Study Preferences of Generation Z Students Admitted to Medical School

Abstract

Persons born between 1995 and 2012 have been described as belonging to Generation Z (iGen), a group that follows on Generation Y, the millennials. Generation Z individuals have been described as being technologically sophisticated, dependent on mobile devices, love the internet, have short attention span, dislike reading printed material, prefer collaborative activities and learning in teams. In an effort to understand how students will adjust to a medical school’s curriculum, we asked the question: To what extent did students exhibit the characteristics of Generation Z just before they started a medical programme?We examined the study habits of students at the School of Medicine at the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus in Trinidad & Tobago. We administered a paper questionnaire during the orientation week to students admitted in August, 2019. The total number of students admitted was 236 of which 223 students belonged to the category of Generation Z.The mean age of the Generation Z group was 19.5 years (range 17 – 24) with 63% females and 37% males. The average time a student took to study before his/her mind began to wander was 48.7 minutes (CI: 44.0, 53.4). There was no significant correlation between age and attention span with r = .061 (p=.388). The number of students who preferred studying alone was 193 (86.5%); those who preferred group study totally or partially (i.e. both alone and in groups) was 30 (13.5%). Most students, 156 (70.0%), preferred studying from textbooks and other printed materials. In contrast, 67 (30.0%) preferred using online materials only or in combination with printed materials. Overall, chi‐square analysis demonstrated a significant difference between student preferences regarding materials used and studying alone or in groups (χ2 (1) = 8.945, p=0.003). Compared to students who preferred group study, students who preferred studying alone significantly preferred printed materials over online material, odds ratio 3.18 [1.45, 6.98]ConclusionThe majority of students admitted into the medical programme fit in the demographic of Generation Z. This study shows that, on admission, the vast majority of the Generation Z students preferred studying alone using printed material, and not in groups or using online material. Thus, the students’ preferred study habits (regarding studying in groups or using online materials) did not fit the expected characteristics of Generation Z. These results are similar to those of previous studies obtained for Millennials who were admitted to medical schools in Kuwait and Canada, and provide guidance to how we may think of adjusting the curriculum to facilitate learning by Generations Z & Y students.