The Net Generation Goes to College

In a recent article in The Chronicle of Higher Ed. forwarded to me by one of my peers the author, Scott Carlson, questions traditional college teaching styles in light of observations of "net generation/millennial" students made by educators.

First, let's set a common term for my generation. No one likes to be labeled, and I'm no exception, but for the sake of my carpal tunnel we'll refer to net generation, millennials, or anyone born in the U.S. between 1980 and 1994 as “net gens”.

As a recent college graduate I have a unique view of the subject that many of my professional peers may lack. I entered college at the University of Pittsburgh - a large, liberalish, fairly cosmopolitan, technology-rich city campus - right out of high school with three years of library experience under my belt. I had every intention of obtaining a four year degree in information science, then going straight to graduate school for my MLIS. Unlike many of my fellow students, I actually stuck fairly closely to my chosen path and achieved my goal. However, the comment made by Richard Sweeney, “Many more (students) have changed majors and expect to change jobs and careers…but they often wait until they are already well into a major or career track before they decide to make a change,” rings very true. From personal experience, I only had one other acquaintance in my circle of college friends who stayed in her chosen major for her entire college career. Everyone else changed at least once, and for the most part took longer than four years to complete a baccalaureate degree. I believe this has been a trend in the 1990’s, though I recall reading recently that the 5 year undergrad degree is in decline, and more students are getting it done in the traditional four. Can’t remember where I read that so someone prove me wrong.

I think this behavior stems from one core factor: we have more information to process, and we have less time to do it in. Since we have all this information at our fingertips, it becomes easier to learn independently and research topics of interest. Our worlds are much larger/diverse than our parents’ were, and we experience more of it (digitally, of course). I can relate this to a trend I’ve been noticing in my library instruction classes that I ‘m sure many other librarians can attest to. Increasingly more of my students go to Google to begin research for a school project. They have a hard time comprehending the difference between personal, surface research and in-depth, scholarly research. If they can go to Nextag or Froogle to find out more about the latest Ipod, why can’t they do the same to find out more about Shakespeare? There is a fundamental divide happening here, and I try to end each instruction session with a handout and lecture on evaluating web resources. We’re a consumerist generation, but we do our research before buying. To many net gens a college education is no different. If we’re paying for it, we want customizability and flexibility.

Multitasking is part of the way we deal with this information overload. Educators should listen to students like Stefannie Miller when they make comments. “If net gens are caught working on a paper during a lecture, it’s because they have to maximize what they get done in a given time.” This quote sums up a lot of my opinion on the subject. You may replace “working on a paper” with “chatting, blogging, IM’ing, web surfing, shopping, downloading music” or any other behavior that seems inherent to my generation. I’m sorry if it seems to some professors that we’re not paying attention. As the example given in the article implies, this generation is more prepared to absorb multiple types of input (auditory, visual, written etc) simultaneously, even if the various inputs do not relate to one another. It’s the way we’ve been conditioned. Skipping lectures in lieu of downloading the ppt slides from Web CT or Blackboard is a way to create more time to absorb more information.

We are readying ourselves for a more competitive workforce that values multitasking and computer skills for a large percentage of jobs. Whether you’re a registered nurse or a social worker, you’re going to need to know how to use a pc, access the internet, evaluate information, and balance all that with your assigned duties. I think also that my generation of college fellows is just preparing for a future in an even more finicky job market. We WILL be switching careers more frequently than our parents because our world is moving faster. Skills at one position will be applicable to some other position, or we damned well hope they will. Some professions (like mine) will go through major redesigns during our lifetimes, and we’d better be able to adapt. There will also arise out of new technology many brand new professions whose required skills we’ll hopefully be able to fulfill. As stated by Mark Turner in the article, “the world is moving very quickly, and things change in professions now very quickly.” Right on, Mark.
So, should educators drastically change their curricula, teaching styles, etc to suit the needs of net gens? NO!!! If nothing else, college is a place to learn how to think. College taught me to think critically, be a skeptic, and draw my own conclusions from other people’s ideas. As more net gens filter into higher education, these delivery-type issues will hopefully work themselves out. I’ve been personally trying to introduce net gen technology into my teaching style. I use live internet searching in my classes, ie. we search databases and the web in real time. I do not lecture in any traditional sense. I have a remote mouse to control my pc, and it’s got a built in laser pointer. I can roam the room while talking about what I’m doing on the screen that’s projected on the wall. In this way I’m getting the students visually and auditory. I also cover some resources that they already know. I mentioned before that I cover web resources in all my instruction sessions. While this may sound like blasphemy to some traditional librarians, I do it to engage the students. I point out that they learned how to use the db’s and books first, because that’s where they should start their school research. While it’s perfect for their consumer research, I cover the web last because it’s where they should do their school research last. While I talk about how to evaluate information from Google, I show them good search engines. I demonstrate Google Unclesam because if they’re going to use the web, I’d rather they get government information than from a biased .com.

So fellow educators, please don’t drastically change your styles, but don’t give up on us either. Try not to get exasperated when it seems we’re not paying attention, or because our view’s of what college should be differ from yours. Take a look at Mr. Carlson’s article and this post and then try to alter your delivery slightly. Your students will appreciate it.