Beyond organisations and businesses, the prevalence of technology is also changing the way today’s youths live and learn. Since today’s youths, dubbed Gen Z, are increasingly technology-savvy and enterprising, the methods of engaging them will have to evolve as well.
“The thing that will disrupt us here in the Institutes of Technical Education is the next generation of students, namely Gen Z students born from 1995 onwards,” said Union of ITE Training Staff (UITS) College West Chairman William Tan.
With strong management support, the union recently collaborated with NTUC’s Organising Resource Centre and U Startup to organise “Engaging & Teaching Generation Z” on 6 October 2017 at ITE College West. The seminar was organised to give union members a better perspective on Gen Z students and how to better engage them in the classroom.
Tapping The Network
At the event, 22-year-old Jayren Teo, president of EDGE, the youth wing of the Action Community for Entrepreneurship, a U Startup partner, was invited to give his take on the typical characteristics of a Gen Z student with some 100 union members and ITE College West management partners, many of them lecturers.
“It was good to disrupt ourselves by getting a Gen Z speaker to share perspectives, and have booths that showcased what this new generation of students are into, such as doodling, virtual reality and cosplay. This helps give our members a better perspective of just what this new generation of students are about, and find out how to understand and engage them,” said Mr Tan.
This was the second such engagement the union has done with the Labour Movement network. An earlier session was organised in 2016 with NTUC’s e2i (Employment and Employability Institute) on how to tap the Union Training Assistance Programme (UTAP) and SkillsFuture Credit (SFC).
