Motivating Today’s College
Students – The Millennial
Generation
Angela Provitera McGlynn
Biography
 Professor Emeritus of Psychology, MCCC
 Author of several books and numerous
articles; regular contributor to The Hispanic
Outlook in Higher Education
 Latest books: see slide towards end of
presentation
 National Consultant on Teaching and
Learning Issues; Trainer for Transformation
Associates, LLC
 Web site:
www.mccc.edu/~amcglynn/index.html
 E-mail address: amcglynn5@verizon.net
Objectives: Participants will learn:
 How millennial students prefer to learn
 Pedagogical strategies that promote student
learning
 How to engage millennial students
 How to keep millennial students motivated
throughout the semester
Question
 What is the one thing you would like to learn
from today’s webinar?
Who are today’s students?
 Millennials:
 Generation X:
 Baby Boomers:
 Matures:
Born 1982 – 2002
Born 1965 – 1982
Born 1946 - 1964
Born 1900 – 1946
 Many people are born on the cusps of two
generations, and many people do not fit their
“generational type”
The Millennials – historical context
 also called “Generation M or Y,” “Echo
Boomers,” or the NET Generation
 roughly 30% of the American population
 children of Baby Boomers or early wave
members of Generation X
 the most diverse generation in our history –
34% are nonwhite or Latino
Diversity – Opportunities and
Challenges
Characteristics of Millennials
 Millennials:
identify with their parents’ values
 are fascinated by new technologies
 1 in 5 have at least one immigrant parent
 gravitate toward group activities

Diana Oblinger (Understanding the New Students,
EDUCAUSE Review, July/August 2003)
Millennials Gravitate Towards Group
Activities
More Characteristics of Millennials
 grew up in a time of economic prosperity –
how times have changed!
 went to “play groups” and played soccer from
the age of 3
 the most protected generation in terms of
government regulations on consumer safety
 often indulged as a result of changing childrearing practices
More Characteristics of Millennials
 used to being consulted in decision-making
by their parents
 typically strong bonds between these
students and their parents, particularly with
their mothers, and they stay very connected
even when they go away to school
 expected to excel by their parents
 highly scheduled and sheltered in childhood
More Characteristics of Millennials
 constant social contact with friends via e-mail, Instant
Messaging, cell phones, and video games
 digital natives (Prensky, 2001)
 raised in a technological environment
 accepts that environment as the norm
 grown up surrounded by digital devices and
regularly uses these devices to interact with other
people and the outside world.

Adapted From Digital Native website –
www.digitalnative.org/wiki
Digital Natives
 Today’s students have spent their entire lives
surrounded by and using computers,
videogames, digital music players, video cams,
cell phones, and all the other toys and tools of
the digital age
 Today’s average college grads have spent less
than 5,000 hours of their lives reading, but over
10,000 hours playing video games (not to
mention 20,000 hours watching TV)

Marc Prensky Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants
From On the Horizon (MCB University Press, Vol. 9 No. 5,
October 2001)
From Lost in Translation http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9o
Created by Michael Wesch in collaboration with 200 students at Kansas State
University.
Multitasking
 Multitasking is a way of life for this generation
 Two tasks at once or cognitive toggling?
More Characteristics of Millennials
 often seek information and knowledge by
going on-line rather than using a textbook
 little tolerance for delays so it is important to
let students know when they can expect
feedback or a response to their queries
 for many, the idea of constructing knowledge
within a social community has lots of appeal
 (Skiba & Barton (2006)
More Characteristics of Millennials
 tend to be conventional, accepting of societal
rules and expectations
 team-oriented
 achievement-oriented:
External locus of
control
 often Intellectually Naïve, that is,
they need help determining reliable
sources of information
Question
 What do you see as the major difference
between today’s students and those of
previous generations?
 What challenges do those differences
present?
Millennials’ Preferences
 want to learn by working collaboratively
 have a preference to learn in their own time
and on their own terms
 seem to appreciate structured activities that
permit creativity
Millennials’ Preferences – Working
Collectively
Millennials’ Preferences
 want to be involved with “real life” issues that
matter to them
 most millennials are comfortable with
technology – plugged in since they were
babies (exceptions related to SES)
 differences among first generation students in
terms of proficiency with technology
Given Millennials’ Preferences, What Makes the
Most Sense from a Cognitive Learning
Perspective?
 Ways to help students create meaning between their
life experience and the material
 Use examples students can relate to
 Ask students to develop their own examples
 Creating multiple connections with concepts also
facilitates the process of retrieval because the
more connections we have, the more retrieval
cues we have to access the material
Given Millennials’ Preferences, What Makes the
Most Sense from a Cognitive Learning
Perspective?
 All students need to be actively engaged with
the material we are trying to teach them
 Active engagement promotes deeper levels
of cognitive processing and learning because
it creates stronger connections
 Active learning facilitates long-term memory
through the process of elaborative rehearsal
that uses meaning rather than rote
memorization
General Strategies for Engaging
Millennials
 Provide High, Clear Expectations
 Offer individual feedback
 Engage with/through technology where appropriate
 Utilize group work: collaborative learning techniques
 Incorporate reflection and metacognition
Specific Strategies for Teaching
Millennials
 Teaching style—

what they want
 High Energy
 Passionate
 Inventive
 Humorous
 Active
 Entertainment

(Smetanka, 2007)
Specific Strategies for Teaching
Millennials
 Teaching style—

what we know
 Clarity
 Organization
 Feedback
 Availability/rapport
 Class time management
 Engaging

(Pascarella & Terenzini, 2005)
Specific Strategies for Teaching
Millennials
 Use focus activities or questions – on the
screen or chalkboard, write an activity or a
question that students can begin as soon as
they enter the classroom. These focusing
activities can relate to the last class, the
reading material, or what will take place in the
class that is about to begin
 Put objectives for the class session up on the
screen or board; this will help you and the
students to stay on track and will help
latecomers to class
 Clement, 2009
Specific Strategies for Teaching
Millennials
 The four-step lesson plan


Set goals for each class
Focus the students



Present new material
Have students apply the material or do
something creative with what they have
learned
Review, conclude, and assess
 Adapted from Clement, 2009
Adding Tools to Your Trade/Art
 Given what you know about today’s college
students, what might you do to try to engage
more of them?
 Given what you know about today’s college
students, what might you do differently when
dealing with them?
Angela’s most recent books by Atwood Publishing,
888 242-7101, www.atwoodpublishing.com
References
 Clement, M. June 24, 2009. 10 Ways to
Engage Your Students on the First Day of
Class, Faculty Focus.
 Pascarella, E. T., & Terenzini, P. T. (2005).
How college affects student. A third decade of
research. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
 Prensky, M. (2001) Digital natives, Digital
immigrants. On the Horizon. Vol. 9, No. 5:
NCB University Press.
www.marcprensky.com/writing/
References
 Smetanka, M. J. (2004, May 7). Millennial
students: A new crew enlivens the “U.” The
Minneapolis Star Tribune, p. 1.A.
 Skiba, D.J. & Baron, A.J. (2006) Adapting
your teaching to accommodate the net
generation of learners, Online Journal of
Issues in Nursing, 2006, Vol. 11, Issue 2.