The Challenge of Training the PlayStation Generation

We now live in a multiplex world of many voices and ideas, mediated by the internet. At the forefront in using digital technology is the e-learning industry.

I'd forgotten about that.

That is to say, I'd forgotten that I had written those sentences until my quarterly copy of T&D Magazine came through the mail the other day. Included in the magazine was a short article I'd contributed to the publication on workplace training, e-learning, and one of the challenges organizations are about to encounter.

Recession notwithstanding, the PlayStation Generation (Digital Natives, Millennials, Generation Z: pay your money and take your choice) is beginning to enter the workforce, and the trickle of people will grow to a flood over the next decade. These workers will test the skills and expertise of training professionals in ways never encountered in the past, and quite unlike the demands the current economic unpleasantness is making on L&D people.

Like other generations, the PlayStation Generation is "shaped by the events ...and trends of its time" (McCrindle, M., 2008). In particular, the emergence of internet-based technologies and synchronous communication systems including e-mail, txtng, and IM, as well as new media used through websites like YouTube, and the (ever-growing) range of social networking sites and influence of the Read/Write Web seem to be a characteristic of this generation's reputation for intense peer orientation and their desire for instant gratification.

In their 2008 text, Connecting to the Net.Generation: What Higher Education Professionals Need to Know About Today's Students, Reynol Junco and Jeanna Mastrodicasa found that in a survey of 7,705 college students in the US:

• 97% own a computer
• 97% have downloaded music and other media using peer-to-peer file sharing
• 94% own a cell phone
• 76% use instant messaging and social networking sites
• 75% of college students have a Facebook account
• 60% own some type of portable music and/or video device such as an iPod
• 49% regularly download music and other media using peer-to-peer file sharing
• 34% use websites as their primary source of news
• 28% author a blog and 44% read blogs
• 15% of IM users are logged on 24 hours a day/7 days a week

(I think it's time to use the quote from my article - don't you?)

It’s clear that we now live in a multiplex world of many voices and ideas, mediated by the internet. At the forefront in using these digital technology is the e-learning industry.

To meet the challenge of workplace generational diversity, L&D professionals must embrace the knowledge that change is coming, look to the training tools and technologies that already exist, and be prepared to embrace innovation in organizational learning. Understanding the demographics of the 21st Century workforce should influence future training techniques; if you're smart, you'll be developing training strategies and approaches already.

Some approaches to consider:

• Understand the importance of the peer group
• Incorporate viral marketing or word-of mouth/ referral strategies into learning.
• Use an anecdotal style / storytelling to engage learners
• Use scenarios, risks, and consequences to develop skills, build cognitive awareness, and likely outcomes to events. Dealing in theory, raw data, or pure statistics will not motivate this group of workers to learn.

As the 2008 US presidential election demonstrated, everyone from GenX onwards is technologically savvy (if not quite literate) and think nothing of accessing trends and movements online. They are not inclined to hang around for traditional, authoritarian leaders (or trainers) and the government (or company) to tell them what to do; they have decided to "get on with it."

I predict that one of the consequences of the current economic crisis is that many older employees will choose to leave or be forced out of the workforce. Here in Ireland we've already seen unskilled and semi-skilled people losing their jobs by the tens of thousands, as both they and the firms they work for have problems adapting to the new economic reality.

This story is unfolding all around the Western Hemisphere.

The chances are that the industries that supported these people will go to low cost base economies and will never return. The older, Baby Boomer generation-aged manpower than supplied these businesses will be hard-pressed to find full-time work in the same economic sector again.

If, as an L&D professional, you fail to adapt your training strategies to the needs of the new, diverse workforce, start planning a career change, because you might find your skills as relevant as those of other obsolete professions, such as chimney sweeps, match girls, gurl hurriers, and stagecoach tilters: the workplace of the future won't hang around for if you can’t adapt to its requirements.
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References:

McCrindle, M. (2008) The ABC of XYZ: Generational Diversity at Work. McCrindle Research. [Internet] Available from: http://www.quayappointments.com.au/email/040213/images/generational_diversity_at_work.pdf Accessed 10 May 2009.

Junco, R., & Mastrodicasa, J. (2007) Connecting to the Net.Generation: What Higher Education Professionals Need to Know About Today's Students. NASPA.

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Recession, the challenge to e-learning, and HMH in Ireland

I'll start this post by issuing a mixed metaphor alert: today, we're going to talk about an elephant in the room, which also happens to be an 800lb gorilla.

Intrigued? Now read on...

Back in February this year, I wrote the first of my occasional series on Recession and the challenge to e-learning; in that first piece, I concluded by suggesting that

in the era of $100 a barrel oil and the value of virtual classrooms; the ROI of e-learning as opposed to traditional methods; even the impact of traditional ways of teaching on the environment ("e-learning" becomes "eco-learning" anyone?).

Based on an announcement made last Thursday 10th September 2008, I can now assert that we are beginning to see that there is validity in this conclusion. Based on the level of investment one e-learning enterprise has committed to developing the industry in the medium- to long term, the market in now in a place to support the proposition that the ROI on e-learning makes sense, and generates profit.

E-learning giant Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) – formerly known as Riverdeep – is to create 450 jobs at a new R&D headquarters in Dublin. Riverdeep had its origins in Dublin in 1995 and under the leadership of Barry O’Callaghan became a global name in the e-learning K-12 market space. As an educational publisher, HMH has over 100,000 customers, generating approximately US$2.5bn in annual revenues, profits in the region of US$1bn, and 50 per cent market share of the US K-12 market, the world’s largest education market.

HMH is to establish its global e-learning R&D centre in the greater Dublin area, creating 450 "high-value" jobs over the next five years.

Fiona O’Carroll, senior vice-president, Digital Products R&D at HMH confirmed the Irish Government’s vision to create a knowledge economy by investing in people, research and innovation was a key factor in the company’s decision.

The new R&D centre will be a focal point for e-learning and educational innovation. Employees, partner companies and collaborating universities will be attracted by the quality of research, people, innovation and commercialisation activity in the centre.

The Centre will involve establishing a globally networked team in Ireland with team members and innovation partners based in the US and around the globe. The company said these jobs should be very attractive to seasoned technology professionals, engineering and technology graduates, highly creative thinkers and innovators in the e-learning space.

As I've said in the past, Ireland has a vibrant technology and knowledge-based industrial economy, and one of the domains we excel in, is in e-learning - I guess most people in the industry have heard of SmartForce and Electric Paper, for example. These large companies notwithstanding, there are over fifty 'other' e-learning development houses in the country. Not bad for a country with a population of under 5 million people.

In my view, this investment will prove to be a game-changer. As it is, you could say that HMH are the only game in (e-learning) town - if they manage the innovations and outputs afforded by this R&D centre correctly, HMH will grow to become the Google of e-learning. Indeed, the Google approach (especially the famed "20 per cent time") is a perfect model for any knowledge-based organization that wants to stimulate growth through innovative new products invented and developed by their own subject matter experts. Similarly, this R&D centre will provide the organization with the potential benefits of having an audience for life: if HMH products have the skill and facility to instil the joy of learning in the kids that they currently provide e-learning solutions for, they will have an audience for life, given that these Digital Natives (click on the link for Marc Prensky's seminal article) will grow up associating the brand with discovering knowledge and the fun of learning. In essence, we can say that the company has the potential to mould a whole generation of learners, which is an extraordinary business opportunity, but also a huge responsibility.

Do I now hear the distant trumpet of an approaching elephant?

I do...

Just an observation really. Rumours of this investment have on the jungle telegraph here in Ireland for some time now, and I was originally going to post on this topic last Thursday (the day of the announcement).

An African elephant (sans room)

I held back, because I wanted to see what reaction would come for the Irish L&D and e-learning blogosphere. I'm disappointed to say that no-one has posted a reaction to the largest investment in their industry, ever.

I'm sure people are still formulating their thoughts - I for one want to read how others in the e-learning industry here in Ireland are responding to this investment.

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References:

HMH to Create 450 Jobs and Base Global R&D Headquarters in Dublin. Enterprise Ireland Press Release. [Internet] Available from: http://www.enterprise-ireland.com/eicms/interiorpage.aspx?NRMODE=Published&NRORIGINALURL=%2FNews%2FPress%2BReleases%2F2008%2FPressSep102008.htm&NRNODEGUID={077DB63F-4925-4D96-BEB3-364BF11C8EB1}&NRCACHEHINT=Guest

[Accessed 10th September 2008]

Ireland wins €350m HMH deal after tough worldwide battle. Irish Independent. [Internet] Available from: http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/ireland-wins-8364350m-hmh-deal--after-tough-worldwide-battle-1473370.html

[Accessed 10th September 2008]

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