Does Gen Y place any specific training demands on the United Arab Emirates and does the Emirates differ from other countries?

Fadi Abdul Khalek: At UKS, we took advantage of our global presence with offices and engagements in the US, Europe, Middle East, and China to investigate and examine this phenomenon further. The results of our research and our extensive involvement in all these regions have only emphasized the fact that the Millennials (Generation Y), irrespective of geographical location, share many common global characteristics.

Usually, when we design and develop learning content and implement collaborative learning environments, we resort to extensive learner profiling and learning-environment assessments. With most of the learning content that we have designed and developed, whether for students in North Carolina, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, or the Far East, we have come across a learning generation with a great number of common behavioral trends that make the learning content built and the environment implemented truly universal.

Having said the above, we still believe that there are some areas of uniqueness differentiating Generation Y in one part of the world from another. After all, national (or regional) identity plays its role in the formation and nurture of such characteristics. Cultural peculiarities also play a role in defining the most appropriate content to be developed and in putting together the appropriate environment to host and deliver such content.

The UAE, being such a cosmopolitan gathering ground for many cultures and nationalities, might not be the ideal place to identify these peculiarities. However, other areas in the region, especially in some areas of Saudi Arabia and Egypt, provide a different perspective.

I think it is safe to say that Generation Y and the common global characteristics prevail wherever there is open access to information, a certain degree of technological literacy and, most importantly, where the basic elements of such generational values do not come into conflict with local cultures and behaviors.

What are the present and the future of learning contents for Gen Y?

Fadi Abdul Khalek: When we talk about the educational philosophy governing the present and future of learning content, I don't think this philosophy will undergo major changes. The underlying model is and will continue to be a learner-centric approach to learning content and learning environments.

However, what is undergoing rapid and constant development are the tools and technologies used to develop and deliver such content. With the internet and computers being the initial nurturing grounds for the Y-Generation learning environments, we have many reasons to believe that mobile learning is something to be ready for.

All of the preferred methods of collaborative learning for Gen Y are now moving to mobile devices. Because of their convenience of mobility, transferability, and connectivity, we think that designing, developing, and implementing mobile learning content and environments is the future of Generation Y's learning and most likely that of future generations as well.

In areas where internet penetration is still minimal, mobile penetration has enjoyed tremendous success. Accessibility and availability of mobile technologies, even in the remotest of regions, have proven to be important reasons why mobile technology will provide a better nurturing ground for this generation's values and behaviors.

This view of the future of learning contents has led us to invest heavily in a variety of research and development programs to make sure that mobile content is indeed catching up with the pace of the development of mobile technology. Content on the go, for a nomadic learner, is the future of learning content.

What is the main challenge for the development of content for this generation?

Fadi Abdul Khalek: As you have probably noticed, I have been very careful to mention learning environment every time I mention learning content. This is an important aspect of understanding and addressing the learning and training needs of Generation Y.

With generation Y learners, it is not as much about the content we develop and deliver to them as it is about availing the right environment and knowledge platform so that content can be self-generated, exchanged, and re-engineered. It is more about building a collaborative environment that allows for integrating the social networking habits of generation Y with their overall learning experience while still maintaining the quality of the overall learning process.

This has proven to be one of the more challenging tasks when creating a learning environment for such a global generation. Fortunately, building a highly interactive, engaging, and informative digital content is something we have successfully done with relative ease.

Whether it is serious gaming, Second Life training models, or interactive simulations, addressing generation Y's pure digital content needs remains, to a certain extent, a relatively simple task to address. What remains a challenge is the decision as to the right set of tools and technologies to help bring out the best of what Generation Y has to offer.

Are social networking tools adequate in the workplace? What are the optimal methods to use wikis effectively in a learning environment? How can we integrate instant messaging, one of the preferred Gen Y communication tools, with the overall collaborative-learning environment? How can we make sure that podcasts and RSS feeds are properly integrated into any learning environment?

What tools do we use to entice learners to contribute to the content-building process? All are very challenging questions that ought to be asked and answered in order to make sure that the right learning environment is set up. We have done some extensive work in this area, and overcoming this challenge has proven to be extremely rewarding.

One other major challenge in addressing the learning needs of Generation Y is to adequately manage the change that the teachers and trainers have to go through in order to keep up. The biggest resistance and hurdle to proper implementation of Generation Y-designed environments has mainly come from the faculty and management.

Generation Y methods are generally regarded as unorthodox and are often viewed with skepticism and distrust. Educating teachers in schools and managers in the workplace is extremely important in order to create a successful learning environment that adequately addresses the needs of generation Y. We have developed a series of mentoring, coaching and teacher-capacity-building programs to overcome this challenge. Where such programs have been implemented, it became clear that we have been able to establish a much more productive learning environment.

What values of this generation would you have to consider, and what has been their impact on learning and professional development choices?

Fadi Abdul Khalek: What characterizes Generation Y is a combination of values, common environments, and shared experiences. Millennials are collectively optimistic, high achievers, and long-term planners. The Y-generation is generally realistic, constantly looking for meaning and relevance, oblivious to all forms of authority (even if not confrontationally), and are committed to success.

If we examine the shared environments of Generation Yers, we find that their optimal methods of communication are texting and instant messaging, with these far exceeding the use of phone or face-to-face communication. Such environments depend heavily of group activities and collaborative work habits; these are plugged-in environments where technology is basically fed with baby milk.

The above-mentioned Generation Y values and experiences create a very serious challenge for professionals seeking to address the learning needs of this generation. A student-centric approach to learning, collaborative learning environments, peer-to-peer learning, group activities, and web 2.0 technologies are becoming core components of any effective educational experience.

What this means for learning-content producers is that they will have to quickly integrate web 2.0 technologies into their overall solution palette. Learning solutions have to solicit learners' contributions and engagement, have to be relevant to the learner through the use of case-based and scenario learning, and have to make use of competency frameworks in order to draw the bigger picture for a learner who is hard to convince that learning is indeed required and serves an ultimate purpose.

However, the real challenge is not in having professional companies meet up to Generation Y's expectations. It is rather in devising solutions and services that are capable of making the necessary transformation among the teaching and training communities in order to meet the same generational challenge.

Professional organizations building solutions for future generations also need to invest a great deal in building solutions, capacity building, coaching, and mentoring programs for the not-so-future generations that remain an instrumental part of the entire learning process.


Session GEN08

Fadi Abdul Khalek: "The Learning Content Needs of Generation Y - Present and Future with Case Studies"

Thursday, December 4th, 2008, 11:45 - 13:00, Charlottenburg II