Hey Professors: Learn How to Teach Your Millennial Students!

Posted by Carly Dahlen , Mar, 2009 @ 12:59

I was in one of my graduate courses the other day, and we were privileged to have a prestigious guest lecturer. My fellow grad students and I were eager to hear what this academician had to say, as he specialized in the theory we were studying that week. As the professor began his talk, our excitement quickly turned to annoyance when we realized we were facing an all-too familiar university problem: the über-smart professor having no idea how to connect with his millennial students. In an age of Facebook posting, text messaging, channel surfing, and online blogging, students are much less likely to have the attention span necessary for listening to 2 hours of a monotone professor reading off of his/her notes. Professors: I don’t care that you’re a genius and you totally get your lecture topics without visual aids, I don’t care that you’ve been teaching this subject for 20 years and you’ve always read off of your notes, and I don’t care that I’m a grad student and therefore am expected to be smart enough to understand you–I need some f***ing stimulation! Due to my disdain for the disconnect between old school professors and their millennial students, I have composed a list of suggestions for professors to practice a more successful teaching experience:

-Make a Powerpoint Presentation! We like colors, moving parts, pictures, and general visual stimulation.

-Bring in some film clips! Even if it’s an Econ class, I’m sure you can spend a few minutes finding your favorite scene from A Beautiful Mind and bring it in to inspire your students!

-Engage your class in conversation! Your students have things to say–ask them about their thoughts! Don’t take up your entire lecture time with your own ruminations. We get bored.

-Play music as we come into class. It can relate specifically to what you’re going to talk about, or it can be totally random, but music always helps to inspire and engage your students.

Take some time to try out these suggestions. I guarantee that your students will appreciate you, and you never know, you might become the most popular in your department!

Tags: Boring, Lectures, Millennials, Professors