This document discusses generational differences in students and how to effectively teach today's students. It outlines the characteristics of different generations including Baby Boomers, Generation X, and today's students known as Millennials or Generation Y. These students have grown up with technology and are considered "digital natives". While technology skills are common, traditional lecturing remains prevalent in higher education. There is a mismatch between students' high expectations and the challenges they face. Effective teaching requires understanding generational traits and adapting pedagogy to engage digital learners beyond just introducing technology.

1. Teaching To Today’s Student
Michael K. Barbour
Instructional Technology

4. Generational differences:
the theory that people born
within an approximately 20
year time period share a
common set of characteristics
based upon the historical
experiences, economic and
social conditions,
technological advances and
other societal changes they
have in common

5. Generational Boundaries
• GI Generation “Greatest Generation”
– Born between 1901 and 1924
• Silent Generation
– Born between 1925 and 1945
• Baby Boomers
– Born between 1946 and 1964
• Generation X
– Born between 1965 and 1980
• Today’s Student
– Born between 1981 and 2000

6. Historical Influences
Boomers: Gen X: Net Gen:
• Civil Rights • Fall of Berlin Wall • School shootings
• Sexual Revolution • Watergate • Oklahoma City
• Cold War • AIDS • Internet
• Space travel • Desert Storm • 9/11
• Assassinations • Energy Crisis • Iraq

7. This Generation’s Numbers
• 60 million - largest group
since the Baby Boomers
(72 million)
• 3 times larger than
Generation X
• Teen population is growing
at twice the rate of the rest
of America
• Made up 37% of U.S.
population in 2005

8. “…today's
teens are
recasting the
image of
youth from
downbeat
and alienated
to upbeat
and
engaged.”

9. Today’s Student: Which Fit Your Students?
Gamers Digital Natives Socially Disdain Previous
Conscious Generations
High Expectations Spoiled Rotten Respect Value Diversity
Intelligence
Expect Incomes Experiential Optimistic and Family Oriented
Exceeding Parents Learners Positive
Collaborative Nomadic Inclusive Have More Friends
Healthy Lifestyle Clueless Direct More Liberal
Achievement Media Patriotic More Conservative
Oriented Consumer
Value Balanced Multi-tasker Confident Entitled
Lives

10. Today’s Student
• Generation Y
• Echo
• Net Generation
• Neomillennials
• Generation NeXt
• Millennials
• Generation Me
• Digital Natives
• Generation txt

11. Echo generation

12. Net Generation
• Digital technology has had a
profound impact on their
personalities, including their
attitudes and approach to
learning
• Perception is that there has
been a shift from a
generation gap to a
generation lap - kids
"lapping" adults on the
technology track

13. Neomillennials
• Based upon his observations
of his daughter and how she
completed her homework

14. Millennials
• Based upon survey
research
• Sample from Fairfax,
VA
Howe, N., & Strauss, W.
(2000). Millennials rising:
The next great generation
New York: Vintage
Books.

15. Digital Natives
• Common in the media
• No systematic research
• Makes unfounded
assumptions about access
to digital technology
Prensky, M. (2001). Digital Natives,
Digital Immigrants – Part II: Do
They Really Think Differently? On
the Horizon, 9(6).

16. Another Common Myth:
The Master Multitasker
• Memory
encoding
and memory
retrieval
weaker in
teens when
attention is
divided
Naveh-Benjamin, M., Kilb, A., & Fisher, T. (2006). Concurrent task effects on memory encoding
and retrieval: Further support for an asymmetry. Memory & Cognition, 34(1), 90-101.

18. “Today's young people
have been raised to aim
for the stars at a time
when it is more difficult
than ever to get into
college, find a good job,
and afford a house. Their
expectations are very high
just as the world is
becoming more
competitive, so there's a
huge clash between their
expectations and reality.”

19. • In 2002, 74% of high school students
admitted to cheating whereas in 1969
only 34% admitted such a failing. (p. 27)
• In 1967, 86% of incoming college
students said that “developing a
meaningful philosophy of life” was an
essential life goal whereas in 2004 only
42% of GenMe freshmen agreed. (p. 48)
• In 2004, 48% of American college
freshmen reported earning an A average
in high school whereas in 1968 only 18%
of freshmen reported being an A student
in high school. (p. 63)
• In the 1950s, only 12% of young teens
agreed with the statement “I am an
important person” whereas by the late
1980s, 80% claimed they were
important. (p. 69) Jean M. Twenge

20. “When asked
about problems
facing their
generation,
many millennials
respond that the
biggest one is
the poor
examplethat
adults set for
kids.”p. 36
Oblinger, D. (2003). Understanding the new student.
EDUCAUSE Review, 38(3), 36-42.

22. “The number one
thing to realize with
the Millennials is
that as a whole they
reflect much more
parental
perfectionism than
any generation in
living memory.
Colleges and
universities should
know that they are
not just getting a
kid, but they are
also getting a
parent.”

25. Do
today’s
students
really
want to
learn?

26. Focus on undergraduate education
• 2006: 557 colleges and universities
• 2005: 529 colleges and universities
• 2004: 473 colleges and universities
• 2003: 437 colleges and universities
• 2002: 367 colleges and universities
• 2001: 321 colleges and universities
• 2000: 276 colleges and universities

27. NSSE results
• Work
expectations
for students:
–10-15 hrs
in class
–25-30 hrs
studying

28. NSSE results
• Work Reality:
–20% study 5 hrs
per week or less
–25% 6-10 hrs
–48% 11-30 hrs
–7% > 30 hrs

29. NSSE Time
On
Task
Student High
faculty Academic
Interaction Challenge

30. What Else Do We Know?
http://www.decliningbydegrees.org/

31. The most “shocking” discovery is
the “non-aggression pact” between
instructors and students.

32. What Else Do We Know?
http://www.ivorytowerblues.com/

33. The traditional standard for an average
performance was a C, but students now
expect Bs for putting out a modicum of effort
that produces mediocre work, and As if they
do any more than this. Failure is a thing of
the past in many schools.

34. Do NetGen students care about learning?

35. Schools today are
beset by a new
generation of
learners whose
skills and
expectations derive
from growing up on
the net.

36. The Net Gen and Technology
• The Net Gen’s technical
knowledge is broad, but
shallow
• Skills differ by academic
program; deepest in
engineering and business
• Technical fluency
does not equal
maturity
http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ers0506/rs/ers0506w.pdf

38. Two Key Points
• Introducing
technology alone is
never enough.
• Big gains in
productivity come
when new
technologies are
combined with new
ways of doing
business.

39. Keeping
pedagogy
ahead of
technology
is an
ongoing
struggle.

40. This is especially true in education!

43. “Lecturing still
absorbs more than
half to two thirds of
various departments’
teaching practices…
These traditional
forms of teaching
seem to have been
relatively untouched
by the enormous
investment in
technologies.”

44. What should
we expect
our students
to learn in
the 21 st
Century?

45. Traditional Learning Domains
• Cognitive
• Affective
• Psychomotor

46. Psychomotor
Domain Non-discursive
Communication
Skilled Movements
Physical Activities
Perceptual Skills
Basic Fundamental Movement
Reflex Movement

47. Affective
Domain
Characterization
by Value Set
Organization
Valuing
Responding
Receiving

48. Cognitive
Domain What
Evaluation we
say
Synthesis
we
value
Analysis
What Application
we
teach Comprehension
and
test Knowledge

49. Let’s face it.
Assessment
drives
learning.

50. If it hasn’t
been
assessed,
it hasn’t
been
learned.

51. Unfortunately,
we have all
too often
neglected
the
conative
domain.

52. History of the Conative Domain
Orexis: (Greek)
Striving; desire;
the conative
aspect of mind

53. Conative Domain
• Will
• Desire
• Level of effort
• Drive
• Striving
• Mental energy
• Self-determination
• Intention

55. Cognitive – Affective – Conative
• To know • To feel • To act
• Thinking • Feeling • Willing
• Thought • Emotion • Volition
• Epistemology • Esthetics • Ethics
• Knowing • Caring • Doing

56. Your
Questions
and
Comments

57. Assistant Professor
Wayne State University, USA
mkbarbour@gmail.com
http://www.michaelbarbour.com