Since the University does not provide student ages, it’s difficult to identify student generation. I always include an introductions thread and sometimes students share some information that allows me to make a guess as to the age of the student. Also when reading students discussion participation and research papers I tend to get an idea as to the age of the student. This information becomes part of a spreadsheet that I create before the start of the course (i.e. student name, email, phone (if available), guessed age, level of course participation, comments (i.e. needs increasing discussion participation, always late with assignments, Turnitin high scores, will be late with assignments, etc…)
How to you manage your communication tone (identify student age) when you have 100+ students per semester? What is your approach?