The majority of college students today are considered Generation Z (Gen Z).
It is really important? Why should we care as instructors?
Generation groups are formed to better conduct studies on specific age groups to understand attitudes of those populations. These attitudes are formed in response to experiences these groups have during their lifetime. The Baby Boomers experienced World War II and the release of oral contraception compared to Gen Zers who grew up with technology and COVID-19.
Here is a breakdown of each of the generations (Moore et al, 2021)
Gen Z: Born 1997-2012
Gen Y: Born 1981-1996
Gen X: Born 1965-1980
Baby Boomers: Born 1946-1964
Most of the nursing instructors today are Baby Boomers (approximant age 59-77). They prefer traditional lectures, open discussions, and want the classroom to be structured. The next largest group of nursing instructors are Gen X (approximant age 43-58). They prefer verbal instruction but are very independent, so they are usually comfortable with the online environment. Our students tend to be mostly Gen Z (approximant age 18-26). This generation is extremely comfortable with technology as they had computers in the classroom and likely at home. They grew up with cell phones, pads, and multiple gaming platforms. Because they grew up with the internet and information at their fingertips, they tend to want small snips of content then move to the next. Here lies the disconnect. Instructors are comfortable with in-person long lectures while students want multiple short pieces of information to gather their own conclusions. Baby Boomers and Gen Xers tend to deliver content to their comfortability rather than what is desired of the students. Gen Zers desire a more visual active learning environment, e-learning platforms, discussions, simulations, group projects and other active learning pedagogies, nothing close to a sit-down lecture hall (Shorey et al, 2021). But yet, what is the majority of education? Lecture. I think we feel the need to push content rather than allowing students to discover content. If we don’t tell them, they won’t learn it. Well, they aren’t learning it, not because we aren’t telling them, rather, it isn’t how they learn. The class time should be filled with gaming, collaborative projects, videos, stories, activities, scenarios, social media, social times, and technology. This group is independent and desire to drive their own learning and with their technology skills, are able to gather evidenced based content faster than we can lecture it (Shorey et al, 2021).
Something else to consider with this population. Because of their technology dependence, they struggle with face-to-face communications. Engaging them in in-person or even online activities where they need to collaborate with each other will help them with their communication skills. Definitely a win-win.
It is up to us, the instructors to step out of our comfort zone and meet our students where they are to offer the best learning opportunities for their success.
Resources Used:
Library of Congress (n.d.). Generations. https://guides.loc.gov/consumer-
research/market-segments/generations
Moore, G., Parker, S., & Baksha, L. (2021). Generational learning preferences.
https://www.myamericannurse.com/generational-learning-preferences/
Shorey, S., Chan, V., Rajendran, P., & Ang, E. (2021). Learning styles, preferences
and needs of generation Z healthcare students: scoping review. Nurse
Education in Practice, 57. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nepr.2021.103247