Eight seconds: time enough for a Generation Z-er!
What can you learn in eight seconds? Actually, quite a lot! DTL is pleased to unveil its imaginative series of 8-Second Lesson videos.
Generation Z refers to those born between 1996 and 2010. This is a whole generation of young people who have grown up never knowing a world without the Internet, where access to information has become increasingly immediate. Projections show this generation of individuals will make up 20% of the UK’s workforce by 2020.
Studies suggest this cohort of motivated individuals have an attention span of just eight seconds, having been raised on a diet of instant media.
“As a training provider, the delegate is central to everything we do and we are continually looking at ways to improve the training experience in line with changing learner requirements” says Chris Wood, CEO of Develop Training Ltd (DTL), “We’ve engaged with employers through our Industry Skills Forum events and looked in detail at how we can provide the best support to the increasing number of delegates visiting our centres who belong to Generation Z.”
8-Second Lessons
These reviews prompted DTL to create a series of 8-Second Lesson videos. Deliberately short, snappy and fun, the videos depict a variety of real-world scenarios for which DTL provides training. Each conveys an important message.
“Our immediate reaction when we looked at Generation Z’s so-called attention span of eight seconds was that it couldn’t possibly be accurate,” says DTL’s Marketing Manager, Steve Braund, “But we live in a highly digitised world where it’s unusual to go much longer than that before the next text message, tweet, phone call, e-mail or other distraction. Our take on the eight-second attention span ‘fact’ is that Generation Z is in fact superbly equipped to absorb information from a variety of sources in this way without it distracting them from their primary task.”
Chris Wood continues: “The more we thought about it, the more it became apparent that, actually, a lot of information can be imparted in a short length of time, and thus the 8-Second Lesson series was born! These relate important, relevant learning points that apply as much to the workplace as the home and their length is such that they are ideal for social media sharing.
Forward-thinking training provider
“Clearly we’re not going to be replacing our training offering – which is highly technical, practical learning across a huge range of subjects from water systems and gas networks to manual handling, legionella prevention and streetworks – with a series of short videos. But the 8-Second Lesson series demonstrates very clearly to our clients that DTL is a forward-thinking training provider constantly striving to provide the very best learning experiences for its delegates, delivering increased value to our clients as a result.”
You can view the 8-Second Lesson series on DTL's YouTube channel.