This document discusses generational characteristics of today's students, also known as Generation Y. It notes that they are a large demographic, having been born between 1981-2000, and have come of age during advances in digital technology. While often characterized as "digital natives," research finds their technical skills are broad but shallow. The document also addresses myths about this generation, such as that they are "master multitaskers," and finds lecture-based teaching has changed little despite technology investments. It emphasizes the need for new pedagogies that leverage technology to engage today's students.

1. Today's Student:
Understanding What's Real and
What It Means for Them?
Understanding What's Real and
What It Means for Them?
Michael K. Barbour
Assistant Professor, Wayne State University

3. 3

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 to 2005

6. QuickTime™ and a
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7. This Generation’s Numbers
In New Zealand...
•1 to 1.2 million
•larger than the Baby Boomers
(~900K)
•25% larger than Generation X
•made up 28% to 33% of total
population in 2006

8. This Generation’s Numbers
In the United States...
•60 million
•largest group since the Baby
Boomers (72 million)
•3 times larger than Gen X
•teen population is growing at
twice the rate of the rest of
America
•made up 37% of U.S.
population in 2005

9. QuickTime™ and a
decompressor
are needed to see this picture.

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

11. Echo Generation

12. Echo Generation

13. 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

14. Neomillennials
• Fluency in multiple media and in
simulation-based virtual settings
• Communal learning involving diverse,
tacit, situated experience, with
knowledge distributed across a
community and a context as well as
within an individual
• A balance among experiential learning,
guided mentoring, and collective
reflection
• Expression through nonlinear,
associational webs of representations
• Co-design of learning experiences
personalized to individual needs and
preferences

15. Millennials
• “…today's teens are recasting the
image of youth from downbeat
and alienated to upbeat and
engaged.”
• characteristics generally marked
by an increased use and
familiarity with communications,
media, and digital technologies
• upbringing was marked by an
increase in a neoliberal approach
to politics and economics

16. Digital Natives
• “Our students have changed
radically. Today’s students are no
longer the people our educational
system was designed to teach.”
• “It is now clear that as a result of this
ubiquitous environment and the
sheer volume of their interaction
with it, today’s students think and
process information fundamentally
differently from their predecessors.”
Prensky, M. (2001). Digital Natives, Digital
Immigrants – Part II: Do They Really Think
Differently? On the Horizon, 9(6).

17. Generational Differences and Training
• Thomas Reeves (University of Georgia)
completed a funded literature review
on generational differences
• Most generational differences in the
literature were based on no or flawed
research
Reeves, T. C. (2008). Do generational differences matter in instructional design?
Paper presented to ITForum. Retrieved on March 13, 2009 from
http://it.coe.uga.edu/itforum/Paper104/ReevesITForumJan08.pdf

18. What Other Myths Are There?

19. 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.

20. Other Multitasking Studies
• Herath, P., Klingberg, T., Yong, J., Amunts, K., & Roland, P. (2001). Neural
correlates of dual task interference can be dissociated from those of divided
attention: an fMRI study. Cereb. Cortex 11, 796 – 805.
– longer time
• Fisch, S. (2000). A capacity model of children’s comprehension of educational
content on television. Media Psychology, 2(1), 63-91.
• Lang, A. (2000). The limited capacity model of mediate message processing.
Journal of Communication, 50(1), 46-70.
– simultaneous tasks limit memory
• Just, M. A., Kellera, T. A., & Cynkara, J. (2008). A decrease in brain activation
associated with driving when listening to someone speak . Brain Research,
1205, 70-80.
– less likely to remember

22. “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.”

23. • 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 Gen Me 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

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

26. “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.”

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

29. 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

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

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

32. NSSE Time
On us
Task uo
col Activ t i n el y k
lab e, o n im a c
lea orati C T b
rni ve ed
ng Fe
Student High
faculty Academic
Interaction Challenge

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

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

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

36. 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.

37. Grade Inflation
http://gradeinflation.com/

38. Grade Inflation
http://gradeinflation.com/

39. Do today’s students care about learning?

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

41. Today’s Student and Technology
• Today’s students 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

43. 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.

44. Two Key Points
• Introducing
technology alone is
never enough.
• Big gains in
education come
when new
technologies are
combined with new
ways of teaching.

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

46. This is especially true in education!

49. “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.”

50. Pedagogies to Consider
• Providing formative evaluation (d=0.90)
• Micro teaching (d=0.88)
• Teacher clarity (d=0.75)
• Providing feedback (d=0.73)
• Teacher-student relationships (d=0.72)
• Teaching strategies (d=0.60)
• Cooperative vs. individualistic learning (d=0.59)
• Study skills (d=0.59)
• Direct instruction (d=0.59)
• Mastery learning (d=0.58)
• Worked examples (d=0.57)
• Concept mapping (d=0.57)
• Goals (d=0.56)
• Peer tutoring (d=0.55)
• Cooperative vs. competitive learning (d=0.54)

52. Your
Questions
and
Comments

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