A Millennial learning style is defined by Dr Chris Cede as “the influence of media, such as as the World Wide Web which induces learning based on seeking, sieving, and synthesizing rather than on assimilating a single “validated” source of knowledge as from books, television, or a professor’s lectures.”( Dede, C. 2005). There are other characteristic of the millennial learner such as multitasking, doing many things at one time, such as having a conversation, while looking up information on the WWW. Additionally, personal and tailor made configuration for applications and media is a desired and is sought after by the millennial learning, such as music playlists and RSS feeds for news updates.
In comparison to Dr Cede definition to this learning type I find myself :"inline" with the Millennial learning behaviors even though I was born before this generation. My normal go to pattern for learning and socializing is to look on my smart phone or pad to find out whatever information that I desire. If I am preparing something for work, or I am writing notes I usually use my ipad or computer. I will routinely check my social network app to see how my friends and family are doing and keep in touch in this manner. If there is an event going on, my friends use Facebook as the vehicle to let everyone know. When learning about a topic, I will look up several sources and get various perspectives along the way. I enjoy technology perhaps to a fault, and I integrated it in my life pretty regularly.
As a lifelong learner, being able to learn about new things, and get different perspective on things is a valuable tool. I have found that the WWW has given me opportunity to enrich my understanding of many things. For example, I have used YouTube to learn to do many different things, from Photoshop techniques to making a cake to learning to crochet. I have found the videos on YouTube to be very informative. Likewise, I think that giving back and posting information of what you know is important. This feedback stage is still not developed in my life, but I hope to change that and start posting my own tutorials to give back and contribute to this virtual society.
Dede, C. (2005). Planning for neomillennial learning styles. Educause Quarterly, 1, 7–12.
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