Why We Must Change Now?
Higher education has existed since ancient times. In much of that time, it was limited to those studying religious doctrine or the very wealthy. In the 20th century, access to higher education became more widespread across the globe. As demonstrated by Vera Korhonen for Statistia, by the end of the century, approximately 28% of men and 24% of women in the United States had earned 4-year degrees. By 2021, those numbers had grown to 36 and 39% respectively. For most of its history, higher education relied on a lecture/exam format. The highly knowledgeable professor stood in front of his students (men still represent a higher percentage of full faculty members than women) and gave a lecture about the course topic, students took notes, and they later took an exam on these lecture topics. To this day, that remains the way a majority of U.S. college courses look. If it has worked for centuries, or even millennia, why is there a push to change now? The answer: because our Gen-Z students arrive on campus with drastically different experiences from their predecessors.
In this final entry of my Gen-Z series, I want to address the challenges that we face as faculty members in addressing the expectations and demands of our Gen-Z students. If we define Gen-Z as those born between 1997-2015 (this end point is something that scholars are still debating), then we can anticipate that the traditional student population of 18- to 24-year-olds will be a part of this cohort for at least another decade and, likely, longer. As faculty members, we will face several challenges not previously experienced, particularly with students who experienced social isolation, education loss, and increased mental health crises than previous generations. So, then, what are these challenges and how do we adapt?
Defining Gen-Z
If you have missed my other posts on Gen-Z, please visit them here or here. For clarity’s sake, let’s review who makes up the “Gen-Z” population. Studies indicate that Gen-Z students share a set of unique characteristics that inform their expectations and needs for successful education. Some of these I’ve addressed in other articles, but I’d like to focus more on the students’ pedagogical expectations as we, the instructors, will need to embrace the changes if we are to aid our students in reaching their goals. If we are unwilling to do so, the dreaded decline in student populations will only worsen and, potentially, cause greater job insecurity among our colleagues and ourselves.
So, What Can We Do?
Use Visual Content:
Gen-Z students expect faculty to include visual content to enhance learning. Gen-Z students have learned online via YouTube. For some, the amount of undivided attention they have is less time than a TikTok or YouTube shorts video. They often scroll quickly through items that they find unnecessary, unhelpful, or plain boring. Reading long text instructions or content materials will likely leave them less engaged and more apt to skip the materials. Using a 5-minute video tutorial I often more valuable than set of written instructions.
Provide Feedback Early and Often:
Gen-Z (Zoomers) want immediate feedback. Many of our assessments preclude any type of immediate feedback. To better serve our students, it would help if instructors began using smaller, scaffolded assessments with which we can provide faster feedback. This doesn’t mean exclusively employing computer-graded exams, but even a few, low-stakes, multiple-choice quizzes using this method can help students better understand where they stand in the course.
Respond Quickly While Setting Realistic Expectations:
Like their desire for immediate feedback, Zoomers expect near-immediate response times from faculty and administrators. In an age of instant-messaging, Snapchat, and Instagram, students expect faculty availability 24-7. This is obviously unrealistic. To combat such expectations, it can be helpful to provide students with your working hours. As an online instructor, this has become especially important for me. I remind my students that I am not an AI and, that as a human being, I have a need for sleep, as well as other commitments in my day-to-day life. That said, I always respond within 24 hours to emails or messages.
Allow Self-Directed Learning:
This generation of students, more than any previous groups, is self-directed. They have learned to find information on their own through search engines. They are more likely to seek out information online, rather than asking experts. As instructors, who the university recognizes as experts, that can lead to some challenges. As with using smaller, low stakes assessments, we can better connect with “Zoomers” by giving them the opportunity to work on solo projects, rather than relying solely on exams or group discussions. These students like to discover answers to life’s larger questions on their own. They’ve learned from YouTube, Khan Academy, and other online resources for most of their lives. They generally don’t like listening to the “sage on the stage” type of lectures, but would rather learn by doing or by searching on their own. Examples of these types of assignments include short essays, creating video tutorials to share with the class, giving them question sets to research and report back to their peers, and projects that allow them to demonstrate what they have learned through their own research and explorations.
Generation-Z students, much like their previous counterparts “Millennials” bring new characteristics to higher education. While these may seem irrelevant to those of us who have taught in higher education for decades, it is important for us to recognize these shifting demographics and adjust accordingly. I don’t suggest that we change our expectations for performance, but instead, consider shifting our methods of assessment to meet their skills and talents.
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