There were many parts of the article "The Net Gen Goes to College" that I agreed with. I do think that the generation of so-called "millenials" does exist and that they do rely much more on technology. I also agree with the point made in the article that this new generation of college students and the fact that they have different learning styles is not that different from previous generations and should be expected. While I am part of the millenial generation and obviously haven't been around very long, it seems to me that there will always be changes in the way students learn in every generation.
The millenial generation was raised on technology and, according to the article, is very impatient and need instant gratification. I think that this is a very general assumption that is not always true. It is definitely true for quite a few students, including myself, and I think that something could be learned from this.
I think that teachers could use this to their advantage. If teachers could successfully incorporate technology into their lessons, many students could benefit. But even more than a focus on technology, teachers need to focus on making lessons more interactive. Because of the need for instant gratification the article states that we millenials need, it is hard to sit and listen to an hour-long lecture. I think that would be the preferred method for me. But I realize that many students do not learn like I do and enjoy lectures. This is why teachers need to teach somewhere in the middle of the spectrum. Teachers need to lecture because they have very important things to teach students that can only come from their experiences. But they also need to incorporate more group and interactive work, because a lot of students work best this way.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
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