GEN Y and Writing
One of the issues, for this cohort is a lack of experience in writing essays or answering essay questions. Many of these students write the way they speak, which is to say that they use slang and acronyms; rather than write out the word "you" they use the letter "U". Their spelling is poor although they have the benefit of "spellcheck". What can be done to help them learn to write whole words and sentences which make sense.
Cynthia,
yes & this will help prepare them for the accountability that they will encounter in their careers.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
No matter what the generation its important to hold them accountable. Besides giving assignments I try to emphasize the importance in being able to write a paper.
Edward,
this is a good point. While we've emphasized writing across the curriculum, an unfortunate side effect seems to be that they haven't learned the mechanics nearly as well as we would hope.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
I've found that many Gen Y students want to write better, but have never had a class where an instructor was willing to help them. They've appreciated it when I've explained how to comprehensibly express their thoughts in a professional manner.
Mary Jo,
and this is the kind of thing we need to make sure our students are learning because this has "real world" & career implications due to professionalism.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
I also run into this problem with spelling and shortcuts. My other problem are students not turning in papers in the proper format or proper paper (very unprofessional).
I have a capstone course that originated as the final project being a presentation with a written report. Due the overwhelming dismal writing efforts of the students, the course has taken a turn with the written report being the emphasis and the presentation being secondary.
I have broken down the report into sections turned in two weeks apart. There is also a revision allowance. The final report has been a much better product and the students have become better writers. It takes all 16 weeks to get them there.
Bret,
Many things come to mind, & at the risk of oversimplifying I would say for us to require more writing assignments & to hold them accountable.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
