WHO ARE OUR STUDENTS

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WHO ARE OUR STUDENTS?
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Silents (born 1925-1942) Boomers (born
1943-1960) 13ers Generation X (born
1961- 1981) Millennials (born 1982-2002)
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DEMOGRAPHICFEATURES
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• 87 of all postsecondary students in the U.S. are
  undergraduates
• 61 of undergraduates are younger than age 25
• - of the 61, 56 are enrolled in
  Bachelors degree programs
• - of the 61, 54 are enrolled full-
  time

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• 55 of undergraduates younger than 25 are female

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• 34 of undergraduates younger than 25 are
  students of color
• 13 African American
• 13 Hispanic
• 6 Asian American
• 1 American Indian
• 2 other races and ethnicities

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• Approximately 25 have parents who are divorced,
  separated or living apart
• Approximately 16 are first-generation college
  students

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Self-Reported Religious Preference

• Men Women Total
• Baptist 9.3 8.8 9.0
• Buddhist 1.3 0.9 1.1
• Church of Christ 3.7 2.9 3.2
• Eastern Orthodox 0.9 0.8 0.9
• Episcopalian 2.2 2.5 2.4
• Hindu 0.8 0.6 0.7
• Islamic 1.0 0.7 0.8
• Jewish 3.9 4.1 4.0
• LDS (Mormon) 0.2 0.2 0.2
• Lutheran 2.9 3.1 3.0
• Methodist 4.3 4.9 4.6
• Presbyterian 3.5 3.9 3.7
• Quaker 0.3 0.4 0.4
• Roman Catholic 26.0 26.1 26.1
• Seventh Day Adventist 0.3 0.4 0.3
• Unitarian/Universalist 0.5 0.9 0.7
• United Church of Christ/Congregational 1.2
  1.4 1.3
• Other Christian 10.8 12.2 11.5

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Student rated self above average or highest
10 as compared with the average person of
his/her age in

• Men Women Total
• Academic ability 69.3 66.6 67.8
• Artistic ability 32.1 35.8 34.1
• Computer skills 48.1 27.1 36.7
• Cooperativeness 71.7 73.5 72.4
• Creativity 61.8 61.1 52.3
• Drive to achieve 69.0 75.3 72.4
• Emotional health 59.5 46.3 52.3
• Leadership ability 64.5 57.4 60.7
• Mathematical ability 49.8 33.8 41.1
• Physical health 66.0 45.7 55.0
• Public speaking ability 40.9
  34.6 37.5
• Religiousness 25.3 26.7 26.1
• Self-confidence (intellectual) 66.8
  51.0 58.2
• Self-confidence (social) 56.1
  46.6 51.0
• Self-understanding 59.8 53.1 56.2
• Spirituality 34.6 36.1 35.4
• Understanding of others 65.4 69.4 67.6
• Writing ability 46.4 50.6 48.7

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• 87 performed volunteer work in high school
• 2/3 of first-year students who entered college
  in fall 2005 reported it is essential or very
  important to help others who are in difficulty

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Basic Trends that Define this Group
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• balancing the need for openness with the desire
  to keep young people (and the nation) safe
• Politically, these students have grown up seeing
  what they have determined to be ineffective
  government
• political views of college students have become
  more polarized at the expense of the middle

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Political Views

• Conservative 28
• Middle-of-the-Road 42.1
• Liberal 29.9

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A renewed interest in all things spiritual
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Reach Out and Touch Someone Constantly
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• of first year students who rated themselves
  above average or in the top 10 as compared to
  the average person of their age when it comes to
  religiousness 26
• . . . when it comes to spirituality 35
• CIRP reports that 35 of students frequently
  discuss religion

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Text Messaging Quiz

• 404
• B4N
• CUL8R
• DIKU
• GAL
• GIAR
• ILU
• JJA
• PCM
• POS
• RUOK
• SETE
• SIG2R
• WAM
• ZZZ

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Text Messaging Quiz

• 404 - I dont know
• B4N - Bye for now
• CUL8R - See you later
• DIKU - Do I know you?
• GAL - Get a life
• GIAR - Give it a rest
• ILU - I love you
• JJA - Just joking around
• PCM - Please call me
• POS - Parent over shoulder
• RUOK - Are you OK?
• SETE - Smiling ear to ear
• SIG2R - Sorry, Ive got to run
• WAM - Wait a minute
• ZZZ - Sleeping

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One of the biggest trends much impact for our
students (and the rest of us) INCREASED
PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT
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DEFINING CHARACTERISTICS OF MILLENNIAL STUDENTS
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SPECIAL Boomer parents have been telling these
students all their lives that they are special
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• SHELTERED PROTECTED
• child safety rules post Columbine
• world of zero tolerance
• parents have been organizing their childrens
  lives to give direction
• day care, after school programs, music lessons,
  etc.
• students have come to rely on and trust
  authority

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• CONFIDENT AND ACHIEVING
• they are academically driven/achievement
  oriented
• general sense of optimism believe they will
  do well they expect themselves to do well

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• CONVENTIONAL
• Come to accept the social rules of order
• respect cultural differences
• used to high school codes of conduct
• re-introduction of dress codes
• dont rock the boat go along to get along

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• TEAM-ORIENTED
• want to get along and work together
• like to congregate as groups
• being a member of a team takes some of the
  pressure off of the individual
• Like to be perceived as cooperative
• Downside they want group projects to be highly
  structured want to know the rules not big
  risk takers
• If they encounter difficult people in their
  group, they are uncomfortable and want those in
  authority to handle it and make it right

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• PRESSURED
• ties into the need for clarity/structure the
  pressure to perform and achieve
• want to be sure that structure is enforced so
  they can count on the fact that compliance will
  be rewarded
• have been pushed to be the best they can be
  need to please is strong perfectionism is
  sometimes the result

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CONFLICTING VALUES
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Disconnect between aspirations and efforts
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Tend to value community service and volunteerism
but used to getting credit for it
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Conflict between respect for rules/regulations/aut
hority and strong desire/need to achieve Ethics
can get blurred a bit Academic honesty can be an
issue
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HEALTH ISSUES
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Obesity, asthma, allergies and ADD
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• ADD
• variable class schedule disrupts routine
• course grades can be determined with few big
  assignments rather than multiple, short
  assignments adds to stress
• quiet home supervised by parents come to
  college less privacy/noisy residence hall and
  little direct supervision

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Stress continues to be big factor - - Larger
number are reporting headaches, migraines,
depression/anxiety disorders
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American College Health Association. Spring 2003
National College Health Assessment. NCHA Web
Summary. Available at http//www/acha.org/project
s_programs/ncha_sampledata_public.cfm
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IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHING AND LEARNING
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Student/faculty contact - - lots of evidence that
the most successful students (and the ones most
likely to be retained) are the ones that interact
with faculty outside the classroom
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Students want structure Respond well to active
learning Pressure to succeed
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TIME MANAGEMENT
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Help them develop a realistic sense of what it
takes to succeed in college and how to define
success
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Recognize they may need help working independently
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Other implications for teaching and learning?