Millennial Students and the Social Organization of College Education

Although Millennial students are touted as team-oriented and skilled in collaborative work, effect size estimates of relevant cohort effects are small. Rather than just dismissing the team-oriented characterization of Millennials as an exaggeration, this paper conceptualizes team-orientation and collaborative skills as modifiable characteristics of all college students; it advocates for the systematic application of research-based cooperative learning practices in college classrooms in order to improve all students’ collaborative skills, achievement motivation, and academic performance. Principles underlying effective cooperative learning strategies are well established, but not frequently implemented fully in college classrooms. This paper examines challenges of applying cooperative learning in small seminars and larger lecture classes at the college level