Engaging Millennial Students
Today’s 18-32 year olds that are sitting in your classes have a hard time sitting still for long. They just do not want to hear someone talking non-stop for an hour or even 20 minutes. The rules of engagement are different for the Millennials, yet are relevant for all age groups. Maybe this group of adult learners are challenging us to be better teachers and make the learning experience more interactive, interesting, and dynamic.
What are the traits of a Millennial?
-Confident
-Limited attention span
-Likes to work in teams
-Achievers
-Ambitious
-Family Oriented
-Tech Savvy
-Wants acceptance
What are some teaching strategies that we can use to inspire Millennials and keep their attention?
-Use technology. Integrate powerpoints into your teaching. Make sure the slides have something meaningful to offer or you will never hear the end of it from these students. They will let you know if your slides are space fillers. Think of what images you can use to capture and keep their attention. Think of yourself as an author, you want to keep your audience’s attention. What powerful words and images can you use on your slides? Use a Youtube video if you can find some that are relevant or videos from other websites. Millennials get excited when they see you entering the internet.
-Keep it short and meaningful. If you linger too long on a subject and repeat yourself, you will lose them. Have handouts with the information that they need to remember or give them reading assignments or a research assignment to provide them additional learning experiences.
-Change it up. Since Millennials have a shorter attention span. Change the way you present every 10 to 20 minutes. You can use a combination of powerpoints, short videos, lecture, demonstrations, group activity, a puzzle to solve, or self-reflection (a writing assignment to elaborate on the deeper meaning of what was taught).
-Encourage team work. Millennials love to work in groups. They love to provide feedback to their fellow students. Find projects that students can work in teams to fulfill their learning requirements. Collaborative problem solving can enhance their learning experience and motivate them to want to learn.
-Provide examples. Providing Millennials real life examples of what you are teaching piques their attention. This offers them the opportunity to see how and why it is important for them to learn what you have to teach. You can also turn this around and ask them to provide you some examples of what you are teaching. This allows student interaction and lets the teacher know if they are understanding what is being taught.
-Feedback. Millennials expect feedback. This group of adult learners is used to getting feedback from their parents. They thrive when they received feedback. It helps them to understand where they are in their process of achieving their goals.
Integrating these teaching strategies benefits adult learners of all ages. Tapping into our creative side will help us to address the Millennials’ needs and make us better teachers. The days of standing in front of the class for fifty or more minutes lecturing are over. Thank goodness!
Dawn Fleming, holistic health instructor, trainer, and mentor. She is the Director of Energy Transformations School of Energy Healing and the author of Teaching Workshops Effectively, Heat Rising: Survive and Thrive Through Menopause, Navigating the Continuing Education Approval Process, Creating a Successful Holistic Health Practice, and Mastering Reiki. Her website is