{"id":197,"date":"2018-12-06T10:41:44","date_gmt":"2018-12-06T15:41:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/engineering\/?p=197"},"modified":"2018-12-06T10:41:44","modified_gmt":"2018-12-06T15:41:44","slug":"educating-genzers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/engineering\/2018\/12\/06\/educating-genzers\/","title":{"rendered":"Educating GenZers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A recent report by Jeffrey Selingo of <em>The Chronicle of Higher Education<\/em>, \u201cThe New Generation of Students,\u201d discusses the learning habits of Gen Z students (Gen Zers), those born between 1995 and 2012, and implications for higher education.\u00a0 It is an interesting read that contrasts the habits of Gen Zers versus Millennials (born 1980 to 1995) and Generation X (1965 to 1980).<\/p>\n<p>I was encouraged to learn that this generation is concerned with an education that can be applied and is open to a mix of learning styles \u2013 but extremely interested in experiential learning. \u00a0A few takeaways that grabbed my attention, especially with our approach at UMass Lowell:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Degree relevance and job placement are crucial<\/strong>: GenZers are focused on education that leads to a career.\u00a0 The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uml.edu\/engineering\/\">Francis College of Engineering<\/a> offers eight bachelor\u2019s degree programs with additional options and minors such that a student can tailor their education to their desired career outcomes.\u00a0 Furthermore, job placement rates have been well over 90 percent across <em>all<\/em> Engineering majors for a number of years \u2013 our graduates are in high demand from employers across the region, state, and nation.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Value and low debt are important<\/strong>: This generation is extremely concerned with rising student debt and its potential to alter or delay life-changing decisions, such as moving for a job, buying a house, or starting a family.\u00a0 At UMass Lowell, our mission statement specifically uses the word \u201caffordable,\u201d as we strive for accessibility by keeping tuition low and providing significant financial aid.\u00a0 According to cappex.com, 89% of student need is met.\u00a0 Furthermore, we offer many forms of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uml.edu\/thesolutioncenter\/employment\/\">student employment<\/a> while on campus and our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uml.edu\/student-services\/Career-Services\/Cooperative-Education\/\">professional co-op programs<\/a>, especially in Engineering, provide students the opportunity to gain valuable experience while making competitive wages.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Services trump amenities<\/strong>: While every student wants the opportunity to exercise in a shiny new gymnasium, this generation would rather receive support in areas ranging from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uml.edu\/CLASS\/\">tutoring<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uml.edu\/student-services\/Career-Services\/\">career services<\/a> to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uml.edu\/student-services\/Counseling\/\">counseling<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uml.edu\/student-services\/Wellness-Center\/default.aspx\">wellness<\/a>. As noted by these links, UMass Lowell is dedicated to helping students succeed, in and out of the classroom.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Experiential learning<\/strong>: The study reports on the desire for students to apply their knowledge from research projects to internships, both independently and collaboratively.\u00a0 In my opinion, this is a strength of UMass Lowell.\u00a0 In Engineering, we pride ourselves in providing a hands-on education, seen clearly through our large number of laboratory course offerings. \u00a0However, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uml.edu\/Engineering\/experiential-learning\/\">opportunities outside of the classroom<\/a> are even greater \u2013 professional co-op, student club competitions, innovative senior design options, research opportunities, and the annual DifferenceMaker Idea Challenge and Prototyping Competitions \u2013 just to name a few!<\/li>\n<li><strong>Soft skills and entrepreneurship<\/strong>: I lumped these two items together because, in my opinion, they go hand-in-hand.\u00a0 Being entrepreneurial requires that one looks for opportunities to improve a situation or start something new that is valuable.\u00a0 To do so takes creativity and grit, but it also takes the soft skills \u2013 communication, persuasion, and leadership \u2013 to bring great ideas to fruition.\u00a0 Our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uml.edu\/Innovation-Entrepreneurship\/DifferenceMaker\/default.aspx\">DifferenceMaker<\/a> program provides training and workshops on these topics, but also sponsors competitions that allow students to practice what they have learned.\u00a0 An astounding 19 companies have been formed from our last six years of competitions!\u00a0 Furthermore, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uml.edu\/rhed\/\">River Hawk Experience Distinction<\/a> is a credential that combines coursework with experiential learning to guide students in developing soft skills.\u00a0 Areas include Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Global Engagement and Community Engagement.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This list fills me with great optimism!\u00a0 If students are looking for value and support on a career path that is defined by experiential learning to develop skills beyond a textbook, then faculty should be excited about our next generation of learners.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A recent report by Jeffrey Selingo of The Chronicle of Higher Education, \u201cThe New Generation of Students,\u201d discusses the learning habits of Gen Z students (Gen Zers), those born between 1995 and 2012, and implications for higher education.\u00a0 It is &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/engineering\/2018\/12\/06\/educating-genzers\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":283,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[25,45],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/283"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=197"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":198,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197\/revisions\/198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}