Generation NeXt comes to college

This is not a commercial.

This guy came to our university and made a presentation to a small group of faculty and staff. And we can't wait to have him back again to meet with a larger group. You can hire him, and he's well worth it. But even if you just visit his web site, you'll find lots of good stuff about how to engage students for the purpose of promoting their learning.

The young people of Generation NeXt (up to about 26 years old) are different from previous generations of college students. Few schools understand these differences well enough to respond effectively to bring about meaningful learning and developmental outcomes.

The products of a technology rich, consumer driven culture, Generation NeXt presents special challenges to the purposes, structures and methods of colleges and universities; challenges complicated by the generational differences between these young people and the Traditionals, Baby Boomers and Xers who predominate faculty and staff.

For most students there is a serious mismatch between what they want and expect from a school, and what we offer. The expectations by many students of academic success with little effort is distressing and confusing to faculty and staff. Few in academia report seeing the much anticipated "Millennial generation" in significant numbers (conventional conformists respectful of social norms and institutions, trusting of adults, focused on grades and performance, etc.) and many are troubled by the difficulty they are having helping students persist to meaningful learning outcomes, and to graduation.