Millennial Students-How Do They Want Us To Teach?

Last week, I wrote about five of the eight characteristics of Millennial students as identified by Alicia Moore.  In this blog post, I'll provide the rest of the characteristics and then raise questions about  how and if we can or need to accommodate this generation of students.

Characteristic 6:   Millennials are service oriented. According to Moore, this is true in two areas.  First, millennials volunteer more than previous generations.  They are involved in various aspects of their communities.  Second, millennials expect good customer service.  They want accurate information and know that they can go to different sources, if necessary, to get what they need.  This applies to colleges, as these students want information available to them 24/7.

Characteristic 7:  Millennials are time managers and are structured.  These individuals have been put on schedules their whole lives.  As children, they had music lessons, went to soccer and basketball practices, and played games on the weekends.  Because of their high involvement, they needed to learn time management.  They listened to their parents and those in authority about how their time should be spent.

Characteristic 8:  Millennials are protected.  As discussed last week, these students have their parents to watch over them.  Rules such as zero tolerance are a part of this generation, not allowing any negative experiences for the youths.

Like any generation, Millennials' characteristics can affect their college learning. Christy Price of Dalton State College surveyed her students and wrote about their ideal learning environment.  In her article "Why Don't My Students Think I'm Groovy?:  The New R's for Engaging Millennial Learners", Price says her students' most consistent theme when talking about learning is that they want a variety of teaching methods.  They don't necessarily dislike lectures, but want to participate in the classes.  They also want relevant examples and expect multimedia to be used.

Photo from http://whatitsayswhatitmeans.blogspot./
com/2009_04_01_archive.html

What are your opinions?  Should we change to become more "Millennial Friendly?"  What do you do to reach your Millennial students?  Your comments are welcomed!

Have a great week!