September 8, 2009

Who are these new students?

Every August, Ron Nief and Tom McBride compile and publish the Beloit College Mindset List, in which they identify key cultural experiences and current events that characterize the life experiences and “mindset” of students we will meet in our classes as entering students this fall. As Nief and McBride note on their web site, this list is a helpful reminder of the sometimes dramatic differences between the life experience and cultural expectations of entering students and faculty. Advances in technology and popular culture can create divisions between generations that can impair effective communication. Knowing about these generational differences can help faculty better understand why some examples and cultural references that worked perfectly well a few years ago now draw puzzled looks or glazed expressions.

Access the current Beloit College Mindset List at the following URL:
http://www.beloit.edu/mindset/

Note: The topic of the October 16 Faculty Friday will be Generations in the Classroom: Characteristics of New Students and Strategies to Promote Classroom Civility. Join colleagues for lunch and a discussion of strategies for coping with generational differences in the classroom.

 

Updated 09/08/09