How To Use Generational Learning Styles To Design Training Courses

Throughout the years, the transmission of knowledge from one generation to the next has been vital to keeping our civilizations alive. From the Greek schools in which the professor would profess or recite his knowledge to the students to ELearning, the methods have clearly changed a lot. From the various methods and learning styles, perhaps the most popular one is the traditional method. This ideology follows the precept that the students should simply listen and memorize what the professor is teaching. Moving on and trying to leave traditionalists behind, progressive ways of teaching appeared in the scene to revolutionize the way we teach. A lesson with progressive tendencies tries to involve the student in the class. The learner should be an active learner rather just a listener. What it proposes is that students use critical thinking and solve problems on their own. In this method, it is favorable to use alternative resources instead of textbooks and the traditional recitation.

We should also consider generational learning styles when talking about learning. It is very important to design a course keeping in mind that people will react differently depending on their age. This generational difference in values poses a challenge for people trying to teach the same concepts to both younger and older generation. There are four different generations

• traditionalists
• baby boomers
• generation x, and
• millennials

Each one of these has its own learning preference and motivation. The millennials prefer, for example, ELearning over traditional teaching methods, while baby boomers and traditionalists still prefer the traditional approach. The mid-point between them is the generation x approach. A way to unify generations is to design courses that suit a variety of learning styles.