What is your Technology Age?

Generational Learning is a challenge that training organizations struggle with regularly.  How do we effectively and efficiently provide learning with all of the different learning and generational styles?  The honest answer… we struggle!

The problem we face: finding a course structure (either online or classroom driven) that meet the expectations of the four different generations in our workforce today.

Looking at the years that span these four generations, we are facing more of a challenge than just learning styles. Understanding each generation and how they embrace technology is critical when creating content.

Here is how each generation looks at technology.

I was born in Generation X, but my adaption to technology as a self confessed geek underlines my technology age as that of a Millennial.  But my willingness to adapt doesn’t apply to all Xers in the workforce.  To provide adequate training within your organization, it is necessary to provide levels of training that can cross the generational divide.

If you want to know how old you really are, look at the technology/media you use rather than the generation you were born into.  Penelope Trunk created a quiz to evaluate your age… see how you do?

1. Do you have your own web page? (1 point)
2. Have you made a web page for someone else? (2 points)
3. Do you IM your friends? (1 point)
4. Do you text your friends? (2 points)
5. Do you watch videos on YouTube? (1 point)
6. Do you remix video files from the Internet? (2 points)
7. Have you paid for and downloaded music from the Internet? (1 point)
8. Do you know where to download free (illegal) music from the Internet? (2 points)
9. Do you blog for professional reasons? (1 point)
10. Do you blog as a way to keep an online diary? (2 points)
11. Have you visited MySpace at least five times? (1 point)
12. Do you communicate with friends on Facebook? (2 points)
13. Do you use email to communicate with your parents? (1 point)
14. Did you text to communicate with your parents? (2 points)
15. Do you take photos with your phone? (1 point)
16. Do you share your photos from your phone with your friends? (2 points)

Scoring

• 0-1 point – Traditionalist
• 2-6 points – Baby Boomer
• 6- 12 points – Generation X
• 12 or over – Millennial

Generational labels are important in the discussion of the changing workforce?  Did you score within your birth right generation? Somehow I doubt it?  Did you due to technology get branded as a much younger generations?

A lot of these questions were personal but as trainers we need to be asking our workforce who they are and what they do with technology, to understand the levels of social media, scaled assessment testing, interactive mediums, virtual classrooms, ILT classes, Performance Support we can supply to our workforce plus evaluate the level of feedback junkies we are working with.

For  in order to create platforms that can teach four generations that exist in our workforce, we need to understand their technology capabilities to effectively deliver training using mediums that make sense to the workforce, and not just the technology geeks (me included) that want to push out the latest and greatest authoring tools and social media platforms because they think its cool!

This blog article is written in collaboration with  Jen Tolbert (Learn.com) check out her insights at jentolbert.blogspot.com.  In her newsletter Jen

focuses on how to develop a business case that has teeth, looks at serious games and how to use them in learning, and understanding the generational learner.