Educating In The 21st Century
Posted by [email protected] on Nov. 8, 2016 / Education / Subscribe 0
Recently, several IREM Houston members and staff attended the annual IREM Fall Conference hosted by IREM Headquarters. One of the consistent themes I observed throughout the 3 day educational conference was the idea of how to reach the “next generation”. This isn’t a new idea of course, but the topics around which this discussion centered struck a new chord. As an organization based heavily in providing continuing education for personal and professional development, we have to start asking ourselves what that looks like in a world that is 1) increasingly more digital, 2) blurring the lines between work and home life, and 3) diminishing the value of face-to-face interactions.
Teaching the “Digital Native” Generation:
Digital Native - a person born or brought up during the age of digital technology and therefore familiar with computers and the Internet from an early age. Teaching a mind that has been programmed to think in digital terms since birth makes for a whole new ballgame. Not only is it a matter of making the educational content more digital-friendly (online courses, downloadable books, etc.), but also building content around technology-centric topics. For example, rather than just covering how to be a good interviewer in an HR class, should we be more specifically talking about how to leverage social media to recruit great talent? Even though many principles we teach have stayed the same over time (and for good reason), we’d do well to constantly evolve the framework within which we teach them.
Every Job is a 24/7 Job:
Constant connectivity is a blessing and a curse. You can accomplish (almost) anything remotely if you have a smartphone and wifi, but that makes “shutting down” almost impossible. The idea of a 9-5 work life and separate home life has become much less realistic for professionals today. This translates to many professionals being more restricted in the time they have to invest in education and training. So how do we ensure our classes are “worth it”? Content is always King and ultimately what you’re teaching has to matter in the real world to your students, but what about format? Perhaps it’s time we reach beyond just the webinar format and aspire to platforms like podcasts, live streaming and even pop-up classes. We can’t do it all, and certainly not overnight, but we need to expand the ways in which we think about reaching the professionals we so greatly want to help.
It’s All a Myth:
There’s this shared perception among many that the new generation of workers don’t see the need for face-to-face interaction and that’s why the popularity of traditional classroom learning is diminishing. I would like to offer a different narrative: face-to-face interaction is diminishing in society as a whole. Think about it; you buy things online instead of going to the store, you call or email co-workers rather than meeting with them, you leave your friend a birthday message on Facebook rather than attending their party. Millennials and Gen Ys have grown up in a world like this and I would argue they often crave face-to-face interaction MORE than previous generations. The difference is they want it to be of significance. Time is of the essence in a digital world and people need to spend it time wisely, but they still want to spend it with people. We just have to make it matter.
Technology has grown exponentially in the past twenty years and it’s often resulted in change too quick to keep pace with. Education is important and must be approached seriously, but it doesn’t need to get left behind. The human mind will always want to learn and grow; it’s in our nature. How we learn and grow is changing though and we can’t ignore that. The best way to educate the professionals of tomorrow is to adapt to the way they learn today.
About the Author: Lindsay Konlande currently serves as the Association Assistant for IREM Houston. Lindsay earned her Bachelor Degree in Communication from Texas A&M and has several years of experience in marketing, public relations and copywriting.
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