Twenty-eight experts demystify unique Gen M learning styles and offer best practices for developing a successful curriculum

New York, NY (May 27, 2009)—Devising quality educational resources for “Gen M”— today’s ethnically and socio-economically diverse group of young adults born in the early 1980s through the mid 1990s—requires a thorough understanding of their shared characteristics, cultural experiences, and distinct, technology-based learning styles. In Teaching Generation M: A Handbook for Librarians and Educators, to be published by Neal-Schuman on July 20, 2009, editors Vibiana Bowman Cvetkovic and Robert J. Lackie and a team of expert contributors explain key educational theories, debunk common generational myths, and offer practical guidance to help librarians and educators facilitate powerful learning opportunities that will best meet Gen M’s unique educational needs.

The book’s nineteen chapters are clearly organized into three parts. Part 1, titled “Defining Gen M,” offers an in-depth introduction to the Gen M demographic and their well-known, though often inaccurately described, relationship with technology and new media. Contributors examine the role of the digital divide within Gen M, shifting literacy paradigms and the essential new computer and media literacy skills they require, and the search processes that Gen M students use in academic settings. There is also an overview of the controversy surrounding the impact of constant-connectivity and multitasking, along with strategies and suggestions to help Gen M students make positive use of media outlets and tools.

Part Two, titled “The World of Gen M,” looks at the “culture of technology” that is frequently used to represent Gen M, and explores the resulting common debates over issues of privacy, security, safety on the Web, and the Gen M community’s different perception of public and private space. The section offers suggestions for adapting popular social networking sites and internet tools, like Facebook and MySpace, for educational use, a guide to the history, uses, and abuses of YouTube, and a detailed discussion of the Gen M student’s dependence on questionable sources such as Wikipedia and Google, as well as ways these site can serve as a springboard for more in-depth research. There is also an overview of gamers and gaming culture, Webcomics, and forward-looking advice to help libraries remain an important part of the fast-approaching, ecologically changed Gen M world.

Part Three, titled “Pedagogy – Current and Imagined,” covers best practices, curriculum application, and instruction for creating lessons and learning objects across an array of technologies and topics, including mobile technologies, cooperative learning strategies, screencasting, information ethics, and Google and Wikipedia. This section also addresses concerns for implementing new technology into undergraduate curriculums, and concludes with a real life cautionary tale and guidance for future planning.

Each chapter includes a comprehensive list of references that can be used for further reading. Illustrated figures, screencaps, and practical exercises are incorporated throughout the text to allow for easy replication or adaptation of best practices in individual curricula.

Geared toward librarians, media specialists and educators of all types, Teaching Generation M debunks common myths and misconceptions about this unique generation to provide a realistic understanding of their instructional needs and learning styles.

Teaching Generation M: A Handbook for Librarians and Educators
ISBN: 978-1-55570-667-8. 2009. 8.5 x 11. 400pp. $85.00.

About the Editors
Vibiana Bowman Cvetkovic is a Reference Librarian and the Web Administrator at the Paul Robeson Library, Rutgers University in Camden, New Jersey. She is also the Chair of the Children and Childhood Studies Section of the Mid-Atlantic Popular/American Culture Association. Her books include The Plagiarism Plague: A Resource Guide and CD-ROM Tutorial for Educators and Librarians and Scholarly Resources for Children and Childhood Studies.
Robert J. Lackie is an Associate Professor-Librarian at Rider University in Lawrenceville, NJ, where he co-leads the Library Instruction Program and serves as Reference Collection Development Librarian. He has also received the “2004 New Jersey Librarian of the Year” and the “2004 Rider University Award for Distinguished Teaching.”

About Neal-Schuman Publishers
Founded in 1976, Neal-Schuman Publishers is based in New York City with offices in London, UK. Neal-Schuman is a leading publisher of professional books and textbooks for librarians, archivists and knowledge managers.

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