Written by Jordan Barela, Editor-in-Chief

With all the new iPhones, Galaxies, Mac Books and even Segways comes the generation that uses this technology the most: millennials.

According to the Pew Research Center, a millennial is someone born after 1980 and is part of the first generation to come of age in the new millennium.

With millennials becoming a more prominent force in the future work force, a question comes up—how are millennials in the classroom?

Technology plays an essential role in the classroom when it comes to millennials.

The Spectator conducted an online survey to the faculty of VSU. Fifty-one faculty members completed the survey.

One of the most well-known ways to take notes is pen and paper. Of the faculty members surveyed, 76 percent said that students learned best when utilizing pen and paper. The 26 percent said that technology was the best approach to students learning.

Technology is a key component of modern classroom etiquette.  According to The Spectator survey, 37 percent of faculty said that they let her or his students use laptops in class. Nine percent let students use a tablet and three percent let students use a cellphone or smartphone. Nineteen percent of the faculty members surveyed said that she or he uses a combination of different technologies.

According to the survey, the professors that used technology in the classes use a variety of different forms. Prezis, videos, online quizzes, clickers are just some of the many responses that faculty members utilize.

In fact, 66 percent of faculty members surveyed said that they believe that technology in classroom is an asset and not a distraction.

A misconception about millennials is that they as a generation are not prepared for the workforce.  However, according to data collected by the Pew Research Center, 68 percent of male adult millennials are in the workforce, and 63 percent of female adult millennials are in the workforce.  Another survey from the Pew Research Center found that 53 percent of the labor force today is millennials, making millennials the largest generation of the labor force.

Of the faculty members surveyed, 46 percent believe that millennials are not ready for the workforce. However, 63 percent of participants believe that technology use in the classroom helps prepare millennials for the workforce.

With a new generation comes new ways for innovation. With a predilection for technology, the millennial generation is taking that predilection and applying it to all facets of their individual lives, starting with the classroom.