Why ask Why?!?!
Most of the students are now from the WHY generation. This generation is a generation that has been bombarded with media from the time they were babies. I feel that we still cater to the snore and pour technique when it comes to orentation and retention. We put them in rooms and have speaker after speaker puking information at them by the bucketfull. I feel that the WHY generation student would feel much better if we used the media that they grew up with to help them in retention, orentation and in the class room.... oh yea, our campus is fixin to start the latter. (hehehe)
What I'm trying to say is use the media technology we have to help our students in all of their needs and wants.
I also add that the attention span of students seems to be shorter; particularly if the delivery isn't engaging.
Electronic media also gives them flexibility re the learning experience - when, where, how long, etc. Campus ToolKit, a tool to develop student self awareness and improve retention, addresses the points you make, Jeff. https://www.campustoolkit.com/overview/index.php
I agree.. The generation of students living now are the technology kids with a gadget for everything that does everything. Utilizing the mediums that are avaiable today such as WebCam, Skype and FaceBook help because in a world where everything is right here and more importantly right now it gives you the ability to be just that.
How do you incorporate these technologies into your job, Bryant? Has it changed the way you communicate with the students?
I find that there are some students that will just not answer a phone call but are very quick to get back to me through email. Most "WHY" students will have their emails sent to their phone and are more likely to to respond that way instead of actually giving a call back.
Do you also use text messaging? That is even more immediate and seems to be the preferred method of communication among many younger students. How do you deal with older students who are not as tech savvy?
I haven't used text messaging but I know of a few admissions reps that have and it's been pretty successful. The older students are the ones that usually pick up the phone, so that is still what we find works best for them.
I have used text messaging and emailing a few times with WHY students, and it appears to be working for the most part. I do have to say that most older students still do prefer being contacted by phone, and are less likely to respond in a timely manner via email.
Does your institution track the method that students use to make initial contact? Presumably, this would give some insight into the students preferred method of communication and should be useful to determine how to follow up with them.
The attention span of students is very short. Students doze off if they have to read more than a few sentences. Remember that Twitter posts must be less than 120 words, which is hardly enough to develop an effective paragraph much less communicate an idea effectively. Media appeals to many students because it is based on visual stimuli as much as words. As humans we depend on our nonverbal communication skills from birth so we are more likely to believe what we interpret from our world using nonverbal communication.
Ideas need to be communicated visually to students. Long explanations – remember that more than 120 words is probably considered “long†to students – are less effective than visually representing ideas. Today’s student needs to be able to see things instead of read things. Instead of having to read and reason, today’s students want things laid out in a few words for them, and accompanying visuals can really help to drive home the more complicated meanings behind those few words.
Since most professors were taught back when media was not so prevalent, we have to train ourselves to think more visually instead of word-based. Multi-tasking requires that things be extremely simple and that everything be laid out in a “click here†by “click here†fashion. Lessons that are visually-based and that develop ideas through series of visuals—photos, videos, graphs, or other visual aids—are more likely to appeal to students. This is absolutely opposite to how most professors learned—we were taught to read, read, read, and then read some more, cogitate, and then develop something amazing that we put into writing or words. Today’s students are more attuned to videos and visual representations of ideas and we have to strive to keep up and tune our own worlds to this approach.
It has been indicated that in just a few years that video will take over the internet and most searches on the internet will result in the users visiting a video instead of reading. We have to get ready to move along with this trend and present our important scholarly ideas in new ways that will have meaning and that will appeal to our students. As a public speaking professor I deal with visual components a lot and I can see that my students are more and more attuned to videos and visuals than to having to read anything that is more than 120 words.
Being an English Literature undergraduate, you can bet I am set against this tuning out of reading, but it is the way of the future online. I earned my master’s in Communication Arts and I have taught public speaking both face-to-face and online for about 15 years. I have seen education move from printed textbooks to eBooks to online subscription materials. I am no longer as able to effectively communicate to my students using only words. I am now shifting more and more of my lectures to more visually-oriented materials, including pictorials of how the course assignments work together. Students now need to see information rather than read it, and I am trying to adjust to this new mode of instruction. We all have our work cut out for us, but it is fun to find new ways to communicate familiar ideas.
While it is clearly true that students seem more accustom to encountering information through a wider spectrum of communication mediums, it isn't clear that just because student's seem more visually attuned that they are then necessarily better at decoding or comprehending visual medium to comprehend complex ideas. I teach an electrical course, and it has been my experience that no mode of communication actually impacts the students more than others, by which I mean that computer graphics, and video do not seem to accomplish the task of imparting knowledge or comprehension of difficult concepts to students any better than sitting with them and explaining different sections of the text book.
I think there might be some sense among the students that the class is more stimulating if there are videos and computer graphics, but I haven't actually seen an improvement in assessment scores.
It seems to me that the most mark improvement in performance comes through learning processes that are interactive, wherein students manipulate something rather than just attempt to retain facts. This is very labor intensive though, and I am fortunate to have rather small classes.
I do think, however, that regardless of what methods actually work in terms of helping students comprehend and apply information, their sense of boredom might be much less acute with communication methods that are more visually stimulating, I am just skeptical that these are actually more educationally effective. But students who feel less bored are more likely to show up the next day, so that is a huge reason to keep up with evolving methods of communication and transmission of information, skills and knowledge.
At my school, I am actually one of the more versatile teachers in terms of providing visuals and computer graphics, and this is probably why I am also a little more skeptical about them as a panacea for the difficult task of communicating complex ideas.
On of the main reasons I like to use a variety of instructional delivery methods is that when I do just lecture, no matter how much of a performance I make out of it, I sort of bore myself after about 20 minutes...and I am not shy about telling the students that I too am bored sometimes.
Certainly, there is an entertainment part of learning. It is well documented that there are different styles of learning and students have preferred modes of learning. But as you observe Dale, even the most ardent auditory learner will lose interest eventually.
The most effective instruction touches all the learning modalities and keeps the student engaged, including applying the newly learned material.
Keep up the good work.
The use of mediums in which the students are familiar eases early tensions about the course of study. I particularly enjoy teaching technical skill requiring tactile application because the student becomes the medium, action art!
It's important to incorporate all the ways that students learn. Labs are great for the tactile and kinesthetic learners. Lectures engage the visual and auditory modalities.
It seems that this generation is only interested in the meat of the subject matter. They have no interest in understanding the processes that are involved in any situation because any button on the keyboard will perform the tasks that they want or need. Is that good or bad or too soon to call? They just want to know if what is being taught to them is relevant and how does it apply to any given situation, otherwise they are not interested in obtaining that knowledge.
This response is such a good assessment of today's students. Coming from another generation often presents problems when interacting with the present generation; however, it is detrimental to the learning process that we all be on the same page. They are not going to change, so it is obvious that we need to meet the needs of this generation. Being open-minded is key to this process and understanding the paradigm shift to student-centered.
I do feel that media is a more important tool now than ever, especially since there are so many different ways we can communicate to our students. If the technology is used correctly I believe that the students will be more receptive and more apt to learn. It just has to be presented in a manner that the newer student population will catch on to. In a sence we have to get to their level to successfuly get through to them.
Judy, what do you mean that "it is detrimental to the learning process that we all be on the same page"?
Also, being aware of the paradigm shift and using current technology and communication methods doesn't mean we should give up on expanding the skill set of the students and expect them to learn the tools of the workplace.
What forms of communication do you use in your classroom, Cole? If a student wants to contact you, do they use email, text messaging?
Does the institution use twitter or Facebook to communicate with current students? How about prospective students?
My apologies, Loren.
I was in a hurry and used the wrong word - the word I meant to use is fundamental.
