To effectively engage Gen Z and Gen Alpha students, teaching methods may need to incorporate more technology, foster collaborative learning, and emphasize real-world applications. Additionally, integrating personalized learning approaches and promoting critical thinking can address their unique learning preferences. What specific areas are you considering for these changes?

Thank you Remelda Nedruda Egano. Highly appreciate what you have listed. And by the methods I had listed in the question we are able to foster collaborative learning as well as promote them to be active in case based scenarios. I agree in totality with all what you have listed.

Is there anything more we can do to make them 'active adult learners' and make them motivated to be acquiring higher order skills - both in psychomotor domain and contextual learning.

Already the assessments are in tune with Experiential learning.

I think, the evolving needs of Gen Z and Gen Alpha students require significant adjustments in teaching-learning methods, particularly in medical education. While Competency-Based and Outcome-Based approaches, along with tools like Small Group Discussions (SGDs), Early Clinical Exposure (ECE), Integrated Learning (IL), and Problem-Based Learning (PBL), have brought innovations, these methods may not fully capture the attention of digital-native generations. Gen Z and Gen Alpha students thrive on interactivity, instant feedback, and technology-driven learning, making it essential to incorporate more blended learning, virtual simulations, gamification, and AI-driven personalized learning experiences. Engaging these students requires an approach that balances traditional pedagogies with digital integration, ensuring active participation and a deeper understanding of complex medical concepts. Institutions must remain flexible and continually adapt to emerging technologies to meet the expectations of future learners.

Thank you Hendricks John Mambwe. I completely agree with you.

Does eliminating almost all subjectivity, thereby making maximum objectivity for all sorts of assessments help the scenario?

We often say Assessment drives Learning - does timely and stringent formative as well as summative assessments do motivate the Gen Z learners the same way it worked for the Gen Y/ Millenials.

Or will it be more counterproductive? Research has shown the Gen Z to be more fragile, and not very efficient under situations of pressure or competition. Gen Z also has genuine difficulties to read through paragraphs of literature in order to assimilate the same - they are more equipped or engineered for visual or auditory pathways of learning.

Do we have to consciously try to reverse engineer them and instill a few limited capabilities of the Gen Y, or leave them as they are

In fact, eliminating subjectivity to enforce maximum objectivity in assessments could backfire, especially with Gen Z learners. While assessments can drive learning, strict, high-pressure testing environments may not motivate Gen Z the same way they did Gen Y or Millennials. Gen Z tends to thrive in less competitive, more supportive environments and is better suited to learning through visual and auditory mediums rather than dense textual analysis. Trying to reverse-engineer them by imposing Gen Y traits may be counterproductive. Instead, education should adapt to their strengths, incorporating varied assessment methods that balance objectivity with creative, flexible approaches that cater to their learning styles.

Thank you for your response.

Como docentes, tenemos el deber de cambiar al ritmo y de acuerdo de las actuales sociedades, conformadas con cambios generacionales, Pues, La generación Z, corresponde a una juventud-centrismo, activo. Si esta generación, domina y está inmersa en la tecnología y redes sociales, los docentes debemos hacer frente a sus necesidades, Los maestros no podemos estar fuera del camino tecnológico en el que ya están las generaciones que nos proceden. Somos los que debemos implementar el cambio en la enseñanza-aprendizaje, porque los estudiantes ya lo tienen en las redes.

Para ello, se necesitan estrategias y materiales que impliquen el uso de las tecnologías.

La breve atención de 7 segundos que tiene la generación Z, nos obliga a diseñar estrategias con el uso de la tecnología, para un aprendizaje activo, cooperativo y dinámico; mismo que utilizarán en un ámbito laboral globalizado.

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Thank you Lucina Martinez Villeda for your inputs

I will share my experiences. I have been into teaching for more than fifteen years. My subject is forensic medicine. I am a forensic surgeon and at present a professor. I have also been trained in medical education technologies thereby heading the Teacher Training Unit too, as I am involved in training all the doctors in campus and from outside.

As part of the Competency Based Teaching Learning strategies whatever that has been shared by both the respected colleagues above stand true. Hence even my focus is less on the lecture hours, but more on small group discussions or one to one discussion with the learners. Though this is very time consuming to have on a daily basis within the stipulated working hours it is very much doable when we have an excellent set of colleagues in the very same department, since all are with the progressive mind set.

We have a lot of PBLs especially for competencies pertaining to medicolegal autopsies - I handle these competencies mostly as I take care of the autopsies in the campus. The students take time slots in advance, solve these scenarios, prepare the autopsy report and come for an one to one discussion with me - with their portfolio and the log book. The portfolio will be evaluated and the grades would be logged in the log book that would be signed by the learner and the facilitator/ faculty.

Many of the students are finding sessions like this very motivating, eye-opening and as an opportunity to correct their contextual thinking in a simulated scenario. I also have successfully blended few of the qualities of Gen Y into them whereby they have to read on postmortem findings and search for information in journals to tackle the scenarios - they would be objectively evaluated in order to understand how they found out the outcomes - for example the time since death of the decedent or how they concluded the head injury to be the cause of death or why they want to send histopathology examination in a particular case and so on and so forth. This sort of discussion after PBL scenarios are now motivating them to read much more, think more, develop a lot of patience and be organised and also to be honest. As a doctor it is very important for their professionalism to be developed - they cannot be impatient or expect instant results, as these would hamper them in the future. Moreover such discussions are now a sort of mentoring or counselling for them - whereby they understand the need for changes without we putting pressure on them.

There are fast and slow learners - they are handled differently - students also have the choice to choose which faculty member they would like to opt for these discussions - someone who really wants to go deep into the 'rabbit hole' of scenarios would prepare to that extent and do meet me itself. Such students are having the option to get better grades. Some students who just wants a completion signature or who just wants to be done with the PBLs without the hassle of in depth discussions can meet a junior faculty member too.

Those who wants to go beyond their comfort zone and thereby improve are using that opportunity too.

Logbook grades are considered into formative assessment and the portfolio evaluation are also considered in the same manner. Some of them try to use AI applications for solving the PBLs which we discourage by all means, and we counsel them as to why they cannot use the same - unless the learners are developing the contextual thinking skills with proper reasoning they would be handicapped in the real community outside - this they do understand when it is being explained - in short I tell them that they have to be so much competent as a doctor that in case one day if I fall sick and reach to their OPD or ER, I should feel that I am in safe hands. And they agree to this.