Which General Would You Rather Teach?
After reading this section, I have more interest in Gen Y from an instructor perspective. Even though I am not from this generation, I wouldn't relate well to a talking head lecturing from the front of a classroom. I can see value in the various technologies to motivate students (and also their instructors). Instead of rote lecturing, how exciting to develop new lesson plans and projects so the teacher is actually motivated along with the students.
I will take that one step further...I teach "Computer Science" (read "computer Litercy") I have proven time and again that the Gen Y'ers come in assuming they are Literate, and I have proven to them they are still users. They might be comfortable with the Technology, but by no means they actually know how to use it...and again, credibility helps, even for us Boomers in a Digital World...
This makes sense that they would prefer experience to all else
I agree. I enjoy the experiential learning that Generation Yers use. I like the small group discussions as this can be a powerful pattern for when they are in the workplace and they MUST engage in the interpersonal skills needed for face-to-face dialogue.
Brian,
this is interesting as I've found that the Gen Yers I teach want to know what experience I've had & then want to hear those stories.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
My experience with gen Y is that they do not value experience. They want to experience it on their own and seem to want to prove me wrong. They believe what they read on the internet is true but, what I tell them must be proven.
I agree, I tend to like Gen Y because they value experiences. I start each class with my own resume and examples of my design work to show them I know what I am teaching and have applied it.
I like the Gen Yers because they value experiences. My experience in my field allows me to give them great examples of how the material (Env. Science and Anthropology) directly relates to their lives.
I would agree with you. I find that I learned more and enjoyed classes more with high percent gen Y.
I have been teaching for about 2 years now and my teaching style has been evolving in this direction. My recent Gen Y class really helped me focus in of how much better the style Gen Y students like. It has not taken too long for the other gen groups to adapt to it and they like it also.
