November 2006:
Number 511
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A newsletter for the students, faculty and staff of the Collin County Community College District. Published monthly. For information or submissions, call 972.599.3142. Cougar News welcomes student and faculty submissions. Next deadline: Nov. 10 All submissions are due by 5 p.m. on the due date. Photos cannot be returned. Text should be emailed to mrobinson@ccccd.edu or sent on disk. Please submit copy that is proofed, edited and saved in Word format. Cougar News staff: Lisa Vasquez, director; Mark Robinson, editor; Marcy Cadena-Smith, contributor; Sydney Portilla-Diggs, student correspondent; Stephanie Hall, student correspondent; Ana Palmer, special contributor; Ginny Topfer, special contributor; Nick Young, photography and layout
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Millennials: The new generation in college classrooms
By Ana Palmer
Special Contributor
Everybody saw it coming when Lindsay Lohan and Dwayne Wade became stars, and now we see it while walking the halls of Collin County Community College.
As Baby Boomers experienced the rebellion against traditional values and Generation X experienced the online explosion, the Millennial generation, or Generation Y, also will be marked by the changes and challenges of their society. The Millennial generation is considered the individuals born as early as 1978 and as late as 2000.
Some predict that the Millennials, or as they are also called, Nexters, will create a positive change in the world. One way or the other, the changes that this generation has brought have become visible and can be found in almost every aspect of the present time, including the college experience.
At Collin, the coming of Generation Y has prompted the administration and faculty to implement changes to meet the needs of the new student population. As of the fall 2006, about 70 percent of the students were between the ages of 18-29.
“We are trying to develop services and degrees and programs that would cater to all the needs of the students coming in. There is not one set model for this particular generation,” said Alicia Huppe.
Web courses and Weekend College are some of the new strategies to meet the needs. For example, students that possess computers at home prefer the flexibility of a course via Internet, and for others, who have a tight schedule or have family responsibilities, a class on Saturday or Sunday allows them to continue their education. The Department of Recruitment and Programs for New Students has developed new ways to conduct orientations.
“We have a full-day session that is for the traditional 18- to 24-year-olds first time into college,” Huppe said. “We have a night orientation to help those working adults who are not able to take off of work and come in. We also have a parent orientation simply because with the Millennial there is the involvement of the parent in almost all aspects of their life."
Besides the web courses, Weekend College and other types of orientation, Collin recognizes the importance of incorporating technology, such as the new CougarLANd, wireless Internet network available to students on the Central Park, Preston Ridge and Spring Creek campuses. In addition, professors are using Smart boards in the classroom and will soon use Podcasts and Vcasts.
“Our students are very savvy when it comes to technology,” said Huppe.
What Millennials Want
The Millennials not only have manifested a necessity for technology, but they also have exposed a different way to approach life. According to Robert DeBard’s work “Millennials Coming to College,” this generation shows a more positive attitude toward the coming challenges in the world. DeBard said the Millennials’ ideas of rewards will focus on meaningful work. The big question for the Boomer generation was “what does it mean?”
For Gen X, it was “does it work?” For the Millennials it is “how do we build it?” Gen Y ideology presents stronger values.
In the book “Millennials Go To College,” Neil Howe and William Strauss explain that this generation will bring a revolutionary change because these individuals were born in an era where parents pay attention to child safety and well being. As a result, Millennials typically are high achievers, team-oriented and sheltered. Also, the authors describe this generation as “the most racially and ethnically diverse.”
For Gen Y, gender and racial issues have less impact than in early generations. Collin statistical information reveals that in fall 2006 the Caucasian population was 68 percent, Native American .6 percent, Asian/ Pacific Islander 9.8 percent, black 9.2 percent and Hispanic 11.4 percent.
Changes in the Classroom
The new Millennial trend has the potential for making changes in different fields and already is manifesting itself in college education. Gary Hodge, dean of Social and Behavioral Science at Collin, explained some of the changes that the college adopted in its educational approach. He talked about this generation wanting to have a voice and share their ideas because students do not want to sit in a classroom where an instructor tells them what they need to know. They want to learn and gain something from the experience. Students have higher expectations, and the college has identified this need and implemented changes.
One such change is as a shift from course objectives to student learning outcomes. The change helps the student to focus on what he or she should gain from the class instead of what the teacher wants the student to know. Therefore, students are more involved in the process because instructors pose questions to students in order to understand their learning needs. For this reason, the idea of teaching has been replaced with the concept of learning at Collin.
He also cited that faculty members had been analyzing the benefits of transforming the classrooms into learning spaces where students work in groups that develop different projects or activities at different levels while the instructor moves around to assist the different groups. The dynamics come from the idea that learning happens anywhere. Instead of a traditional lecture, the classroom should be an experience where students learn in a tangible manner that is connected with their real world instead of learning with abstract concepts.
“Learning today is more experiential,” Hodge said. “We used to talk about teaching. Now, what we talk about in education is learning.”
Boys and Girls
As Millennials approach life with different values, male and female interaction will change significantly. In contrast with past generations, Y females grow up knowing that they have choices, and now more women decide to go into fields such as medicine or engineering. Today, women enroll in college in greater numbers.
For instance, statistics for fall 2006 in Collin showed that 56.5 percent of the student population was female while 43.5 percent was male.
“We have seen in all colleges, not just ours, a growing percentage of female students, and I think in colleges overall and probably in our college, the majority of students are women,” said historian Matthew Ware Coulter.
On the other hand, Y males are experiencing a changing of roles and have become more active in their role as parents.
“Just as women’s roles have changed… men’s roles have to change,” said Coulter.
“Males are examining their own role in the world,” said Hodge.
Gen Y in the Future
Even though it is impossible to predict the future, people sense a change in the air with the arrival of the Millennials. It will take several years to analyze the impact of this generation in the world. It is impossible to determine how the college will change with new education methods in order to adapt to the Millennials.
The relationship between men and women will change, but it is uncertain how the change of roles will affect the family, culture, nations and even the economy.
Change is coming and the Millennials will have to confront the positive and negative aspects of such changes, but the predictions point out that something great is about to happen with this generation.
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