Note: The following generalities refer to anyone of the 3 divisions of today’s students (Generation Alpha (2012-2025); Generation Z (1996-2011), and Millennials (1980-1995). The advice below covers those students now in school, as well as those coming into school in the near future, and it also includes those adult learners returning to school or in graduate school. What differentiates all three of these groups from students before them and from the schooling experiences of older faculty members is their exposure to and pervasive use of technology and social media; and with later generations their social and emotional issues in relation to having experienced the lock-down and time away from school during the global pandemic. This group uses techno almost obsessively and they use those skills both as a vehicle for learning and certainly as their primary methods of communication. However, no matter what the age or generational name, in my opinion the listing below is still very applicable as educators and work supervisors attempt to deal with successive generations of workers and students whose generational peer groups and personal experiences may be vastly different than their own.
Key considerations and implications:
Do not make assumptions about students’ backgrounds — investigate!
Do not make assumptions about what students may or may not know, especially in the areas of writing and technology — assess and access prior knowledge and skills.
Do not make the assumption that your students are universally tech savvy. This may differ largely due to socioeconomic class and parental approval or restrictions of technology usage.
Be aware of signs of referential non-recognition (This is when teachers make a reference, offer an example, metaphor, or story that has no meaning to their students. The lack of understanding may be social, cultural, experiential or due to a lack of historical awareness. While the reference and its relevance may be clear to the teacher, students may have no contexts for understanding the connection.)
Be aware of current youth culture as trends may be tied to areas of interest, and this awareness will help you connect with current or known examples and meaningful metaphors
Make learning relevant to their futures – – find and make connections to things important to their generation of learners and applicable to the real world and to future work.
These students appear to respect and gravitate to that which has both emotional meaning for them, and what and who appears to be authentic! Authenticity seems to be of paramount importance, especially to younger learners.
Appeal and attention has to be captured almost immediately! Due to overwhelming media exposure this group of students generally have super-fast attention spans. This means get to the point or have something that grabs their attention up front.
Generational Differences:
While the listings charted below were initially keyed to “millennial” students, many of these generational trends and generalities also apply to members of Gens Z and Alpha.
General Characteristics
Examples of Educational Implications
Samples of Actions Taken
Have heightened techno skills and ability to access information
Professorship has changed — no longer an expert, now simply a person with expertise
Found information may be perceived as carrying equal weight
Naiveté about credibility, quality, and reliability of sources, or timeliness, accuracy, or authenticity of information
Plagiarism may not be perceived as morally or ethically wrong
Main ideas need to be stressed as opposed to details, or if dwelling on details, place within the contextual relationship of main ideas.
Need for simplified information first.
In online learning environments have clear rules of social engagement (netiquette)
Have students investigate sources and authors– other writings, academic credentials, political backgrounds of sources
Establish, discuss, and publish clear plagiarism policies
Course requirements need to encourage critical thinking and appraisal
Model critical thinking as you go through scholarly investigations
Share exemplary databases and websites pointing out indicators of excellence
Offer simple overviews before concentrating on details placing facts and data in larger contexts
Molded by viewing a myriad of global violence, thus they are often skeptical.
Looking for frameworks, rules, and organizational and social structures that give form, but ones that are not so rigid as to disallow creativity and individuality.
Looking too for heroes that are real and inspiration that is uplifting but believable
Don’t make assumptions about generational knowledge and experiences – ask or pre-assess
Students may question or challenge information and assumptions
Be prepared for strong, often emotionally charged opinions, and some skepticism
Want to have some control of aspects of the class and their educational directions and experiences
Want to have prototypes, samples, and examples provided as it saves time and effort
Looking for everyday heroes and role models that are realistic – often little tolerance for older idealized models
Need rights of passage experiences that clearly mark their progressions toward some goal
Get to know students, their culture, their interests, become familiar with their mythology, and their heroes and concerns
Anticipate challenges and have questions that redirect or defuse, and challenges that refocus their efforts
When possible, involve students in decisions about rules and structure of learning experiences offering them real choices
While providing prototypes, challenge students to go beyond these
Have great diversity of talents and interests.
Hunger for information and problem solving challenges.
May have very different social skills and standards.
Often prior educational experiences have included accommodations of individual differences – be aware of trends like Multiple Intelligence Theory, learning styles and modalities, brain-based education
Students may expect partial credit on wrong answers
Students may be easily bored and want to use creativity or look at issues and problems in new and different ways
May have the view that good learning should be “edutainment”
Be aware of educational trends in K-12 education
Address, privately, any unacceptable behaviors, and try not to take it personally
Use e-mail, websites, and public folders to post reminders, due dates and grading criteria
Be willing to negotiate alternatives to assignments, especially if these are initiated and well thought out by students
Are discriminating consumers, work hard, and value volunteerism and community service
Appreciate frequent and timely feedback
Want to know that courses and programs offer useful training for future employment as higher education is often perceived as job training not just educational experience — educational experiences are about connections to the real world, not just learning stuff for stuff’s sake
Students may be stretched to physical and mental limits and over-scheduled as they work several jobs, plus many volunteer, so be aware of the length of assignments and time constraints
Students may prefer to work cooperatively, or collaborate on projects, and they may prefer to work in small groups or pairs even in testing situations
Offer personal feedback, marginal notes, focused conversations to discuss work, or personal e-mails about students’ work
Require peer reviews prior to handing in assignments, and give training on how to align and offer constructive criticism within grading rubrics and assignment parameters
Make material relevant and applicable to future lives either by offering direct connections or by giving students time to contextualize and make connections themselves
Consider projects, authentic assessment, clearly defined grading or performance rubrics
Investigate varied groupings, even consider giving group testing options
Brown, John Seely (March/April 2000), vol. 32, no. 2 Growing Up Digital, Change, 10–11.
Fraud, Jason, (September/October 2000), The Information-Age Mindset: Changes in Students and Implications for Higher Education, EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 35, no. 5, pp. 15–24.
Lancaster, L. C. and Stillman, D. (2003) When Generations Collide: Who They Are. Why They Clash. How to Solve the Generational
Puzzle at Work. New York, NY: HarperBusiness
Martin. C. A. and Tulgan, B. (2001) Managing Generation Y. Amherst MA: Human Resource Development Printing.
Oblinger, Diana. (July/August 2003) Boomers, Gen-Xers, and Millennials: Understanding the ‘New Students,’ EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 38, no. 4.
Raines. C. (2002) Managing Millennials. www.generationsatwork.com/articles/millenials.htm (no longer online at this URL)
