Being a Professor for some many years it gives you the academic experience, but that experience not always gives us the necessary skills to deal with this generation of students, this is the time in which we have to face our blind spots. Our “customers” are very different each other, they come from a varieties of environments therefore they become unique and we have to be prepared to face the challenges of that excitement generation. Today our Millennial Generation is extremely intelligent; technology has been part of their lives since birth so we can not promote technology as an innovation. They have high moral standards, they care for civic duties, they are optimistic about their future, they live in an ageless society, text messages are the most important way to communicate between them, they are highly competitive and they need to be challenged and captivated. They are convinced that knowledge is directly related to success. For us, Generation X Professors is really a challenge!! It is a win-win paradigm; we are blessed with this generation.

Thank Dr. Joe for this very useful tips about be a model, mentor, and monitor. In our case Model as you state, it is one of the first and important aspects we appreciate in our administrators. That visual aspect of us and the first speech at the orientation day it is very important for the confidence you are seeking from the new and current students. What they see and what they hear about us is crucial. Building confidence along with being emotional managers, monitoring their success and their failures at the University, showing them the best way to “move forward” and that we are there to help them approach their studies in the right and best way to be a successful professional. That is our daily mission. We are there for them for hours, days and years until they graduate, so we have to keep equilibrium and be consistent in our attitudes of caring and role model behavior

First impressions need to be great impressions, this sets the guidlines and attitude for the whole course. Don't be affraid to be a bit crazy, forward, outlandish, wild, or happy. When the students see this they follow suite and really open up. I used to be hard core to the point of militant, now I sing, dance, ask questions they may not know but soon will know the answers to, and I do this as they come into class the first day. Once I got thier attention we cover the basics and they alltypically know the answers and they are almost giving the opening day speach on rules and regulations. Then let them know the guidlnes will be followed and what is up and coming.I try to keep this intense level each and every day as hard as it sometiomes get, to show that learning can be fun, exciting, and doesn't have to be gray and boreing. First impressions need to last the whole course through and not just on that first day. I see too many instructors fall into this hole, where their first impression was good then fall away,this will make students angry and it will show up on the course evaluations. Stay the course as an instructor, be happy, be excited, reach out, be part of every students education and you'll see great things come from them when they know you believe in them. So don't be average, be great and reach for the stars.

Our school is looking to put together a mentoring program for our students. We have been surveying the student body to see who would be choice candidates for this. Does any one have any reccomendations for ensuring a sound mentoring program?

Everyone in the organization needs to be on the same page. If there is a common goal everyone needs to be involved to help achieve.

I have found that the first part and last part of a lesson is very important to relay information to the students.

This module makes sense to me as far as , seeing and or creating a vision, being aware of and seeing blind spots, and providing great customer service.The hardest part of being an instructor is HABE's, Habits, Attitude, Beliefs, and Expectations. These are deeply rooted and weave there way through out the whole fabric of an individule. Very often I run into this situation of students being very negative in their approach to their education. This is very hard to turn around and most instructors will usually turn their backs on that student. I see it a a chance, a project, a goal.My goal is to turn that person around and for the first time see what an education can do for them. I have a very diverse back ground and us that to my advantage, I speak to them as individuals, on their level so to speak, and show them how a person like me who came from this certain back ground with certain, attitudes, beliefs, expectations, and habits. came to be the person I am today. I'm an Instructor, a person who never thought would recieve so much for helping so many, and I have achieved my goals I thought never attainable. By sharing with them an insite to myself such as they have never seen in me before, it shows them that if you think it and believe in it all things are possible. This should be what instructors strive for, a commitment to their students, to themselfs, to their fellow employees, and to their profession.

Getting to know each of your students, watching their attitude and behaviors, and demonstrating a true caring for their success will help keep students in school.

I have to admit that attention=retension really works, this with the 3M's is a very important part of us, as instructors have to help our students suceed in not only school but in their future professional life. I have change my styles of teaching to try to find ways to get through to the students, and help with them learning the material for more than a matter of a few weeks. I have gone from being extreamly bounded by the rules, to a more light hearted way of helping using more understanding of how things are from their point of view. We all at one time were students and of course we all still are students because learning never really stops, but to see things as we did when it was new and we didn't know the answers or how to find the answers. This puts you as the teacher in differant place of awareness, and too remember it takes a while for some to crasp the new ideas that we are teaching them.I use jokes to lighten things up but still stay to the heart of the matter, I always ask where they were and how are things today. This has made things in my class room change greatly as to the attention=retention idea. I believe that everyone can find a quality in them selves and use that to help with their growth as a teacher, try new ideas, throw out the rule book, but keep common sense rules of life that most can agre on, and your classes will grow to numbers of scale, but most of all they will all retain the material and stay in school.

At my school we try to have guest lectures and seminars hosted alumni. Think shows the students possible outcomes for all the work they're doing as well as the impact of a good attitude and perseverance on someone's future.

I have noticed at my facility that over the past few years, the attitude of students coming directly from the local High School system seems to have deteriorated. Where students just a few years ago were trying their best to learn the material in order to prepare for their career, today it seems there is a pervasive attitude of just getting by. Of course, lowered effort will often produce a lower result and often the students attempt to skate by, leaves them in the untenable position of insufficient attendance, failing GPA, and lowered self esteem hidden behind aloofness. It eventually gets to the point that the young student says "who cares?" and then withdraws from the program to save the remaining tuition. As would be expected, more mature students and those students who are going back to school after a while in the workforce, or who are currently working full time while trying school part time, tend to take their time here more seriously and try to get the most out of it. They are more engaged and tend to ask more questions, and most importantly, tend to take responsibilty for their actions and their education. Is it possible to really change a student's existing, in-grained attitude toward education so as to retain them? As a career college, enrolment is optional, so what we've been seeing is very counter intuitive.

A contributing factor in retention that can go unnoticed and therefore unaddressed is the effect of cultural upbringing and the importance in their lives. As an educator whose demographics include a large population of Mexican American and Native Americans students, I have noticed the following scenario occur over and over. The best students, being totally aware of missed classes and the effects on their education, will miss school to be at the side of sick or ailing relatives to the exclusion of concern for damage to their educational career. There is no alternative in their choice assessment

Are students groomed with a false sense of self esteem and entitlement? Many times I've seen this happening with grade school kids. The idea that everyone gets a trophy even if you come in last place starts students off with a false sense of self esteem. Is this being carried over to college? Have you ever heard a student say "you owe me this degree because I paid enough for it!" Is this a generation issue?

If students come in with false expectations about what the courses entail, and the degree of difficulty, you are already down in the count. It is essential that recruiters know the curriculum and what is expected of the students. And the instructors must remember that the student is the customer and treat the student with appropriate respect.

I believe that mentoring students is the most important non-technical task that we as instructors must perform. I use the term "must" because without mentoring we are just passing on technical data without the motivation and drive that a lot of students need to be successful.

I am a Graphic Design instructor and my students are taken on several field trips. I think it is good to expose the students to the things that they will be experiencing once they finish the program. A lot of the field trips relate some way directly to what we are covering in class. I think that this helps them understand the subject matter a little better. It also gives them a totally different outlook. I know that everyone is not able to take there students on a field trip, but it helps a lot on the students motivation.

We partner with schools in many locations and they are online courses. Is it possible to set up an online group activity for student in the same course to know one another?

Can we introduce some of the career service information in this? So that we can't begin to gather information on the student?

I love this idea. It will give myself and the other classmates an idea of who they are and their golas in the course. Can't wait to try it out.

I disagree with the last question,not handing out a list of community resources. I often find it very valuable, especially for students out of state or town, to know where they can find a bank, doctor, hospital, etc.. This type of information could make their transition a little easier.