What is the difference, if there is such, between the students of today and those of the late 2000s? How to teach the new generation? These questions are discussed more frequently by the education community.

This is why "Modern Students – What Are They Like and How to Teach Them" was chosen as the topic for Method.GSOM discussion club.

 

Method.GSOM discussion club is a project by the Teaching Excellence Lab in Business Education of GSOM SPbU. TEL unites leaders, professors and methodologists from state and corporate universities of Russia and CIS countries online to discuss current issues in teaching methods and find the solutions together. Members of Method.GSOM expert community spoke at the event on March 2 and moderated it.

 

During the discussions Russian university professors shared their experience and opinion on the image of a modern student. The participants mentioned such traits as mobility, proactivity, purposefulness and eagerness to demonstrate individuality. An important feature of the new generation determined during the meeting is that some students may know some topics better than the lecturer and have personal practical experience that they can share with the group. We have to note that modern students see themselves as having high levels of communication skills, proactivity and digital literacy, but in reality this may be different.

Speakers noted that it is often challenging for modern students to speak in public and give any answers orally. The participants concluded that how students feel may be different from what skills they really have, and it's teachers' task to help them assess their level of competences and skills and determine the vectors for growth and development based on their strengths.

At the same time, the participants of the event agreed that when characterizing modern students it is important to focus on certain groups professors work with. Group dynamics and specific features of a certain group may often differ from the data of representative studies. Professors have to plan courses so as to be flexible in such cases.

The participants also discussed changes in the modern world and transformation of demands to the education system. All these changes require adaptation to the methods of teaching together with implementation of advanced technologies. Modern students in the era of digitalization quickly notice if professors lack knowledge of up-to-date technology and use only traditional teaching approaches. This means that both students and teachers have to learn continuously in the world of modern education, which is becoming part of everyday practice.

Join Method.GSOM discussion club as a participant or speaker.

You can also suggest the topic for the next event by sending an email to tel@gsom.spbu.ru.