How Generational Theory Can Improve Teaching: Strategies for Working with the "Millennials" ESSAYS
This article applies recent writing on the "Millennial Generation" to a range of pedagogical issues. Born between 1982 and 2003 and also known as Generation Y, the Millennials have been hailed as a new "Great Generation." According to William Strauss and Neil Howe, they display ambition, confidence, optimism, and a capacity for high level cooperative work. At the same time, they measure high on scales of stress, conventionality, and over reliance on parents. This internally complex set of traits calls for a variety of nuanced pedagogies, including balancing students' need for overall clarity with their sense of competence in co designing key aspects of their educational experience. Incorporating a wide range of generational studies, including the latest (2008) publications in this area, the authors offer a variety of teaching strategies, some arising out of their own primary research.