30.04.2019

Pop-up courses and self-designed majors:  how education is to changing to become more appealing for Gen Zers

Published in:  Education

by Pisana Ferrari – cApStAn Ambassador to the Global Village

Education is changing to better cater to Gen Zers’ specific needs, e.g. their wish to be the “architects” of their educational experience and to engage with the world as it changes. At Bennington, “pop-up” courses have been set up on  “fast-breaking issues of the day” such as natural disasters, geo-political crises, episodes of social injustice (which cannot be anticipated in academic programs). Brown University and other institutions are helping students design their own majors, the Arizona State University has reorganized many of its departments, creating new schools and interdisciplinary majors, and Sterling and the College of the Atlantic are being designed not around departments, but around certain sets of questions (sustainable food systems, environmental studies) that drive students to pursue a mission instead of a major. These are some of the examples given by Stanford’s Provost for Teaching and Education, John Mitchell, and the President of Bennington College, Mariko Silver. These changes are meaningful, they say, because programs that give students a voice also nurture personal responsibility, encourage informed activism, and reinforce educators’ mandate to build a more just and equal society.

Source: https://psmag.com/ideas/gen-z-how-to-make-college-more-relevant
See also our blog post on Gen Z: https://lnkd.in/edYZSD9

Photo credit: MD Duran @ Unsplash