Have you ever looked out at your student filled classroom to see that half are paying attention? Are they taking notes on their tablets or laptops? Don't be fooled! A close look may reveal facebook scrolling or Amazon-buying. Social media is integral to this generation's community experience.
That realization brings an understanding of their preference for a text message to a face-to-face encounter.
There is nothing wrong with social media. We do enjoy looking at baby pictures of our high school and college friends. And what does our Ex look like now? Day-to-day personal and work routines of banking, ordering goods, and emailing have thrown us right into the middle of the digital age. Our families keep in touch through texting or facetime. And we look everything up online. Times have changed!
Connecting with our millennial students' means, like it or not, we have to get on board with digital communication.
Expanding within the digital environment sets these students apart, as does a lack of confidence. Millennial students who perceive life as stressful rely heavily on their previously hovering parents or guardians to help them navigate life's challenges. As a result, the autonomous nature of the nursing profession and the emphasis on the responsibility of decision-making that can impact lives is difficult for them.
Understanding this is crucial to recognize stress and anxiety which can inhibit learning.
Millennial students are ambitious, optimistic, gravitate towards working in teams, conventional and need to feel important. Expressions of appreciation gain of these students' attention as do small recognitions.
We might have to start giving them a pat on the back for coming to class on time!
Other ways faculty can show they appreciate their millennial students
Learn and call them by name (you won't remember them, that's what seating charts are for)
Introduce yourself on the first day of class (don't assume they know who you are!)
Clearly outline your expectations (these students are very concrete thinkers) - give them specific rubrics and firm due dates
Provide a lot of feedback (oral and written)
Don't criticize in front of the class (you shouldn't do this with anyone)
Millennials tend towards skepticism. After all, their parents were baby boomers who didn't trust anyone over 30! Review how you present the information. What worked with older generations simply won't work with this crowd.
Nursing faculty must gain student trust, helping them become accountable individuals that collaborate in the learning process.
Tried and true instructional methods for millennials
Give them questions and scenarios that relate to the real world as they understand it
Have students share their research with classmates
Encourage working in small groups to solve problems
Ask for their help (Millennials are helpers in the strongest sense of the word)
Utilize all types of learning in the classroom (don't shy away from hands-on practice and demonstration)
Give nursing students in upper-level courses the opportunity to engage in service-learning
Millennials are diversity sensitive. 21st-century American universities and colleges have greater inclusivity. Depending on where you teach, specific unique cultural or ethnic considerations may need to be incorporated into the classroom. They are adaptable to change so long as it is fair and clearly defined. Tolerant of differences, they may appreciate your personal quirks but they expect you to do the same for them.
Working with a classroom full of Millennials isn't easy. Understanding how they differ from you and your colleagues lends to successfully bringing them to the graduation finish line.
Lynch, M. (2016). Top four ways to engage millennials in learning environments. The
EdAdvocate. Retrieved from: https://www.theedadvocate.org/top-four-ways-to-
engage-millennials-in-learning-environments/
I'll just say this. I'm probably on my way out of education. As much as I enjoy teaching, some of these students make my work life hell. After being away from bedside for a while, I think I can appreciate it a bit more.
Traditionally schools have been the gatekeepers, however, in recent years that role seems to have changed. Financial pressures, chronic shortages of faculty and nurse shortages and more have been the explanations offered by schools.
Is theNCLEX is not enough? What measures could be put in place to identify the unprepared graduate?
What could experienced nurses do to reverse the trend of lowered standards?
Daisy Joyce states that "They either have the skills to learn, or they're out." Do you agree?
Pam the Nurse
No, I don't think that the NCLEX today is enough. How can they possibly demonstrate knowledge when a student can pass at 75 questions. I also understand that the maximum number of questions has been lowered to 150 questions rather than 265. Personally I find this to be the cause of the quality of Nurses being sent out into the real world. I hear nurses that have taken the exam complain how hard it was. Let them take the boards the way I took them. A full 16 hours of testing, we tested from 8-12, then we had lunch until 1. We resumed testing from 1-5, and did the exact same thing the following day. We also did not know if we passed for 6-8 weeks. It was torture waiting for the mailman to come to get your results. It's so disappointing to me to see the changes in our profession, and not for the better..
No, I don't think that the NCLEX today is enough. How can they possibly demonstrate knowledge when a student can pass at 75 questions. I also understand that the maximum number of questions has been lowered to 150 questions rather than 265. Personally I find this to be the cause of the quality of Nurses being sent out into the real world. I hear nurses that have taken the exam complain how hard it was. Let them take the boards the way I took them. A full 16 hours of testing, we tested from 8-12, then we had lunch until 1. We resumed testing from 1-5, and did the exact same thing the following day. We also did not know if we passed for 6-8 weeks. It was torture waiting for the mailman to come to get your results. It's so disappointing to me to see the changes in our profession, and not for the better..
Standardized testing is not the problem, the entire current state of our education system is.
Students graduate high school without the skills needed to study and retain, begin their nursing journey with a minimal amount of low level college work, then get tossed into nursing programs filled with instructors who teach things that worked for them 35 years ago or nurses who rushed to their their MSN in education to get away from bedside. Combine all of this with a curriculum that is only loosely standardized and you produce nurses without critical thinking skills.
Standardized testing is not the problem, the entire current state of our education system is.
Students graduate high school without the skills needed to study and retain, begin their nursing journey with a minimal amount of low level college work, then get tossed into nursing programs filled with instructors who teach things that worked for them 35 years ago or nurses who rushed to their their MSN in education to get away from bedside. Combine all of this with a curriculum that is only loosely standardized and you produce nurses without critical thinking skills.
Totally agree. I am a nurse in a high school. and I can't even begin to tell you the sorry state our kids are in. They don't know left from right, can barely read or write, math and history, lets just not talk about those classes. It breaks my heart to say this, but the mental health issues plaguing these kids is unbelievable. The parents coddle them in a ridiculous manner. Lets wrap them in bubble wrap. All their kids are genius's, it's the teachers fault the kid is failing, not that the kid doesn't do the work required for the class. I also taught at a community college, this was just as sad. Writing skills are poor, their expectations are unreasonable. I had a student call me 4 weeks after the class ended to tell me she was ready to take her final exam, did she freak out when I told her that the class ended 4 weeks ago, so no I could not give her the final exam now. Education is exhausting....
Totally agree. I am a nurse in a high school. and I can't even begin to tell you the sorry state our kids are in. They don't know left from right, can barely read or write, math and history, lets just not talk about those classes. It breaks my heart to say this, but the mental health issues plaguing these kids is unbelievable. The parents coddle them in a ridiculous manner. Lets wrap them in bubble wrap. All their kids are genius's, it's the teachers fault the kid is failing, not that the kid doesn't do the work required for the class. I also taught at a community college, this was just as sad. Writing skills are poor, their expectations are unreasonable. I had a student call me 4 weeks after the class ended to tell me she was ready to take her final exam, did she freak out when I told her that the class ended 4 weeks ago, so no I could not give her the final exam now. Education is exhausting....
Juanito, BSN, MSN
58 Posts
I'll just say this. I'm probably on my way out of education. As much as I enjoy teaching, some of these students make my work life hell. After being away from bedside for a while, I think I can appreciate it a bit more.