Happy Friday and Happy New Year!
In the January issue of ASTD’s T&D magazine, there’s an article titled “Tech Masters” which describes how Millinnial employees (ages 14-27) prefer to use technology at work.
The article makes some valid points about tailoring a workplace to this newest generation. However, in my experience, age isn’t the only factor to consider. I offer two recent examples:
- For the courses in my multi-course project (which is past the halfway mark – yahoo!), the SMEs decided that we didn’t need to have navigation screens. They felt like it was self-explanatory and that the learners knew how to navigate in an e-learning course. (Learners still have the option of using a help tab.) They liked the idea of eliminating a screen in the course. Without making any guesses about their ages, I can safely say that these SMEs are part of a later generation.
- At Christmas, my brother, a construction contractor, wanted to show me a picture of the gift he got his son. I had to explain to him how to get to Google to look for a picture of a Chilean Rose Tarantula (shudder). After informing him that I was never stepping foot in his house while that thing was there, I teased him about how slowly he navigated!
Image may be NSFW.
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Since my brother is younger than the SMEs I work with, popular wisdom would say that he should be more tech-savvy and need less instruction when designing e-learning. But as always, it’s about knowing your learner! The SMEs use online resources every day and have to take many e-learning courses as part of their jobs. My brother rarely has to use a computer other than to manage finances. Check out the Making Change blog by Cathy Moore and her recent post on getting to know learners and blog readers for some additional food for thought.
How do you get to know your audience better? How do you avoid making assumptions about learners based on their age?
