Adapt or Perish: Challenges for B School Teachers

“We don’t have a generation gap. We have a generation Grand Canyon”- Mary Barve Bird

Profound dissimilarities exist between teachers and students in higher education institutions as a result of generation gap. Many studies hold it responsible for being one of the most glaring reason for communication barrier which affects course outcomes adversely. Although different time periods for generations gaps have been postulated by Sociologists in terms of taste, actions, beliefs, emotions, political views, technical knowledges, sensitivity and other things, its pervasiveness and dysfunctional impact became conspicuous during lock downs caused by COVID -19 outbreak.

Generation gap in B - Schools

Consider a business school wherein most of us as faculty are either Baby Boomers (born between 1946-64) or Gen X people (also known as Baby Bust, born between 1965-79) who communicate with Millennial Generation Y (also referred known as Gen Next) and Gen Z (iGen) students. These class rooms are perfect examples of a place where generation gap breeds as a “Line of disconnect” as teachers find it difficult to engage with students even using traditional methods of face to face instructions. And whatever little connect that existed in traditional setups, they became the first casualty due to disruptions caused by the novel corona virus and classes were halted abruptly. The chasm that separates the teachers of today and Gen Y students were became evident due to COVID-19 as blended teaching - learning became necessary to complete academic backlogs.

Did we really need a pandemic to learn that harrowing gaps exist between many faculty and Gen Y students who are usually liberal, insanely tech savvy, self-expressive and confident? These kids may sometimes seem as selfish, narcissistic, lazy and delusional, but most of them are open to new ideas, new ways of learning and doing things, are digitally connected and hugely informed. Baby boomer or Gen X facilitators are expected to engage with them and impart life learning lessons while generation shift has already created a huge barrier. Can we prepare them to be future ready with yesterdays’ knowledge and mindset?

Who are they?

Do we ever try to understand millennial students from their perspective? Have we improved on our digital skills to be able to communicate with them in the most productive manner? How many of us do really know the world in which they live in? While baby boomers like us love Don Williams, Kishore Kumar, Manna Dey, KL Sehgal, millennials embrace singers (and bands) like The Weeknd, Adele, Maroon Five, Drake, Eminem, Snoop Dogg, KT Perry and others. While some of us keep our self busy with online games like Solitaire and Sudoko, do we have any idea about the favourites of millennial which include PUBG, Call of Duty (CoD), DOTA and other popular digital games full of strategies and agility. For the students of current generation, best of the TV shows are Money Heist, Breaking Bad, Modern Family, Naruto & One Piece (Jap TV show/Anime) and we still talk about “Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai”! How many of us cried (or even knew) when Paul Walker of Fast & Furious died in an accident and the song in his tribute “See you soon” became the 2nd highest YouTube video with more than 5 billion hits (meaning more than half of the world’s population has watched the video). While baby boomers have become a bit smarter and know how to use Whatsapp and Facebook, millennial kids have moved on to Instagram, Snapchat and other platforms all the time, connected with each other and yet remain lonely.

Millennial generation of higher educational institutions form the fastest growing and digitally connected workforce. Gen Y students are armed with smartphones, laptops, IPad and other gadgets plugged with them 24/7. Their ability to instantaneously connect with each other through Instagram, text/chat messaging and other platforms is unbelievable. For them, Google is the best teacher, Slideshare is the best source for power point presentations, Linkedin is the place to get connected, Scribd is source for books, Stackoverflow & Github for coding issues, Quora for posting questions and Spinbot to save them from getting caught from plagiarism.

Experiential learning: The biggest casualty

Generation gap in business schools is a major reason to be worried about as students don’t seem to have shared culture with teachers thus affecting the very purpose of experiential learning in class rooms. Lacking sense of synthesis with Gen Y students, which gets predominant because of digital slackness of teachers is a serious issue. The COVID-19 simply exposed many when they had to struggle to even connect with students, and adapt new norms of their profession.

Often students are found in the classrooms due to attendance compulsions or fear of surprise quizzes. As many of them believe that faculty sharing is conceptual and easily available on the net, their hunger for experiential and achievement oriented learning remains largely unsatisfied. They have high expectations from their teachers even if they seem to lack commitment, discipline and drive. This is perceived by us as a gradual decline in the quality of students and their disinterest. However, many faculty believe that an honest introspection can help one see that millennials are loyal and committed generation and they want attention, praise, assurance and effective mentoring?

Need for hybrid expertise

Engaging classes in a traditional format and online facilitation along with content delivery are two different challenges. A survey conducted in 2018 by Scott, Jaschik & Doug Lederman of Inside Higher Ed & Gallup suggests that more faculty experienced improvement in their teaching skills as result of conducting online classes. Most commonly, online teaching caused them to think more critically about how to engage students with course content and make better use of tools such Kahoot, MS Team etc.

Will blended learning be a better way to connect with Gen Y students who have access to gadgets 24/7? It is expected, as a study conducted by Gallup asserts that students are likely to be better engaged with hybrid combination of remote and on-site learning. B School faculty should therefore make the most optimum use of Learning Management System (LMS) or Learning Experience Platform LEP) to share course outline, conduct tests, shares grades or any other material with students.

As new norms accentuated by pandemic are here to stay, faculty must play their cards right to avoid causing collateral damage for all stakeholders. Need to upgrade skills can not be seen as an institutional responsibility. It is up to the teachers to upgrade seamlessly and integrate with the world of youngsters. A quick adaptability of technology and learning the art of blended learning is most likely to bring facilitators closer to Gen Y students and help them understand and connect with each other effectively. Baby boomers, being a most adaptive generation so far, can do it as they’ve done it earlier. “Publish or perish” should therefore be redefined to “Adapt or perish”