Thanks to the consumerization of IT - most students I teach use at least 3-4 devices and are eager to express their methods at work. It is an educating experience to observe how integrated IT is with their personal and work lives...
My students appreciate the mega trends in the industry - mostly relevant to the SMB mindset. The shift in enterprise computing towards the cloud and mobile apps is clear in the classroom with products of Intuit, SalesForce, wireless technologies making a difference in their work lives. The students I came across are not so eager for lessons on Microsoft products. They seem to be familiar/ or use the web as a knowledge source for working with the Microsoft products. On data management, it is seen as part of data science, recommendation systems (such as Amazon) and social network technologies (Facebook) back end data management seems to make more sense to the generation Y.
In spite of their awareness and overwhelming usage of modern technologies, they seem to be weak in writing a technical proposal. Is it because they are so busy using the various systems in hand and are not concerned as much on how to build them? I am not sure. Systems thinking and understanding feasibility study in the classroom are a bit of a challenge as the benefits of learning following a methodology sounds old fashioned to students.
The paradigm shifts in the entertainment industry is so relevant to this generation - every student I come across seems to enjoy Apple products and through their devices and daily routines, understand the concepts of cloud! Google dictates their search and reading habits. Social networking is yet another topic - everyone is concerned about privacy and security issues, but are willing to share their information for the convenience mobility and networking offer.
I try to understand the net generation better with activities related to their thinking. They understand the multi sided business patterns of platforms such as Amazon, Google, Apple and Facebook (Gang of Four) - mostly because of how the businesses are so integrated with their personal lives. Although diverse, most students are doing multiple jobs, eager to earn a degree so they can do better at work.
My students appreciate the mega trends in the industry - mostly relevant to the SMB mindset. The shift in enterprise computing towards the cloud and mobile apps is clear in the classroom with products of Intuit, SalesForce, wireless technologies making a difference in their work lives. The students I came across are not so eager for lessons on Microsoft products. They seem to be familiar/ or use the web as a knowledge source for working with the Microsoft products. On data management, it is seen as part of data science, recommendation systems (such as Amazon) and social network technologies (Facebook) back end data management seems to make more sense to the generation Y.
In spite of their awareness and overwhelming usage of modern technologies, they seem to be weak in writing a technical proposal. Is it because they are so busy using the various systems in hand and are not concerned as much on how to build them? I am not sure. Systems thinking and understanding feasibility study in the classroom are a bit of a challenge as the benefits of learning following a methodology sounds old fashioned to students.
The paradigm shifts in the entertainment industry is so relevant to this generation - every student I come across seems to enjoy Apple products and through their devices and daily routines, understand the concepts of cloud! Google dictates their search and reading habits. Social networking is yet another topic - everyone is concerned about privacy and security issues, but are willing to share their information for the convenience mobility and networking offer.
I try to understand the net generation better with activities related to their thinking. They understand the multi sided business patterns of platforms such as Amazon, Google, Apple and Facebook (Gang of Four) - mostly because of how the businesses are so integrated with their personal lives. Although diverse, most students are doing multiple jobs, eager to earn a degree so they can do better at work.
