Rationale and Theoretical Framework – Liz Horgan Nov.

2, 2009

Rationale

The workplace has become more generationally diverse. The population

demographics are impacting the labor force in the US, with the percentage of

older/Baby Boomer employees increasing and the younger working populations

(Millennials and Gen-Xers) dis-proportionately decreasing. Technology is

advancing at an exponential rate, where the implications to both the individual,

business and all of society are immense (Kerzweil, 2001). Add to these trends

the changing global economic and business environment, where the pace and

extent of how and where business is done is fantastic. All of these factors have

changed the workplace in the past few years, and will continue to reshape

organizations, work tasks and required professional skills. The individual

worker will need to learn new skills constantly. Training will be critical to the

long-term success of workers, organizations and entire economies. Why? “The

top ten in-demand jobs in 2010 did not exist in 2004, and students are being

prepared for jobs that don’t even exist yet” (YouTube Did You Know 3.0). To

keep up, to remain current and to continue to be productive and excel, workers

will need to add student/learner to their job descriptions.

People learn differently. There are many issues that affect learning.

There are individual differences in intelligence, cognitive styles, and personality.

Skill acquisition occurs in a variety of ways: skills can be learned formally or

informally, can be gleaned on-the-job or through professional instructional

development, can be tacit or explicit to name a few. People have different

motivations and attitudes towards learning. And, individuals have varying

approaches to learning known as learning styles. People take in and process

information in different ways, “by seeing and hearing, reflecting and acting,

reasoning logically and intuitively, analyzing and visualizing, steadily and in fits and

starts” (Felder, p. 675). While so many factors affect overall knowledge gain, it is the

processing component of learning (learning styles) that I want to study as it relates to

multi-generational learners.

Thus it is that I am interested in understanding from individual workers

how they learn best given their age (generation) and their learning style. What

are the key factors that learners believe help them learn most effectively?

Theoretical Framework

This study will take an interpretive, social constructionist perspective to

explore how Millenial, Gen-X and Baby Boomer workers perceive how they learn

best given their personal learning style.

I will view the study through an interpretive lens, with the perspective

that there is no single reality or truth, but rather there are multiple perspectives

and truths that are socially constructed. Sense-making occurs on the part of

each worker, it will be their point of view, contrasted with their learning style,

that will generate meaning.

 The study will be ideographic, that is I will not make general claims, but

rather I will create an exhaustive list and provide rich detail and description of

the forces, factors and issues that I uncover from personal interviews with

individual workers I will identify and analyze patterns that may emerge and

provide readers with a snap shot of how specific workers in 2009 perceive

training effectiveness and will contrast that with their learning styles to note

whether or not there are any significant meanings or trends resulting from the

interviews.

My approach will be inductive, that is my theory will evolve from my

findings.

I have combined these 2 pages to save paper. I know it is NOT APA correct.

References:

Felder, R. M., & Silverman, L. K. (1988). Learning and Teaching Styles in Engineering
Education.

Engineering Education, 78(7), 674-681.

Gibson, S. (2009). Enhancing intergenerational communication in the

classroom:

Recommendations for successful teacher-student relationships. Nursing

Education

Perspectives, 30(1), 37-39.

Kurzweil, R. (2001). The Law of Accelerating Returns. Kurzweilai.net, March 7, 2001.
Retrieved

Nov. 2, 2009 from http://www.kurzweilai.net/articles/art0134.html?printable=1.