Motivating Today’s College Students – The Millennial Generation

1. Motivating Today’s College Students – The Millennial Generation Angela Provitera McGlynn

3. Biography • Professor Emeritus of Psychology, MCCC • Author of several books and numerous articles; regular contributor to TheHispanic Outlook in Higher Education • Latest books: see slide towards end of presentation • National Consultant on Teaching and Learning Issues; Trainer for Transformation Associates, LLC • Web site: www.mccc.edu/~amcglynn/index.html • E-mail address: amcglynn5@verizon.net

4. Objectives: We will explore • Millennials - who are today’s students? • How do millennial students prefer to learn? • What pedagogical strategies promote student learning? • How can we engage and motivate today’s students to promote academic success?

5. Who are today’s students? • Millennials: Born 1982 – 2002 • Generation X: Born 1965 – 1982 • Baby Boomers: Born 1946 - 1964 • Matures: Born 1900 – 1946 • Many people are born on the cusps of two generations, and many people do not fit their “generational type”

6. The Millennials – historical context • also called “Generation M or Y,” “Echo Boomers,” or the NET Generation • roughly 30% of the American population • children of Baby Boomers or early wave members of Generation X • the most diverse generation in our history – 34% are nonwhite or Latino

7. Diversity – Opportunities and Challenges

8. Characteristics of Millennials • Millennials: • identify with their parents’ values • are fascinated by new technologies • 1 in 5 have at least one immigrant parent • gravitate toward group activities Diana Oblinger (Understanding the New Students, EDUCAUSE Review, July/August 2003)

9. Millennials Gravitate Towards Group Activities

10. More Characteristics of Millennials • grew up in a time of economic prosperity – how times have changed! • went to “play groups” and played soccer from the age of 3 • the most protected generation in terms of government regulations on consumer safety • often indulged as a result of changing child-rearing practices

11. More Characteristics of Millennials • used to being consulted in decision-making by their parents • typically strong bonds between these students and their parents, particularly with their mothers, and they stay very connected even when they go away to school • expected to excel by their parents • highly scheduled and sheltered in childhood

12. More Characteristics of Millennials • constant social contact with friends via e-mail, Instant Messaging, cell phones, and video games • digital natives (Prensky, 2001) • raised in a technological environment • accepts that environment as the norm • grown up surrounded by digital devices and regularly uses these devices to interact with other people and the outside world. • Adapted From Digital Native website – www.digitalnative.org/wiki

13. Digital Natives • Today’s students have spent their entire lives surrounded by and using computers, videogames, digital music players, video cams, cell phones, and all the other toys and tools of the digital age • Today’s average college grads have spent less than 5,000 hours of their lives reading, but over 10,000 hours playing video games (not to mention 20,000 hours watching TV) • Marc Prensky Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants • From On the Horizon (MCB University Press, Vol. 9 No. 5, October 2001)

14. From Lost in Translation http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9oCreated by Michael Wesch in collaboration with 200 students at Kansas State University.

15. Multitasking • Multitasking is a way of life for this generation • Two tasks at once or cognitive toggling?

16. More Characteristics of Millennials • often seek information and knowledge by going on-line rather than using a textbook • little tolerance for delays so it is important to let students know when they can expect feedback or a response to their queries • for many, the idea of constructing knowledge within a social community has lots of appeal • (Skiba & Barton (2006)

17. More Characteristics of Millennials • tend to be conventional, accepting of societal rules and expectations • team-oriented • achievement-oriented: External locus of control • often Intellectually Naïve, that is, they need help determining reliable sources of information

18. Question • What do you see as the major difference between today’s students and those of previous generations? • What challenges do those differences present?

19. Millennials’ Preferences Millennials • want to learn by working collaboratively • have a preference to learn in their own time and on their own terms • seem to appreciate structured activities that permit creativity

20. Millennials’ Preferences – Working Collectively: Focus Groups

21. Millennials’ Preferences • want to be involved with “real life” issues that matter to them • most millennials are comfortable with technology – plugged in since they were babies (exceptions related to SES) • differences among first generation students in terms of proficiency with technology

22. Maximizing Millennials Preferences for Social Contact • Early in the semester, get students to meet each other (First Day exercises – icebreakers) • Set up opportunities for students to work collaboratively both in and outside of class • Set up a web page for your course and social networking tools related to the course material

23. Maximizing Millennials Preferences for Social Contact – Retention

24. Given Millennials’ Preferences, What Makes the Most Sense from a Cognitive Learning Perspective? • Ways to help students create meaning between their life experience and the material • Use examples students can relate to • Ask students to develop their own examples • Creating multiple connections with concepts also facilitates the process of retrieval because the more connections we have, the more retrieval cues we have to access the material

25. Given Millennials’ Preferences, What Makes the Most Sense from a Cognitive Learning Perspective? • All students need to be actively engaged with the material we are trying to teach them • Active engagement promotes deeper levels of cognitive processing and learning because it creates stronger connections • Active learning facilitates long-term memory through the process of elaborative rehearsal that uses meaning rather than rote memorization

26. Create a Learner-Centered (Active-Learning) Classroom Atmosphere • Foster a sense of a learning community • Build rapport with students • Promote student to student connections • Facilitate student participation • Create a safe, welcoming, inclusive classroom atmosphere

27. Characteristics of Learner-Centered Classrooms • Paradigm shift (1990s) in undergraduate education - new focus on what the learner is doing in class rather than on what the instructor is doing (and “covering”) • Students are engaged in learning how they learn in addition to learning content – metacognition helps them develop lifelong learning skills • (based on “The Case for Learner-Centered Education,”) http://oncourseworkshop.com/Miscellaneous018.htm

28. Metacognition

29. General Strategies for Engaging Millennials • Provide High, Clear Expectations • Offer individual feedback • Engage with/through technology where appropriate • Utilize group work: collaborative learning techniques • Incorporate reflection and metacognition

30. Specific Strategies for Teaching Millennials • Teaching style— • what they want • High Energy • Passionate • Inventive • Humorous • Active • Entertainment • (Smetanka, 2007)

31. Specific Strategies for Teaching Millennials • Teaching style— • what we know • Clarity • Organization • Feedback • Availability/rapport • Class time management • Engaging • (Pascarella & Terenzini, 2005)

32. Specific Strategies for Teaching Millennials • Use focus activities or questions – on the screen or chalkboard, write an activity or a question that students can begin as soon as they enter the classroom. These focusing activities can relate to the last class, the reading material, or what will take place in the class that is about to begin • Put objectives for the class session up on the screen or board; this will help you and the students to stay on track and will help latecomers to class • Clement, 2009

33. Specific Strategies for Teaching Millennials • Mini Lectures (15 or 20 minutes) • After presenting some material, try a writing exercise: (Angelo and Cross’ One-minute Paper) • Please summarize the most important point you learned today… • Please describe the muddiest point, that is, the point that is still confusing to you…

34. Specific Strategies for Teaching Millennials • After the “one-minute paper” circulate in the room and ask students to share what they have written in the class • Ask other students to explain muddiest points • Variation: After asking students to paraphrase what has been covered, ask them to share with a partner looking for similarities. Then ask students to share what they found in common with the class as a whole

35. Specific Strategies for Teaching Millennials • Ask thought provoking open-ended questions rather than questions aimed at eliciting rote memory responses • Find ways to get students working with a partner • Design collaborative learning exercises that encourage students to hear each other’s diverse viewpoints and then to reach consensus on an issue using the “round-robin” process

36. Specific Strategies for Teaching Millennials • The four-step plan • Set goals for each class • Focus the students • Present new material • Have students apply the material or do something creative with what they have learned • Review, conclude, and assess • Adapted from Clement, 2009

37. Adding Tools to Your Trade/Art • Given what you know about today’s college students, what might you do to try to engage more of them? • Given what you know about today’s college students, what might you do differently when dealing with them?

38. Closing Exercise • Please respond in writing to any of these prompts: • What I learned today … • What I re-learned today … • What I most appreciated about what we discussed today …

39. Angela’s most recent books by Atwood Publishing, 888 242-7101, www.atwoodpublishing.com

40. References • Angelo,T.A. and Cross, K.P. (1993). Classroom Assessment Techniques: A Handbook for College Teachers, Second Ed., San Francisco: Jossey-Bass • Astin, A.W. (1993) What Matters in College? Four Critical Years Revisited. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass • Bonwell C.C. and Eison, J.A. (1991). Active Learning: Creating Excitement in the Classroom. ASHE-ERIC Higher Education Report No. 1. Washington DC: George Washington Univesity School of Education and Human Development

41. References • Clement, M. June 24, 2009. 10 Ways to Engage Your Students on the First Day of Class, Faculty Focus. • Pascarella, E. T., & Terenzini, P. T. (2005). How college affects student. A third decade of research. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. • Prensky, M. (2001) Digital natives, Digital immigrants. On the Horizon. Vol. 9, No. 5: NCB University Press. www.marcprensky.com/writing/

42. References • Smetanka, M. J. (2004, May 7). Millennial students: A new crew enlivens the “U.” The Minneapolis Star Tribune, p. 1.A. • Skiba, D.J. & Baron, A.J. (2006) Adapting your teaching to accommodate the net generation of learners, Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 2006, Vol. 11, Issue 2. • “The Case for Learner-Centered Education,”) http://oncourseworkshop.com/Miscellaneous018.htm