Exploring expectations of Generation Y students

1
Exploring expectations of Generation Y students

• In this session we will informally explore the
  questions
• 1. In what ways are Gen Y different or the same
  as previous generations?
• 2. Implications for TL?

2
In Summary

• We can overcome the behaviour problems
• If we want students to come to class, we need to
  do things in class that students value and cant
  get in other ways.
• Build on what students are more used to
• Problems to solve (especially involving
  collaboration)
• Provide short, sharp visual learning resources
  and activities with immediate feedback
• Shorter SGs
• Include multimedia
• As far as practical, change practices to meet
  student expectations
• Practical orientation
• Flexible / customisable education

3
Facts about Gen Y students

• Born since about 1990
• Grown up with computers and the internet
• Grown up with mobile phones
• Faster-paced life
• Working more / spending less time on campus
• Full-time students
• (Source The First Year Experience In Australian
  Universities Findings From A Decade Of National
  Studies, Kerri-lee Krause, Robyn Hartley, Richard
  James and Craig McInnis, 2005, http//www.dest.gov
  .au/NR/rdonlyres/1B0F1A03-E7BC-4BE4-B45C-735F95BC6
  7CB/5885/FYEFinalReportforWebsiteMay06.pdf)

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Typical behaviour

• Each morning, Jason Keene wakes up in his dorm
  room at the University of Central Florida and
  peers over at his PC monitor to see how many IMs
  arrived while he slept. Sometimes more than 15
  attempts to reach him are visible on the screen,
  along with various postings to the blog hes been
  following since the semester began in January.
  After a quick trip to the shower, the sophomore
  computer science major pulls up an eclectic mix
  of news, weather, sports, and information on the
  home page he customized using Google. He then
  logs onto his campus account to see if the
  previous days sociology lecture is posted. He
  notices a reminder that there will be a quiz that
  day as well as another one letting him know that
  the paper hes writing needs to be e-mailed to a
  professor by midnight the next day. With a cup of
  instant coffee on the desk next to him, Jason IMs
  a few friends and then pulls up a wiki to review
  progress a teammate has made on a project theyre
  doing for their computer science class.
• Source The Key To Competitiveness Understanding
  The Next Generation Learner, EDUCAUSE, 2005,
  http//www.educause.edu/section_params/conf/aascu0
  5/FinalMtgProgram.pdf

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Changes To Higher Ed (In Australia)

• Changed social role
• More students participating in higher education
  (participation rate has approximately doubled in
  the last 20 years).
• State universities are here to provide
  education, not to turn students away.The Key To
  Competitiveness Understanding The Next
  Generation Learner, EDUCAUSE, 2005,
  http//connect.educause.edu/library/abstract/TheKe
  ytoCompetitiven/42582
• Greater proportion of international students
• More efficient
• StudentStaff ratios have increased
• Greater use of technology

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The stereotype Gen Y

• It is often claimed that Gen Y - more than
  previous generations
• Behave worse in classes
• Dont attend class
• Have shorter attention spans/get bored easily
• Cant read
• Except high quality service
• (Over?)confident in their abilities
• More social, more friends, more networks
• If time permits Its also often claimed that
  universities have
• Lower academic standards

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More discipline problems?

• I kind-of doubt this is true
• Remember the paper airplanes?
• The whistlers?
• But never-the-less, its a serious problem.
  Luckily there are solutions.
• And what about this type of behaviour (from 1986)

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More discipline problems?

• I kind-of doubt this is true
• Remember the paper airplanes?
• The whistlers?
• But never-the-less, its a serious problem.
  Luckily there are solutions.
• And what about this type of behaviour (from 1986)

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More discipline problems?

• I kind-of doubt this is true
• Remember the paper airplanes?
• The whistlers?
• But never-the-less, its a serious problem.
  Luckily there are solutions.
• And what about this type of behaviour (from 1986)

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10
More discipline problems?

• I kind-of doubt this is true
• Remember the paper airplanes?
• The whistlers?
• But never-the-less, its a serious problem.
  Luckily there are solutions.
• And what about this type of behaviour (from 1986)

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11
More discipline problems?

• I kind-of doubt this is true
• Remember the paper airplanes?
• The whistlers?
• But never-the-less, its a serious problem.
  Luckily there are solutions.
• And what about this type of behaviour (from 1986)

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12
More discipline problems?

• I kind-of doubt this is true
• Remember the paper airplanes?
• The whistlers?
• But never-the-less, its a serious problem.
  Luckily there are solutions.
• And what about this type of behaviour (from 1986)

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13
More discipline problems?

• I kind-of doubt this is true
• Remember the paper airplanes?
• The whistlers?
• But never-the-less, its a serious problem.
  Luckily there are solutions.
• And what about this type of behaviour (from 1986)

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14
More discipline problems?

• I kind-of doubt this is true
• Remember the paper airplanes?
• The whistlers?
• But never-the-less, its a serious problem.
  Luckily there are solutions.
• And what about this type of behaviour (from 1986)

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15
More discipline problems?

• I kind-of doubt this is true
• Remember the paper airplanes?
• The whistlers?
• But never-the-less, its a serious problem.
  Luckily there are solutions.
• And what about this type of behaviour (from 1986)

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16
More discipline problems?

• I kind-of doubt this is true
• Remember the paper airplanes?
• The whistlers?
• But never-the-less, its a serious problem.
  Luckily there are solutions.
• And what about this type of behaviour (from 1986)

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17
More discipline problems?

• I kind-of doubt this is true
• Remember the paper airplanes?
• The whistlers?
• But never-the-less, its a serious problem.
  Luckily there are solutions.
• And what about this type of behaviour (from 1986)

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Dont attend class

• This might be true
• They are working more
• We provide alternative resources for providing
  content (CD-ROMs, eLive, iLecture).
• They are just acting rationally.
• However
• 38 attendance rate at a lecture for a statistics
  class of (size 61) in 1995. (Maybe content in
  some disciplines was easier to capture on
  CD-ROM than in other disciplines?)
• If we want students to come to class, we need to
  do things in class that students value and cant
  get in other ways.
• Provide flexible education

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Have shorter attention spans/get bored easily? (1)

• Not true!
• Just look at how long they can maintain
  concentration at a computer game!
• I suggest the problem is that the type of
  student might have changed
• Knowledge is not major goal for many students,
  and information that directly relates to their
  earning goals is seen as the only thing worth
  learning. They do show a distinct interest in
  exactly what they will be graded on and what will
  be necessary to achieve their specific grade
  goals.
• Mark Taylor, Generation NeXt Todays Postmodern
  StudentMeeting, Teaching, and Serving in Volume
  2 Becoming a Learning Focused Organization The
  Learning Environment

Next
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Have shorter attention spans/get bored easily? (2)

• Many Gen Y are actually MUCH BETTER (through
  practice) than previous generations at
• (Some types of) problem solving (eg Real Time
  Strategy games)
• Team work (eg First Person Shooter games)
• Also
• So give students
• Problems to solve (especially involving
  collaboration)
• Provide short, sharp visual learning resources
  and activities with immediate feedback
• Shorter SGs
• Include multimedia

Digital Natives are used to receiving
information really fast. They like to parallel
process and multi-task. They prefer their
graphics before their text rather than the
opposite. They prefer random access (like
hypertext). They function best when networked.
They thrive on instant gratification and frequent
rewards.Marc Prensky Digital Natives Digital
Immigrants, 2001
Prev
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Expect high quality service

• All consumers of a service expect it to be high
  quality. Gen Y have some additional requirements
  such as
• 24/7 (because that is what they are used to
  they communicate and network socially 24/7).
• Practical orientation (because we have more
  students who are not just after knowledge)
• Customisation
• But like all customers of this type, they should
  appreciate that they need to contribute

the university should be viewed less as a
store and more as a gym. At a gym, John Hitt
says, you join to gain access to health,
wellness, and fitness, which you get if youre
diligent and you work hard. But results are not
guaranteed. The same is true of higher
education what a student buys is access to
learning. The Key To Competitiveness
Understanding The Next Generation Learner,
EDUCAUSE, 2005, http//www.educause.edu/section_pa
rams/conf/aascu05/FinalMtgProgram.pdf
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Customisation

• Yes they expect services to be customised for
  them, because thats what they get in other
  places. Examples Skins on media players, mobile
  phones.
• Today's students came of age during the "mass
  customization movement," which entailed being
  "absolute rulers of their own digital universe."
  They now expect to control "when, where, how, and
  how fast they learn." Students "perceive their
  learning environments as boundless," and most
  have laptops with the same functions as the
  computers in the library.
• What Students Want Generation Y and the Changing
  Function of the Academic Library, Susan Gardner,
  Susanna Eng , Libraries and the Academy 5.3
  (2005) 405-420
• More flexible education.

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Cant read

• Maybe true? Visual learners?
• (Thought actually I suspect that this is NOT
  NEW.)

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Confident

• Generation Ys got prizes for graduating from
  first grade, for coming in eighth in a race, or
  just for just showing up.They are the most
  rewarded, recognized, and praised generation in
  living memory. So they walk into the workplace
  feeling massively entitled. After six weeks on
  the job, they expect a promotion.Interview of
  Marcus Buckingham by Pat Galagan, Amercian
  Society for Training and Development, 2006
  http//www.marcusbuckingham.com/press/newPress/art
  icles/trainingdev/trainingdev.php

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Lower Standards?

• Are academic standards really lower?
• In some disciples things have changed
  dramatically
• We encourage the development of other graduate
  attributes
• In disciplines that have not changed so much, the
  standards might have not changed much

Questions from first year statistics
exams 1990 2006
Source 1990 59153 Mathematics 1B examination
paper, Deakin University
Source 2006 SIT191 Introduction to Statistics
examination paper, Deakin University
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