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Attracting and Holding The Attention of

Those Millennial Digital Natives

Jill Robbins & Anup MahajanNational Capital Language

Resource Center

Who are the millennials?Also known as Generation Y, Echo/New Boomers, MTV Generation

Term Millennials coined by Howe & Strauss (2000)

Born between (approximately) 1981-2000

Current age: 9 to 28

Have always known computers, Internet,

Characteristics of Millenials“..their online life is a whole lot bigger

than just the Internet. This online life has become an entire strategy for how to live, survive and thrive in the 21st century, where cyberspace is a part of everyday life.” (Prensky, 2004: 2)

For this reason, Millennials in are referred to as Digital Natives

Digital Natives in the Classroom

Our students are no longer “little versions of us,” as they may have been in the past. In fact, they are so different from us that we can no longer use either our 20th century knowledge or our training as a guide to what is best for them educationally (Prensky, 2007, p. 2).If you lecture to them they tune out (or start texting under the desk)

Educational Impact

Language-Learning Functions Facilitated

Communication 

Socializing

Evaluation

Searching 

Collecting

Sharing

How Digital Natives Access

Resources

From Helen Mongan-Rallis

The New Teaching Paradigm

Teachers need to allow & encourage students to use technology to teach themselves

Students need to share the resources they know how to access with teachers & peers

Digital Communication

Blogs, rss feeds, email, webcasts, wikis, nings, polls, Moodles, Skype, iTunesU, FaceBook, Twitter

Digital SocializingGlobal Exchanges (Intercultural Email, class exchanges)

Online Language Practice

Skype (Mixxer)

NCLRC’s ResourcesTech for Teachers: Tutorials, Resources & Articles; Blogs

For Students: Webcasts; Teen Interview Podcasts, YouTube Channel

Evaluation - Self-AssessmentPortfolio Assessment:

NCLRC’s Portfolio Assessment Guide

LinguaFolio: Student portfolio

Teacher training on Linguafolio

How do you empower your

student’s digital skills?

Searching

Collecting

Sharing

Ways Students Access Resources

What Digital Innovations Hold Their Attention?

Success Stories