October 2004 — Special Reports
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Digital Community Colleges and the Coming of the 'Millenials'
Report of Major Findings From the Center for Digital Education’s 2004 Digital Community Colleges Survey
Investments in digital technologies have helped community colleges across
America prepare for the needs and expectations of so-called “millenials,” the name given to the generation of 60 million people born between 1979 and 1994, according to the Center for Digital Education. This conclusion comes from analysis of the findings from the second national Digital Community Colleges Survey, which was conducted in conjunction with the American Association of Community Colleges. The survey, based on responses from self-selected colleges representing 44 states in 2004, covers the availability of online admission; registration; student self-service options, including course management, grade viewing and transcript ordering; technology skills development for faculty; technology support on campus; and distance education offerings that reach well beyond the campus via the Internet. The 2004 results rank colleges in three major categories that reflect the size and geography of the communities served: Large/Urban, Midsized/Suburban and Small/Rural.
As with the inaugural Digital Community Colleges Survey in 2002, this year’s results illustrate compression among leading colleges as reflected in a series of ties among the “top 10” colleges in each category. Interestingly,
Millenials at the Vanguard of a Digital Majority
By way of context, separate public polls indicate that roughly three quarters (72%, according to Ipsos-Reid) of all U.S. households have Internet access, while a third (35%, according to JupiterResearch) have broadband access at home. Nearly three-quarters (73%, according to Brainchild) of teenagers report using the Internet regularly, while another estimate from AOL Direct Marketing Services shows that teens spend over 12 hours a week online and are more likely to know their friends’ IM addresses than their phone numbers.
“Millenials … live in a world jam-packed with information and entertainment,” reports Stephen Baker in the
These Internet natives and their expectations for control and self-services are reshaping campuses as colleges compete for attention of millenials in a bid to convert “gamers” and “surfers” into students.
