Millennial in Higher Education - Research Paper Example

?Millennial in Higher Education Millennial behaviors, it is said, different from the behaviors of past generations of the same age-group. It becomes significant, therefore, to find out how millennial students pursuing higher education are different. The term ‘millennial’ is used for those born between 1979 and 1994. They form the largest group since baby boomers. Very special and stunning revelation about millennial generation is that more than 40 percent of them are children of divorce and belong to ethnically and racially vast US generation (Sweeney, “Millennial Behaviors and Higher Education,” par. 1). Millennial students possess different personalities in comparison to generation X students, as found on the parameters of standard personality test. Testing them on 16 factors millennial students have distinct traits on 10 factors. They are comparatively welcoming, follow logic behind things, are emotionally ripe, responsible, socially advanced and risk taking, are concerned, indulge more in self-inspection, ready to transform, and more coordinated and self governing but less lonely and dependent on others (Sweeney, “Millennial Behaviors and Higher Education,” par. 2). Millennial students prefer to learn by experience. They don’t follow the given guidance, in stead they prefer to learn by speaking with others. They get their learning experiences from their surrounding environment, by playing such games where there are a number of players, through computer simulations, and social networking, which are a few of their preferable surroundings. They go on making mistakes and improving them without suffering any penalty in the environment stated above. Class lectures on an average bore them. Experiential learning provides them the opportunity to interact with a good number of people who provide them crucial inputs on what should be done and what not should be done (Sweeney, “Millennial Behaviors and Higher Education,” par. 6). Millennial students’ behavior is impacted by the innumerable choices, which had been a part of their lives since childhood. They take it for granted that options should be many. In the matter of consumer choices they don’t like adhering to what previous generations liked. They express their unhappiness when there are no choices as for example if there is only one teacher to take classes for a specific course, they would show their displeasure. Same is their reaction on shopping; they would change the brand for another equally reputed brand for the reason that the second brand is supporting a social cause. They are the major reason of getting competitive advantage to companies by serving the interests of millennial students. They are the residents of “The Long Tail” phenomena. Traditional marketing media don’t impress them. On the contrary they are easily moved by their social network, i.e. viral marketing (Sweeney, “Millennial Behaviors and Higher Education,” par. 3). Millennial students have low tolerance level. They prefer quick feedback on their progress. This intolerance has become a way of their lives whether they are in a queue or in an uncreative process. They want things done speedier and effectively better. This has become a way of life with them (Sweeney, “Millennial Behaviors and Higher Education,” par. 5). Although millennial students are not averse to the face-to-face learning environment wherein teachers help them in resolving all of their problems but they prefer learning through fast, easy to use, comfortable and powerful digital tools. Again, they want choices as in the study environment; they want both choices of learning, face-to-face as well online medium so that later on they may select any one of the given choices. For gaining growth in career they prefer merit system to others such as seniority (Sweeney, “Millennial Behaviors and Higher Education,” par. 7). Another trait of millennial students is their love for gaming that helps them increasing their emotional stimuli, which helps them in learning also. In gaming continuous involvement, full media and graphics add to the learning ability and reach to increasingly heightened levels. Gaming also helps these students to work in focus groups that helps them in competing with others as well as in learning. Thus, gaming assists them in learning, which has become their preferred learning style i.e. digital mediums of learning in fast paced environment (Sweeney, “Millennial Behaviors and Higher Education,” par. 9). Working in groups, millennial students share and perform so many activities collectively such as sports, music, peer-to-peer network, games, and other school-based functions that they get trained in doing the work timely and efficiently. All millennial students don’t work by making groups but when they know that working in collaboration would be beneficial they don’t say ‘no’ to it (Sweeney, “Millennial Behaviors and Higher Education,” par. 15). They are adept in multi-tasking who can perform different activities with ease, thus, making efficient use of their time. It is their assumption that by multi-tasking they can learn speedily but they are not aware themselves when it helps them to learn quickly and when not. Latest research indicates contrary to their assumption; actually performing different tasks at a time can decelerate their learning. Reading practice of younger millennial students has become better than what it was in 2004 but still they are lagging behind the younger generation of twenty years back in reading, particularly they are slow in reading newspaper (Sweeney, “Millennial Behaviors and Higher Education,” par. 17-18). Whether millennial students deserve the distinct pedagogies or they are very much similar to the previous generations could be a debatable issue. They are brought up in a distinct environment where they are surrounded by innumerable, interesting and innovative study tools, which make their learning experience not only entertaining but a pleasant experience. This distinct environment inculcates in them certain traits of grasping knowledge quicker but at the same time the high tech environment distracts them towards more and more entertainment at the cost of serious learning in high schools. We can say that essentially the millennial students are different from the previous generations because they have been provided a distinct environment of which they have become accustomed. This special environment has inculcated different pedagogical qualities in them but at the same time they have to prove their intensity and preparedness to compete in the changing global workforce they would be facing after finishing their education. The big question is: “Are Millennial ready to compete in the changing global workforce they must face?” On their part the millennial population of fresh graduates is keen to join and be part of an innovative job profile where their bosses are tech savvy and work environment is sharing. According to I Love Rewards, an employee recognition firm with offices in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Toronto, the 75 million millennial students are hopeful and very positive about their future career aspirations. As per the findings, about two-thirds of the 8,088 participants are hopeful of getting a job in the next three months after their graduation (Ribitzky, “Great Expectations,” par. 1-3). The current economic scenario may not match the expectations of millennial graduates but they are better equipped to handle the situation, as in the words of Jenny Floren, CEO and Founder of Experience Inc., a college career services website provider that is visited by 4.2 million students and alums, “Employers need new thinking to fuel innovation. The type of fresh ideas and perspective that Millennials bring is critically important. They are the future. They are naturally accustomed to the global landscape, uber-connected, tech-dependent, 24/7 world that we must all compete within, and the Millennials are the natives. They speak the language and have a lot to teach the rest of us about how we can adapt and stay relevant” (Ribitzky, “Great Expectations,” par. 4). Somewhat similar views are held by Razor Suleman, CEO and founder of I Love Rewards about the competition level in the job market for fresh graduates. He remarked, “Millennials bring unique expectations to the workplace, they are also a well-educated generation that offers critical skills in high demand. Companies will want to add them to their workforce, and to do so they will have to become more aligned to their values and expectations” (Ribitzky, “Great Expectations,” par. 5). Opposing views have been expressed about the job expectations of millennial graduates. They themselves view pay package the biggest stimulant in accepting a job offer, as 44.7 percent expect to get $25,000 to $49,000 and 30.8 percent hope to get a start in the range of $50,000 to $74,999. Considering their expectations of high salary, which is based on their dedication to the joining company where 24 percent of the respondents want to remain with their first company for more than 10 years while 64 percent don’t want to remain in the same company for more than 5 years ((Ribitzky, “Great Expectations,” par. 6). According to the Labor Department figures, an average millennial does not remain in a company for more than 1.5 years. Their impatient behavior may come in the way of getting promotions based on experience and learning through the job. Millennial are wonderful race but they don’t appreciate the value of experience. They want instant response whatever be the market conditions ((Ribitzky, “Great Expectations,” par. 6). Millennial understand the outlook of older generation about them, their behavior and traits but they are very considerate on how much hard work the older generation had done without technology (Ribitzky, “Great Expectations,” par. 7). Millennial are equally capable in handling the job challenges. The need is to fill the generation divide. By 2014, according to Floren and Suleman, CEO and founder of I Love Rewards, millennial would form 50 percent of the work force. It is not the millennial graduates who need to face the challenge but the companies recruiting them. They need to accept the social media tools to come up to the expectations of millennial employees. Talent search can be made from these social media platforms by the talent searching and retaining companies. If companies provide them a comfort work zone and experience of sharing and chill environment with technology tools, they can be successful in exploiting their talent for the company benefit ((Ribitzky, “Great Expectations,” par. 10). Works Cited Ribitzky, Romy. “Great Expectations.” 5 April 2011. 20 April 2011. . Sweeny, Richard. “Millennial Behaviors and Higher Education Focus Group Results.” 27 October 2009. New Jersey Institute of Technology. 20 April 2011. . Read More