What Virtual Networks do Millennials Join?

According to the Pew Research Center, the current learning landscape needs to rapidly evolve to better appeal to the needs of the Millennials, the largest demographic segment of the American workforce. ​

​Traditional formal and sporadic educational practices do not resonate with how Millennials prefer to learn today. Millennials choose to learn in new and different ways.

• What are the learning strategies Millennials employ?
• What performance support tools Millennials need to thrive?
• What educational technologies best support Millennial learners?

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​These sort of questions guide our research designs. If formal learning doesn't contribute much to substantial retention for Millennials and they expect more informal, just-in-time learning sources to acquire and assimilate knowledge, then:

• What are the implications for the design of learning, especially online learning? 
• Can we rethink our instructional design strategies to deliver quick and easy access to relevant, bite-sized information in real time through various online learning tools, such as learning management systems and games?

Our Digital Scholar program researches the influence of Web 2.0 technologies on learning. Millennial audiences prefer models of teaching and learning that are:

• Personalized (allowing for student choice and relevance to the individual student)
• Individualized (allowing students to work at their own pace), and
• On-demand (available at the movement of apply) skillfully leveraging both social learning and performance support tools

Modern learners want the ability to sit anywhere, on the bus, in the park, even at the beach, and access their learning and networks on their laptop. But what do they need? In Rethinking Learning: The 21st-Century Learner , Diana Rhoten, Partner at IDEO, shares her insights:
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 “Learning content is a 20th century idea around education. In the 21st century, it is very much about learning the tools, the skills of re-making that content and becoming the creator and the producer.”  

The ongoing focus of their learning is not defined by institutional accountabilities or work-driven objectives  - but rather emerge from the learners’ own interests and networks. More expert participants provide leadership  - but do not have formal authority over fellow participants. Learners are motivated to develop their own voice and identities through active participation, as a digital media producer and evaluator, in virtual peer-based learning networks.