Are You Neglecting the Millennial Market?

On fleek. Basic. Netflix and chill. Yas queen.

If you don’t know what these terms mean, you’re not alone. If you do, you may be a millennial.

Millennials are the generation born between 1977 and 1995, and they comprise 43.5% of your potential student market (Munro-Smith, 2017). They may be equipped to fix your Wi-Fi connection (have you tried turning it off and on again?) or know who the Kardashians are. However, they may face a battle concentrating in class, engaging with large quantities of content, and even socialising with their peers. All these factors are potential barriers to learning, and could eventually diminish your proportion of graduates.

To help you optimise millennial learning, here are three ways to combat the age war against knowledge retention.

1. Experiential Learning

Learning by listening to lectures, writing essays, and regurgitating information may have suited past generations. However, a more advanced method of learning may be beneficial to millennial learners, by incorporating past methods with a more hands-on approach.

Aristotle once stated that, “for the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them.” Networking with industries and organising for students to work a “day in the life” could inspire learners and allow them to, as Aristotle put it, learn by doing. This experience will also provide them with clear expectations for their future, and a greater understanding of career options.

2. Reflection

Reflection involves taking time to consider one’s feelings and discovering a sense of meaning in actions. For millennial learners, developing a sense of meaning in what they are learning will go a long way in helping them cement ideas and content. Try allowing 15 minutes for self-reflection at the end of each class, or provide regular ungraded journal activities to recall unique insights they have gathered during the week.

3. Room for Collaboration

Collaborative spaces require learning through a shared and social process by working on a task as a group. Incorporate exercises, team games, role-playing, or videos into group projects to fuel innovation and deep collaboration.

It’s well-known that millennials are the technology gurus of our age, but this doesn’t mean you can’t incorporate a bit of a human factor into the learning methods of your RTO.