Millennials spark classroom debate

by Drew Lepp, news editor

During lectures that cannot seem to hold their attention, students used to slip each other notes in class; now they are text messaging each other.

It is up for debate whether new technology simply provides a new form of distraction or whether it is a sign that the education system needs to adapt better to students.

Cell phones, IPods and laptop computers are a few high-tech distractions that students may resort to while bored in class. Photo illustration by Andrew Borgquist

On Oct. 5, university librarian at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, Richard T. Sweeney, spoke in an online chat about people born between 1980 and 1994; people he calls “the Millennials.” He argues that instruction methods have to change to accommodate these students.

Sweeney said these “Millennials” have short attention spans, multitask constantly, and see themselves as consumers who “want to learn only what they have to learn” in “a style that is best for them,” more so than previous generations. 

Dean of the General Education program, Linda Halpern, disagrees with some of the characteristics of “Millennials.” “Some students have always behaved in inappropriate ways in class; it used to be reading the newspaper, sleeping or passing notes,” she said. “If now it is text messaging or listening to an iPod, this is not a technology issue, but rather an issue of manners.”

“This new generation needs a new etiquette that is civil, but which responds to their need to learn quickly,” Sweeney said.

In order to engage students in learning and lessen the appeal of distractions such as cell phone and iPods, Sweeney suggests schools offer a large number of alternative learning methods. “For example, time on task, the credit hour system, is ripe for change. There is no reward for learning faster and better in a time-on-task system,” Sweeney said.

“Engaging students in the classroom is an art and we go about it in different ways. The challenge from my perspective is to help students to develop an interest in learning,” professor Ralph Grove said. “Whatever diversions they employ are secondary.”

For some years technology has shaped the classroom. Blackboard allows professors to upload documents and communicate with students over the Internet. Now JMU is furthering that idea.

One of the newest technological additions are the student response systems. The College of Business is testing a new student response system, which allows students, via individual remote input devices, to answer questions asked by the instructor, said  general education professor Catherine Mahoney.

Professor of 3-D animation Peter Ratner said,“I believe that long-distance learning will be the future of education,” he said. “The technology is available now. It would just take a strong commitment from the university to make our classes available outside of our physical campus.”