NSC students give the Chronicle of Higher Education insight to how Millennials learn

College’s ‘smart classrooms’ help students stay engaged

Students from Nevada State College and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas were selected by one of the nation’s leading and foremost higher education expert publications, The Chronicle of Higher Education, to participate in an information technology forum aimed to dissect the learning habits of “Millennials.” A full report on the results of the panel was published in The Chronicle’s Jan. 5 issue.

Nevada State College has been on the frontline of serving the changing needs of students in Nevada by incorporating technology into the classroom since its establishment in 2002.

“The findings from The Chronicle’s forum substantiate what we’ve been doing for the last five years,” said Fred Maryanski, president of Nevada State College. “Our purpose is to help students learn as much as possible as effectively as possible. The incorporation of technology in our ‘smart classrooms,’ as well as the hiring of innovative instructors, has allowed us to do just that.”

Born between 1980 and 1994, Millennials are thought to rarely read newspapers and books, to be impatient and goal-oriented, hate busy work, learn by doing and used to instant feedback, The Chronicle states.

They are also skilled in the use of cell phones and text messaging, MySpace and YouTube, iPods and video games. They typically do most of their research online, and what The Chronicle and moderator Richard Sweeney from the New Jersey Institute of Technology were trying to discover is, do they also learn better through the incorporation of technology in the classroom?

“We have found most students thrive in a learning environment more similar to their own personal experiences,” Maryanski said. “Although professors – even in college – would like to think students are eagerly hanging on to every word of a lecture, asking questions and taking copious notes, we know they retain information much better through the use of visuals and interactive media, and we’ll continue to respond accordingly.”

A majority of the students on the panel admitted their main form of communication even with their closest friends was by phone, text messaging, e-mail or MySpace and that they regularly interacted with YouTube and rarely went to the library to check out books.

With this profile of the typical Millennial in mind, Sweeney questioned the students how they learn best in the classroom. Most students agreed that incorporating technology into learning provides an effective way to learn and retain information.