Brief Description of Millennial Students and How to Help Them

Semana #16. 24, junio, 2010.

Autor: Samantha Rist*

Millennial Students are no walk in the park. According to Monaco and Martin (2007), they are students who were born after 1982, and are considered to lack professional boundaries and critical thinking skills, crave feedback immediately, act on a sense of entitlement, hold unrealistic expectations, have parents who are highly involved, and assume there is some kind of guide that may help them succeed. In a nutshell, they want to be successful without exerting too much effort. Why is this important to educators? Because they are the “largest and most diverse generation to ever attend college” (Monaco & Martin, 2007, p. 2).

How can we be expected to communicate and teach this generation? Here are a few tips, as indicated by the aforementioned authors: 1) Create a learning-centered syllabus and give guidance and direction for assignments, behavior expectations, and classroom rules, regulations, and penalties; 2) Provide feedback in a timely fashion; 3) Teach students to reward themselves; 4) Help them collaborate and interact with others; 5) Include varieties of technology in lessons; 6) Allow them to problem solve by integrating social situations from the views of different cultures; 7) Tie lessons back into their “real lives,” so that they feel what they are learning is relevant.

For more information on this generation, visit Monaco and Martin’s article, at: http://206.211.148.195/~atej/vol2/no2/EJMonaco.pdf, and good luck!

Información de la autora:

Samantha Rist earned her Bachelor’s degree in Secondary Education at the University of Kansas, and is currently a graduate student at the University of Florida in their Student Personnel in Higher Education program. She works in the Office of Civic Engagement and Service at Santa Fe College, and serves as a practicum student in the University of Florida’s Career Resource Center. Typically, she works with student groups and individuals who want to get involved in the community or enhance their resumes and apply for various jobs throughout the world. At Universidad Panamericana, she is happy to work with the International Center and School of Pedagogy, and is able to assist students with their CVs, job interviews in the US, translating essays and job or school applications, and discussing anything students might want to know about the United States. Stop by anytime, or email: samrist@ufl.edu!