It should come as no surprise to me that the longer I work at UBC, the younger the students look. I can’t tell the difference between someone who is 17 and 26 and even photos of newly appointed faculty members make me feel “old”.

I frequently wonder how the generational gap between educators and students affects the teaching and learning of undergraduates. Given that 87% of undergraduate students at UBC are 25 years or younger, there is a compelling need to better understand how these students like to learn and how they learn best.

I recognize there is a whole literature on the first year experience (FYE) (see note 1) and a growing recognition of these students’ needs. See, for example, the research section of the National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition (USA).

I have not yet delved into that scholarship and perhaps the answers to “How do young undergraduates like to learn?” and “What teaching practices best promote their learning?” are in the FYE literature.

However, If I were an overworked and overwhelmed instructor and wanted some accessible ideas to address the above questions–specifically as it pertains to young undergraduate students–I might feel out of luck. A quick google search with the search terms “How do undergraduates like to learn?” brings up many results along the lines of “What courses should you take” or “What’s it like to study [history, business, physics etc]?”. Everything reads like it was written by someone my age:)

Note 1: As an educational developer, I am well aware of the excellent and extensive literature on teaching and learning in post-secondary. What I’m eager to discover is whether there is accessible and current literature that focuses on the young adult. 

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