Motivating Today’s College Students – The Millennial Generation

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Motivating Todays College Students The
Millennial Generation

• Angela Provitera McGlynn

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Biography

• Professor Emeritus of Psychology, MCCC
• Author of several books and numerous articles
  regular contributor to The Hispanic 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_at_verizon.net

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Objectives Participants will learn

• How millennial students prefer to learn
• Pedagogical strategies that promote student
  learning
• How to engage millennial students
• How to keep millennial students motivated
  throughout the semester

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Question

• What is the one thing you would like to learn
  from todays webinar?

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Who are todays 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

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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

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Diversity Opportunities and Challenges
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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)

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Millennials Gravitate Towards Group Activities
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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

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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

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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

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Digital Natives

• Todays 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
• Todays 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)

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From Lost in Translation http//www.youtube.com/w
atch?vdGCJ46vyR9oCreated by Michael Wesch in
collaboration with 200 students at Kansas State
University.
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Multitasking

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

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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)

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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

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Question

• What do you see as the major difference between
  todays students and those of previous
  generations?
• What challenges do those differences present?

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Millennials Preferences

• 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

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Millennials Preferences Working Collectively
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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

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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

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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

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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

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Specific Strategies for Teaching Millennials

• Teaching style
• what they want
• High Energy
• Passionate
• Inventive
• Humorous
• Active
• Entertainment
• (Smetanka, 2007)

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Specific Strategies for Teaching Millennials

• Teaching style
• what we know
• Clarity
• Organization
• Feedback
• Availability/rapport
• Class time management
• Engaging
• (Pascarella Terenzini, 2005)

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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

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Specific Strategies for Teaching Millennials

• The four-step lesson 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

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Adding Tools to Your Trade/Art

• Given what you know about todays college
  students, what might you do to try to engage more
  of them?
• Given what you know about todays college
  students, what might you do differently when
  dealing with them?

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Angelas most recent books by Atwood Publishing,
888 242-7101, www.atwoodpublishing.com
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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/

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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.