Thing 11- Gen Y and Education

At about this time, you may be asking yourself why you are doing this.  Part of the answer lies with information about this generation of students, generally known as Generation Y (or Millennials, digital generation or the net generation).  High school students today are the first generation that grew up on the web with a cell phone in their hand.  Who are the Net Generation?  There are 80 million people in this generation from ages 11-30 and born roughly between 1980 and 1998.

First, read a little about Generation Y on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_Y.

As you read, Howe and Strauss have their ideas about Gen Y.  Another researcher and speaker about Gen Y is Jason Dorsey.  Watch the video interview of Jason below (if you can’t see the video, you may need to watch it at home because YouTube may be blocked by the web filter in your school district).

 Another writer about Gen Y is Don Tapscott.  Tapscott's latest book, Grown Up Digital (2009), says that Gen Y has eight norms including:  

freedom, customize and personalize, scrutinize, integrity and openness, entertainment and play, collaborate, need for speed, and innovate. 

Here, Don Tapscott talks about what some call "the dumbest generation".  Read more and watch the video.

Take a minute to view the attached is a comparison of different authors who have studied Gen Y.  The top 3 attributes from each of these authors includes: collaboration/team oriented, customization and personalization and the need for speed/instant gratification. 

Now, check out this blog – search for the word “education” in the posts.

http://www.blogcatalog.com/blog/millennial-leaders-blog.

Another blog written about Gen Y is called YPulse.  Ypulse was founded in May of 2004 by journalist Anastasia Goodstein. Anastasia is the editor-in-chief of Ypulse.com, and provides editorial direction on all Ypulse Mashups as well as creative direction for the overall Ypulse brand.  Read some of the blog entries on YPulse.

And check out one more blog about Gen Y:  http://www.debaird.net/blendededunet/

Finally, read about the future forces affecting education in regards to Gen Y: 

http://www.kwfdn.org/map/node/gen_y_attributes.aspx

Blog Post: “Thing 11, Gen Y”:  Choose one of the above blog entries and write your thoughts about what you have learned about Gen Y and education.