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In the past, we have used Angela’s insight from Successful Beginnings to assist in providing a diverse group of students the opportunity to realize their commonness. The ideas she presents regarding student bonding and sense of community in the classroom have been implemented at the Center to make a quantifiable difference in student retention. Now, we will adapt Angela’s research from Teaching Today’s College Students on the effective use of technology in the classroom while acknowledging different levels of expertise.

We have every confidence that the application of this new information to our teaching strategies will once again prove successful because it is based on thorough research and experience. Beyond all of that, it was an interesting read!

Gail Armatys
Center for Advanced Legal Studies
Houston, TX

A friend recommended that I read Teaching Today’s College Students by Angela Provitera McGlynn. While I am not a professor at a learning institute, I am a corporate trainer and consultant and face many of the hurdles that teachers face in a traditional environment. It is not without merit to state that it behooves corporate America to pay attention to trends on our college campuses to anticipate trends in the workforce. After all, the goal of most college graduates is to find employment. The behavior, expectations and cognitive skills they express in the classroom will undoubtedly find their way into the workplace. 

This book was brilliant in explaining the current trends in college classrooms. Not only are classrooms multigenerational, they also are increasingly multiethnic and cut across the socioeconomic continuum. As a result, today’s students demonstrate differences in preparedness, skill levels, expectations, learning styles, technology intelligence and even culture. In particular, she goes into great detail on Generation Y (Net Generation), who process the world around them and their experiences almost exclusively through technology.

Ms. McGlynn thoroughly explores these differences and discusses their challenges in not only teaching, but also in interacting with students outside the classroom. She offers solutions to these obstacles and calls for a new pedagogy to rise to the challenge of teaching the Net Generation in a diverse classroom. Some of her solutions include creating an interactive classroom that encourages feedback from students to test whether they comprehend the material and encourages them to analyze the information they are given. She also encourages strong visual learning tools and applying the material to real world incidents and applications.

I will certainly use this book when preparing future presentations and training sessions. I highly recommend it to anyone whose job description includes presenting information to groups of any size.  

Sandra Singer Rauschenberger, M.Lit. Anthropology
Corporate Consultant

Anyone who makes their living imparting information to an audience knows the blank stare that tells you your audience just doesn’t get it, or, even worse, that they don’t care. Teaching Today’s College Students gets right to the heart of the matter. Ms. McGlynn uses the latest research and surveys to break the classroom down into its components. She identifies current trends leading to a multigenerational, multiethnic and multi-class learning environment. She identifies the differences between these divergent groups, including differences in preparedness, skill levels, expectations, technology intelligence and even culture. A major focus of her research is on the so called “Millennials” (Y Generation). This emerging group not only plays by different rules, they process information differently as well. Instructors, invariably from a previous generation, find the Millennials at best trying.

Ms. McGlynn explains each group in detail, including their different learning styles. She challenges instructors to adapt their methodology to encompass the increasingly diverse classroom, including the difficult Millennials. Some of her suggestions include using a detailed syllabus that encompasses everything from penalties for being late to social conduct in class and utilizing interactive instruction that engages students visually as well as aurally.

As an instructor in the corporate environment, I plan on using many of Ms. McGlynn’s refreshing and insightful suggestions. I would recommend this book to anyone who teaches whether in the traditional classroom or corporate setting.

Rachel Radwinsky, Ph.D. I/O Psychology

I have known Angela Provitera McGlynn for over 20 years. As one of my teachers in college, she had a profound impact on me as a student and on my future career. As a direct result of her skill in inspiring her students, I went on to become a Ph.D. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology.

I am once again impressed with her teaching skills. In her book, Teaching Today’s College Students, Professor McGlynn expertly identifies current trends and the obstacles instructors face in the modern learning environment. As an adjunct professor at several colleges, and as a professional trainer and consultant, this book has put the challenges I face in teaching into a new perspective.

Today, classrooms are multigenerational, multiethnic and they encompass all socioeconomic levels. Students display a large range of preparedness, skill levels, expectations, learning styles and technology intelligence. The most striking difference is with Generation Y (Millennials), who are creating a whole new reality removed from traditional values and social rules through their heavy use of technology. By comparison, Millennials are more wired, more connected and more demanding than any other group.

Professor McGlynn offers a new pedagogy in teaching the Net generation, while taking into account the reality of an increasingly diverse classroom environment. She offers insightful solutions to getting around these challenges, such as making classroom conduct part of the syllabus, and calls for replacing traditional lecturing with an interactive classroom that engages student through feedback and discussion.

For instructors, this is a wakeup call that teaching is a dynamic skill that must be adapted as our students’ needs evolve over time. I’m certainly heeding the call and will be recommending this book to my colleagues.

Paul Gillard, Ph.D. Psychology
Consultant