GENERATIONAL DIFFERENCES IN PREFERENCE FOR INTERACTIVITYDissertation DefenseCapella University

Linda Kaiser, PhD

• Student concerns regarding lack of interactivity

• Literature on the Millennial generation

• Research involving Baby Boomer learners

• Course content on the importance of interactivity in online learning environments

CONTEXT

ENVIRONMENT• Community College learners

• Online courses

• Began with online Educational

Technology course

• Extended to other disciplines

ONLINE INTERACTION

• Instructor-to-student• Student-to-student• Student-to-content

KEY RESEARCH• More interactivity for Generation X and Millennials (Su et al., 2005).

o Out of the 102 [Generation X and Millennial] respondents of this survey, 92 percent indicated a need for more peer and instructor interactivity in online course environments and discussion of these results points to “individual personalities or learning style differences.”

• Generational preferences vary (Billings, Skiba, & Connors, 2005).

o There was a marked difference in interactivity preferences between undergraduate and graduate students in the online learning environment they studied.

o Baby Boomers perceived less interactivityo Generation X and Millennials perceived more interactivity

KEY RESEARCH• Age impacts learner success with regard to technology (Liaw, 2007).

o Older participants had less prior experience with technology thus possessedless self-efficacy or confidence with technology use.

o Lack of experience and self-confidence was found to lead to decreased learning

o Age was the most effective predictor of all demographic factors in this studyo A 2008 follow-up study supported learners use of collaborative learning

systems however, age was not a collected demographic

• Technology is used by only a small number of Millennials (Kennedy et al.,

2006 & 2009) o Survey on a wide range of technology tools, including Web 2.0 toolso Many Millennials had never used many of these tools

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK• Social Constructivist Learning Theory (Vygotsky, 1978)

o Knowledge is best constructed in a social setting.

• Communities of Practice (Lave & Wenger, 1991)

o Groups of people who have common interests and learn as they interact on a regular basis. 

• Engagement Theory (Kearsley & Schniederman, 1999)

o In order to achieve learner motivation, engagement and interactivity, learners need to collaborate and interact with each other.

• Computer-supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL)      (Dillenbourg et al., 1996)

o Learners must interact and collaborate with eachother in order to achieve successful and fulfillinglearning.

RESEARCH PROBLEMHow do instructional designers and course facilitators accommodate the interactivity preferences of students from different generations who are concurrently enrolled in the same course?

RESEARCH PURPOSE• To investigate the online

interaction preferences of different generations

• To identify instructional strategies which can be applied to accommodate different generational groups

• To focus on factors that have an impact on engagement, motivation and interactivity in online learning

RESEARCH QUESTIONFor different generations of learners enrolled concurrently in an online course, what effect will employing different interactivity tools have on:

RESEARCH DESIGN• Quantitative analysis design

o Independent variables: Three types of interactions discussion boards – non-collaborative small group projects – collaborative, not tool-specific wiki collaboration project - collaborative, tool-specific

• Variables that were measured o Interest/enjoyment o Perceived competence o Effort/importance o Pressure/tension o Value/usefulness and o Relatedness

• End-of-quarter embedded survey o Informed consent and invitation included as

announcement

RESEARCH DESIGN• Generational Demographics

o Participants were asked to identify their age group

• Intrinsic Motivation Inventory (IMI) o Customizable survey to measure motivation and thus

engagemento Seven-point Likert Scaleo Responses range from “Very True

for Me” to “Not True At All for Me”o Comparison of generational

responses

• Null hypothesis o No significant difference in the

preference of interactivity tools based on generation.

• 166 participants surveyed – 90 responses (54%)• Small response rate of (Age 40 and Over) Baby Boomer group (n = 5)• Two older age groups were combined• Statistically significant difference in Effort/Importance for overall

interactivity preference for the older set of participants (p=0.04)

ANALYSIS

• All age groups combined revealed that wiki projects rated higher in o Relatednesso Interest and Enjoymento Effort and Importanceo Pressure and Tension

o Discussion Board rated highest in Value/Usefulnesso Students felt most competent in small group projects

ANALYSIS

FINDINGS• Age groups showed no significant

difference in preference for tools used for interaction

• Older learners reported placing more effort and importance on interaction with peers

• Millennial learners may not prefer more interaction and/or technology

Supports findings of Kennedy et al. (2009)

IMPLICATIONS• Learners may not be using

technology in ways some of the literature suggests

• Design learning environments to reduce cognitive load for all learners

• Rely more on common interaction tools

FUTURE RESEARCH• How are Baby Boomers using

technology?

• Give learners the opportunity to compare different types of interaction tools

• Apply findings in a long-term study

CONTRIBUTIONS• Type of technology is not

suggested to be a factor in effective design

• Many learners are still technically inexperienced

• Design should remain simple to reduce cognitive load and focus on learning

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Chang, R., (2009). Educating the net generation: A handbook of findings for practice and policy. [Electronic version]. http://www.netgen.unimelb.edu.au/downloads/handbook/NetGenHandbookAll.pdf . Support for the original work was provided by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council Ltd., an initiative of the Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations.

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Su, B., Bonk, C., Magjuka, R., Liu, X., & Lee, S. (2005). The importance of interaction in web-based education: A program-level case study of online MBA courses. Journal of Interactive Online Learning, 4(1)(Summer 2005).

Vygotsky, L. (1978). Mind in society. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.