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Understanding This Year’s Incoming Students – Beyond the Beloit Mindset List

Beloit has published their Class of 2018 “Mindset List” to help inform instructors about the cultural references that will (or will not) make sense to the incoming class of students. While this list can be amusing, and may offer some useful information on what obscure sitcom lines may no longer make sense to 18-year-olds, it is a rather simplistic view of the students who are now coming our way.

This report is littered with “always” and “never” statements that imply that all students of this age group have had the same cultural experience. While this has always been a flaw with the report (ignoring students of different socio-economic and cultural backgrounds) this year in particular it is missing a major feature of this incoming generation: they have always had access to every other generation’s cultural references. Since they were born (on or after 1995), these students have had access to “on-demand” media. In early childhood, it began with watching VHS tapes of children’s shows over and over again. Then came DVDs, DVRs, Tivo, on-demand cable, Netflix, Hulu, and more, each providing not just the latest television and movies, but recordings of shows that their parents and grandparents also loved. This is a generation that is also used to tiny bite-sized media available through YouTube and other social media, where they can find news clips, speeches, lessons, and all manner of clips from every era when a camera was present.

This means that many students will have a more individualized experience of cultural references. There will rarely be any reference that will make sense to a wide audience in the same way as when there were only four TV networks. In my own household, references to the current seasons of the “Amazing Race” or “The Voice” will not be as familiar as lines from “Friends” or “M*A*S*H”. In particular, my youngest often identifies cultural references as being from “The Simpsons” before discovering that most had other sources.

So while the Beloit Mindset Report can remind us that we are getting old, it may not be the best source for what you can use to actually connect with this year’s incoming students.

The incoming students of Fall 2014 are the lead of a new post-millennials generation. Known by many names (“Generation Z” will get you the most hits on Google), marketers have been studying this generation for years, and their studies have more to offer about what will really help you connect to these students. (See below for a list of links to these studies.)

Some key points from these reports about the incoming generation:

  • They seek out information online when they need to learn something
  • They are used to short bursts of information (and entertainment)
  • They care about making a difference in the world
  • They came of age in an uncertain world with an uncertain economy
  • Their most popular books reflect the uncertain world they grew up in (Harry Potter, Hunger Games, Divergent) but have a hopeful outlook
  • The Internet, social media, mobile devices, and touch screens are normal, not newfangled
  • They are very adept at technological communication, but need to work on face-to-face interactions
  • They rely on their technology to remember things for them (appointments, contacts, directions)
  • They spend more time communicating with each other in words (and pictures) than by phone
  • They care more about their privacy, and are better at protecting it than their elders
  • They are comfortable publishing their own works online (text, photos, videos, etc.)
  • They want to build a future in college, but are concerned about the cost/benefit (especially after watching their older millennial “siblings” move back home with big debts)

While it’s a good idea to familiarize yourself with the cultural references that may go over the heads of your increasingly younger students, there is a lot more to learn about this generation than a few bullet points (from me or Beloit). If you are interested in really connecting with who they are, where they’re coming from, and what motivates them, it is worth digging a little further.

Where to start:

5 Things To Know About This Year’s Freshmen
Catherine Parkay, InsideTrack
http://www.insidetrack.com/5-things-know-years-freshmen/

Gen Z: Digital In Their DNA
JWT
http://www.jwtintelligence.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/F_INTERNAL_Gen_Z_0418122.pdf

Wake Up: A Strategic Intel Report on Generation Z
Omelet
http://issuu.com/thisisomelet/docs/omelet_intelligence_report_genz

Meet Generation Z: Forget Everything You Learned About Millennials
Sparks and Honey
http://www.slideshare.net/sparksandhoney/generation-z-final-june-17

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