College and university focus on picking a major may be more of a hindrance than a benefit to today’s graduating students, say business leaders.
The students of Generation Z are a confident group that almost always believe they are ready to take the next step or take on the next task, no matter how prepared they actually are. Whether it’s taking a final exam after one night’s worth of cramming or earning a promotion in their first year, today’s youth truly believe they can get the job done. Gen Z’s confidence about their capability to successfully perform in the workplace upon graduation even trickles down to their educators, as 96 percent of chief academic officers believe their graduates are ready for the workforce.
However, public view of this generation’s preparedness to contribute upon entering the workplace is shockingly different. In fact, only 11 percent of American business leaders agree that students are graduating with the necessary skills and competencies to succeed in the workplace.
So where do business leaders believe colleges and universities are falling short in graduating employable students?
According to business leaders, institutions put too much focus on “picking a major.” Getting a college degree today has been compared to the high school diploma Generation X received, but it is now about much more than the degree or major chosen. Over 90 percent of employers agree that for career success “a candidate’s demonstrated capacity to think critically, communicate clearly and solve complex problems is more important than his or her undergraduate major.”
Additionally, 97 percent of C-Suite executives believe higher education programs should expand opportunities for experiential learning and entrepreneurship (89 percent). With entrepreneurial rates well above the dot com bubble 15 years ago and 61 percent of today’s high school students dreaming of being their own employers, the entrepreneurial spirit has reemerged with Gen Z. Given their access to an unlimited supply of information, resources and mentors via the Internet, it’s easy to see why today’s high school students are eager to create their own careers.
To encourage the future success of entrepreneurs and supply American businesses with a more “skilled up” workforce that can hit the ground running upon hiring, the educational landscape needs to be revitalized. Here are three ways educators can adapt teaching models to meet the learning needs/behaviors of this entrepreneurial-minded generation to better prepare them for the workforce or launching their own business.
(Next page: 3 ways to adapt teaching models for Gen Z)
More doing, less talking
Better preparation for actual on-the-job work starts with exposing students to “more doing” in the classroom to fully master concepts being taught. The rise of a competency-based education, a model that gives students credit for direct demonstrations of learning rather than hours in a classroom, has been slow. But as employers become less concerned with the majors of their potential employees, colleges and universities must steer educational programs toward more skill-based learning.
Competency-based learning forces students and educators to focus on performing actual tasks instead of listening to a lecture and demonstrating their understanding via test-taking. Moreover, a competency-based educational program allows students more time for internships because they don’t have the same mandatory class hours as standard programs. Additional time spent working in internships instead of classrooms will better prepare students to make the immediate impact post-graduation that companies expect from their top candidates.
Flip learning with flex classes
To create a more skill-based class, educators can flip the learning experience. This means, less lecturing and allowing students to use in-class time to practice what they’ve learned.
Currently, over 85 percent of people believe that students must be able to complete a significant applied learning project to succeed in the workplace but only 14 percent of employers believe today’s students possess the knowledge or skills to do so. The flipped classroom encourages students to not only use technology to work and acquire skills, but also apply those skills continuously – much like professionals are expected to do during training.
When flipping the classroom it’s important for educators to incorporate flex classes, a learning style that offers “flex-attendance“ options to join classes “in-person” or “online” throughout the duration of a course. The implementation of a flexible, flipped classroom allows students to learn educational concepts on their own time and at their own pace, while using in-person class time to practice what they’ve learned on a regular basis and better prepare them to apply these practiced skills to a job.
Not only does flipping and flexing the classroom support skills-based learning, it can also improve overall student outcomes as 71 percent of teachers who have flipped the classroom reporting significant improvement in student grades. This model puts the pressure on students to take responsibility for their learning outcomes and establish time management techniques that will keep them on pace with the curriculum and their peers. Putting the onus on students to decide when to work and what to work on provides them with opportunity to work like professionals and develop habits that will translate to the workplace post-graduation.
Encourage social connectivity
While students need more practice learning the “hard skills” to perform the job, they also need to master softer skills, like effective communication and collaboration. And educators should take serious note: a mere 28 percent of employers believe that recent graduates have the communication skills to succeed in the workplace.
To address this gap early on, educators should make learning more social to play into this generation’s digitally-native urge to stay connected and communicate through mobile devices. Specifically, incorporating a mobile component, like live face-to-face video, text chatting, online polling and more, into the classroom will give students access to learning resources and the ability to collaborate with their classmates anywhere, anytime. Students will learn to take in new material while simultaneously collaborating with their peers through the use of technology, which are valuable skills that are necessary to succeed in today’s workplace.
While the skills needed to succeed in today’s workplace continue to evolve, the higher education landscape has remained relatively stagnant in its efforts to create learning models that support job-readiness. Just as there is no one-size-fits-all approach to learning, there are many ways to educate students with more on-the-job skills and experience before they enter the workforce. By using some of these approaches to adapt learning models, educators have a head start on better preparing our future workforce.
Dan Merritts is the executive vice president of marketing for newrow_
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