Today’s Students Want to Learn in New Ways
Today’s Students Want to Learn in New Ways
by Ladan Nikravan on August 22, 2011 · Comments · in Ask A Gen Y
Millennials want to learn. Organizations want a return on their investment. By building the right infrastructure, leveraged by technology, companies can define new competencies and skills and align learning to them to improve performance – ultimately boosting the bottom line. Today’s students, and freshmen in the working world, want to participate in this learning — not just be receivers of information. They want an innovative way to learn; one that brings together discussions with the aid of technology. They want immediate, consistent access.
The University of Central Florida’s College of Medicine has developed a program that allows its students to use an electronic telescope to view magnifications of human cells, label those cells, take notes and quizzes on the information and email their assignments back to their instructor for feedback. Because the material is computer-based, students have access to it 24/7. This electronic lab manual encourages team learning and interaction with educational materials, characteristics that appeal to millennial-aged learners such as UCF medical students, according to Mohammed Khalil, assistant professor of anatomy at UCF. The feedback Khalil has received so far as been encouraging, and this isn’t surprising. As I’ve mentioned before, Millennials want online, collaborative learning.
Much like the generations before them, Generation Y employees bring specific learning values and ideals to employee education that will alter learning and development strategies. Companies that make an effort to understand and act upon these employees’ viewpoints will find themselves with a dedicated and ambitious group of workers.
Younger employees are joining the workforce with a background in collaborative technology; this is why they expect it from employee education. Designed by Digital Millennial Consulting, with support from Microsoft and Qualcomm Inc., Project K-Nect allows students to use smartphones to communicate with each other as they solve problems in secondary school math classes. Students videotape themselves solving a problem, and then they post the video to a blog. Students having trouble with a problem can consult the blog and see how their classmates solved it. In 2008-09 more than 90 percent of Project K-Nect Algebra 1 students achieved proficiency on end-course assessments, compared to 70 percent of Algebra 1 students in their district and 68 percent in the state. First implemented in North Carolina, this program is broadening its reach to other states to create more learning communities in the classroom.
Learning institutions that want to lure millennial students understand Gen Y’s needs. For example, Richard N. Landers, an assistant professor of psychology at Old Dominion University, created an online social network for his university’s psychology classes that encourages students to take optional multiple-choice quizzes during their free time to earn badges certifying mastery of a subject. Those badges then appear next to the player’s name in the online discussion rooms for each class. These ribbons encourage students to take extra quizzes that have absolutely no effect on their grade. This encourages learning but doesn’t make it forced or intimidating. This sort of employee education in the office classroom could yield the same enthusiasm for learning.
Attracting and keeping the best and brightest members of the young workforce requires a transformation in how learning leaders manage employee education’s motivation and tools. The newest crop of workers is collaborative and team-oriented, and at times takes access to technology for granted. But millennials’ use of technology creates a seamless environment that mingles business information with team communication, a process that can enhance personal and organizational growth.
Ladan Nikravan
Ladan Nikravan is an associate editor of Chief Learning Officer magazine. She is from Chicago, and graduated from the University of Missouri School Of Journalism, where she majored in magazine journalism, in May 2010. Prior to joining MediaTec, Ladan worked as a reporter for the Columbia Missourian newspaper, Vox magazine, Chicago Home Improvement magazine and American Builders Quarterly. Although a writer at heart, she has dipped her toes into most facets of the publishing world: feature writing, hard news and column writing; freelancing; copy editing; page design; Web design and some photography. She can be reached at lnikravan@CLOMedia.com.
Visit Authors Website →
http://blog.clomedia.com/2011/08/the-current-generation-of-students/
by Ladan Nikravan on August 22, 2011 · Comments · in Ask A Gen Y
Millennials want to learn. Organizations want a return on their investment. By building the right infrastructure, leveraged by technology, companies can define new competencies and skills and align learning to them to improve performance – ultimately boosting the bottom line. Today’s students, and freshmen in the working world, want to participate in this learning — not just be receivers of information. They want an innovative way to learn; one that brings together discussions with the aid of technology. They want immediate, consistent access.
The University of Central Florida’s College of Medicine has developed a program that allows its students to use an electronic telescope to view magnifications of human cells, label those cells, take notes and quizzes on the information and email their assignments back to their instructor for feedback. Because the material is computer-based, students have access to it 24/7. This electronic lab manual encourages team learning and interaction with educational materials, characteristics that appeal to millennial-aged learners such as UCF medical students, according to Mohammed Khalil, assistant professor of anatomy at UCF. The feedback Khalil has received so far as been encouraging, and this isn’t surprising. As I’ve mentioned before, Millennials want online, collaborative learning.
Much like the generations before them, Generation Y employees bring specific learning values and ideals to employee education that will alter learning and development strategies. Companies that make an effort to understand and act upon these employees’ viewpoints will find themselves with a dedicated and ambitious group of workers.
Younger employees are joining the workforce with a background in collaborative technology; this is why they expect it from employee education. Designed by Digital Millennial Consulting, with support from Microsoft and Qualcomm Inc., Project K-Nect allows students to use smartphones to communicate with each other as they solve problems in secondary school math classes. Students videotape themselves solving a problem, and then they post the video to a blog. Students having trouble with a problem can consult the blog and see how their classmates solved it. In 2008-09 more than 90 percent of Project K-Nect Algebra 1 students achieved proficiency on end-course assessments, compared to 70 percent of Algebra 1 students in their district and 68 percent in the state. First implemented in North Carolina, this program is broadening its reach to other states to create more learning communities in the classroom.
Learning institutions that want to lure millennial students understand Gen Y’s needs. For example, Richard N. Landers, an assistant professor of psychology at Old Dominion University, created an online social network for his university’s psychology classes that encourages students to take optional multiple-choice quizzes during their free time to earn badges certifying mastery of a subject. Those badges then appear next to the player’s name in the online discussion rooms for each class. These ribbons encourage students to take extra quizzes that have absolutely no effect on their grade. This encourages learning but doesn’t make it forced or intimidating. This sort of employee education in the office classroom could yield the same enthusiasm for learning.
Attracting and keeping the best and brightest members of the young workforce requires a transformation in how learning leaders manage employee education’s motivation and tools. The newest crop of workers is collaborative and team-oriented, and at times takes access to technology for granted. But millennials’ use of technology creates a seamless environment that mingles business information with team communication, a process that can enhance personal and organizational growth.
Ladan Nikravan
Ladan Nikravan is an associate editor of Chief Learning Officer magazine. She is from Chicago, and graduated from the University of Missouri School Of Journalism, where she majored in magazine journalism, in May 2010. Prior to joining MediaTec, Ladan worked as a reporter for the Columbia Missourian newspaper, Vox magazine, Chicago Home Improvement magazine and American Builders Quarterly. Although a writer at heart, she has dipped her toes into most facets of the publishing world: feature writing, hard news and column writing; freelancing; copy editing; page design; Web design and some photography. She can be reached at lnikravan@CLOMedia.com.
Visit Authors Website →
http://blog.clomedia.com/2011/08/the-current-generation-of-students/
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