Creating Learning Environments for Today’s Students
Just who are these students that roam our campus, enroll in our classes and visit (or don’t) our libraries? On our campus the majority are Millennials or Net Genners who were born between 1982 and 1994, who are digital natives, growing up with technology and expecting its immediacy, and who are confident, determined, achieving and view themselves as special and expect others to treat them as such.
Their values and life experience are so very different than many of us baby boomers who are digital immigrants, learning to use technology in our adult years, and who teach classes, work with students in the library, and provide their technical support. Weren’t we the generation who changed the world and always thought we were ahead of the curve? Weren’t we the leaders and trend setters who didn’t “need a weatherman to know the way the wind blows?” How do we deal with the net genners, many of whom are more tech savvy than us, but don’t necessarily have the depth of what lies beneath the technology?
As I began to think about the differences between us and our students, I referred to Neil Howe and William Strauss, who have co-written books and articles about generations, and in particular the generation of students who are attending our colleges and universities. Check out their website and read more about them in Wikipedia. I recommend reading their Millennials Go to College along with Jean M. Twenge’s Generation Me for some excellent insights.
The EDUCAUSE website has a lot of good information about creating learning environments for our students. I have found Educating the Net Generation, a compendium of essays edited by Diana and James Oblinger, particularly useful.
Together the “Me” generation of Baby Boomers, and the “Net Generation” of Millennial Students, along with the Generation Xers, will transform the educational culture that we seem to be shaping. “The Times They are e-Changing.”
Since I am just finishing up the book, The Net Generation I was interested in your comments. A couple of ideas that ran through several of the essays struck me particularly. One was that Net Geners really value their professors’ depth of knowledge and expertise. The other was that, in spite of all the technology around them, they appreciate “face” time with their professors, in other words, a real classroom experience. It was brought out in the essays that distance learning classes generally appeal to older more non-traditional students and even these students can find that they are a less than positive experience. My son (who is probably Generation X) is currently taking an online engineering course and, while it is convenient in terms of hours, he commented on missing the interaction with a professor in class.
On thing we have to be careful of is generalizing an entire generation. Yes, some of the students enjoy working in groups and learn well that way, but it can be overdone. Overheard on a library stairway: “Too much group work!” Because I work in the library I have the unique advantage of seeing students studying and working together—or apart. Yes, we do see plenty of groups in action. But the study carrels are still used and some students squirrel themselves away on the upper floors to work by themselves. Sometimes they have laptops with them or iPods so they can listen to their own music, but a number of these students are simply using time-honored books and notes to learn their lessons.
When it comes to technology in education, I think we have gotten to the point where we no longer have to look at a type of technology and try to figure out what we can use it for. I think we should be asking instead, “what technology will help me to perform the task at hand?” Along these same lines, I think we should ask ourselves if we need to use every technology that is available to us. Would students enjoy or dislike our moving into some of their social spaces for educational purposes? Calling or texting on their cell phones? Joining them in Facebook? [The latter is rather problematical in view of the positive and negative sides of such tools, pointed out in a recent poster session at the SUNYLA Annual Conference, (Two Faces of Facebook presented by Marianne Hebert and Jenica Rogers-Urbanek (Potsdam)]
We are faced with a technology-rich environment and a somewhat tech-savvy but knowledge-deficient generation. I’d say there are challenges ahead!
Comment by Ellen McCabe — July 24, 2007 @ 11:07 am