Alex Holten Source 5

How is a professor expected to connect with generation Y if there is such a huge gap in understanding between professors and students?

Peter, Reilly. "Understanding and Teaching Generation Y." Understanding and Teaching Generation Y (2012): 1-10. ERIC. 2012. Web. 8 Mar. 2016. <http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ971235.pdf>.

With technology being newly implanted into our society, there is a huge ability gap in the use and understanding of technology between professors and students. Our generation is much more technologically intelligent than the preceding generation. Does our tech-savviness impair us from being able to use technology as it was intended in the classroom by older generations? The previous sources have assumed that in order to fix the problem of technology in the classroom, we need to further the use of technology. Why are we adding more technology if our generation is impaired by the use of it? Should we be working backwards? Should professors be the only one in the classroom to have access to technology? If a professor is lecturing, why should students need anything else besides a pen and paper to learn? Technology can be used during time outside of the classroom. Maybe we should be reversing the use of technology in the classroom instead of working so hard to better it by adding more. Generation Y, or the Net Gen, is a generation born into "information technology... prefer to multitask rather than focus on one thing at a time... more attracted to peer or web video than what their professors have to say. (1)" We have not known a world without technology. The failure to look at the subjects was the key fallback in the sources I have already looked at. Are these characteristics basically intrinsic? Is the media dependency we show now in our higher education classrooms a direct result of the generation we were brought up in? On page 2, a question in the source arose: How can teachers compare to the entertainment Generation Y students receive while at home?

This source allowed me to think deeper into the reasoning of our generation. I now think that teachers should not be searching for the answers in measures of student achievement because the entirety of the generation is constant. They should be researching the reverse of technology in the classroom as well as the further integration. The key issue is entertainment in the classroom, so entertain them. Why should students' personal technological devices be allowed in the classroom if all they are doing is causing distraction? At least if devices are banned, students are more conscious when they are sneaking a peek at social media, opposed to the luxury of being able to freely scroll while a professor lectures. A professor has all the tools to entertain a student, but the question is, how do they connect with us if they make us mad by taking away our toys? The answer is visual learning.

The other sources examined the quantitative effects on technology in the classroom compared to other students of the same generation. Yeah, of course technology will improve grades compared to traditional classrooms because the traditional classroom, technology free does not appeal to us. However, this source brings up the idea of the professor "entertaining" the students, while the students remain technology free. I like the way this source thought more critically about the problem than the other sources. All studies these days look for quantitative data instead of observable. The source, however, did have some flaws as it neglected to take into consideration the poor of society and their lack of upbringing in the technological world.

Being my last source, I have a pretty clear understanding of my research and where it has gone, and how it has altered my thinking. Many new ideas have helped me gain a better understanding of technology in higher education. Most of my sources worked together, disagreeing on some concepts, but all working towards the betterment of higher education students. The journals have greatly increased my critical thinking process, and I think it will be easy to map out the exploratory paper.

1. Generation Y (1981–1999). This gen- eration came into being during the last two decades of the 20th century. Its members are identified as confident and technologically advanced, and they come with a sense of entitlement.