The midden

Although this presentation by Linda Thor, Principal at Rio Salado College in Arizona, has, unsurprisingly, a distinct North American tone about it, it is nonetheless pertinent to the HE situation in the UK.

She notes that HE Institutions cater for 4 generations in the workplace:

• Mature Generation
• Baby Boomers
• Generation X
• Generation Y

How each of these 4 distinct generations use and interact with technology varies greatly. The matures and the boomers accept their unease with the new technologies and realise that they will never “catch-up”. Generation X understand and use the technology well. But it is Generation Y that really use the technology to live their lives. Thor argues that this generation has no loyalty to a single institution - they get their education where they can and in a way that suits them. Catering for Generation Y means re-structuring our HE institutions to meet their needs - something they seem to be doing at Rio Salado College.

The podcast of this presentation is available here.