
Conclusion
The above-mentioned points are just simple suggestions on how you can make your training more suitable for millennials. The best way is always to ask them what they would like, as millennials know best what they require. Personalized learning is thus another learning method you can use with millennials. Whatever method/s you choose, make sure to assess it frequently, as millennial notions and trends change frequently.
