Introduction

The dynamics of time have undergone a profound transformation, marked by a shift in generations. These changes affect every aspect of our lives, highlighting the need to adapt to the evolving landscape of nursing education. It's not just about adjusting the curriculum; it's also crucial to understand the students of today, who have different beliefs and values compared to previous generations. Recognizing this necessity emphasizes the importance of recognizing and adapting to their unique qualities. Nowadays, most of us, being educators experience that we are being challenged by nursing students based on what they have found on the internet.

They can get almost all the answers via an online search, without any effort. On the other hand, when we look at ourselves, we struggle deep down into a rabbit hole., which these learners don’t want to do. Incidences like this state that there is a significant generational gap exists between educators and students. The upbringing and experiences of Generation Y educators differ markedly from those of Generation Z and the emerging Generation Alpha learners. To bridge this gap, Generation Y educators must remain aware of the latest trends and innovations. This necessitates a paradigm shift in teaching methodologies and a profound understanding of these younger generations' unique characteristics and learning styles.

There is insufficient comprehension regarding the distinct attributes of contemporary nursing students. To teach Gen Z students, it is important to examine the sociocultural influences that shaped their worlview [1]. According to Cheryl Williams, Nursing faculty may need to be flexible with course and curriculum planning. Because many nursing faculty are older and more likely to be of Generation X or older Generation Y, so, generational differences in nursing education will be apparent, particularly as they relate to the use of technology. Gen Z students have been called technology savants, constantly adapting to new technology and expecting their teachers to do the same. This could potentially be a problem if nursing faculty have not yet embraced technology in the classroom or if nursing school/college administrators have not updated and offered faculty development about learning technology [1].

GenZ learn by observation and practice. They do not want lectures and prefer doing them over memorizing. GenZers learn by solving real-world problems. Communication with Gen Z students may also be different. Gen Z students do not engage in long conversations, communicating instead in, short bits and pieces [1]. Their preferred style of communication is texting, Twitter, Snapchat etc. According to a growing body of literature, Generation Z tends to be less resilient, less mentally tough and suffers from higher levels of anxiety and depression [3]. This can be because of the unrealistic comparison of themselves with others.

Learning styles and activities

Generation Z learners expect technology instead of books as there is a decline in reading habits of not more than 30 minutes a day and they prefer storytelling to reading books. They prefer learning independently via online and they want to learn from passionate educators who maintain content expertise and do enthusiastic teaching, keeping them involved throughout. A study done by Koh and colleagues, it was found that breaking a typical 1- hour of lecture into three or four short lectures, followed by a practical exercise, improved learning outcomes, which is very similar to that of consuming small chunks of information in online platforms as many Generation Z students do. Bowen and Mandernach believe that student engagement can be defined in four related ways: (1) engagement with learning process through participation activities (active learning ), (2) experienced-based or object-focused learning (experiential learning), (3) focus on real world context of study (multidisciplinary learning ), and (4) engagement with human condition or basics of human existence (service learning )[2]. Behavioral aspects include course involvement, attendance, and other active learning responses. Cognitive aspects are represented by mental effort students put into learning, including amount of work they do in course and how they deal with course challenges. Emotional or affective aspects of engagement relate to emotional connection to course experience, amount of investment made in learning, and student's sense of interest and enjoyment in experience. Students are most deeply engaged in courses when educators individualize and personalize materials as much as possible and make connections to student life [2].

Practical exercises and assigned group activities can prove to be effective for them, as they value peer and educator relationships. Educators can also maintain engagement through question-and-answer sessions.

Challenges faced by the nurse educators/ faculties

The generational gap between the educator and learner is the main cause of the challenges faced today. Understanding our learners and keeping our educators updated can help to overcome the challenges faced.

• Traditional teaching models, lecture methods, and theory-based methods may not align with the learner's need for interactive and visual learning.
• Technology integration is another challenge faced. Educators may face challenges in keeping up with the latest tech- tools and platforms that may appeal to learner Generations.
• Screen time balancing issues are. Over-reliance on digital tools might affect health and other issues like decreased interpersonal communication skills.

Strategies to overcome the challenges

First of all, we need to incorporate advanced technologies in our teaching-learning activities, for which educators need to keep themselves updated with in-service programmes etc. This will promote the use of Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality for simulation-based learning in clinical scenarios. Incorporating AI-driven adaptive learning platforms for personalised education and leveraging mobile apps for quick access to clinical guidelines and resources can also be helpful.

Secondly, educators must focus on experiential learning by increasing the use of case studies, role -plays and peer-le discussions. This will foster practical skills. Early exposure to clinical environments/ settings can be done through simulation labs and internships.

Lastly, gamification techniques can be “ The Game changer”. Educators can introduce nursing quizzes, challenges or scenario-based questionnaires to bombard the learner’s critical thinking abilities. This will not only keep the learner involved but will encourage active participation.

• It is one of the most widely used and easiest-to-use open-source e-learning platforms in higher education. It allows the integration of a wide range of resources, from chats and forums to online booklet, a variety of questions, exercises and lecture notes, in addition to multimedia resources such as graphics, video or audio, PowerPoint, and Flash-based applications [7].
• Padlet: Padlet is a digital tool that can be used like a bulletin board, which can provide space for collaboration between students, lecturers and colleagues. However, it can also be used by a single user. Padlet is multimedia that is adapted so that it can be used for the integration of text, images, video, sound and other elements including web pages, and there are several different board formats and backgrounds that you can choose from https://padlet.com. Padlet can be created by anyone almost without effort. For example, lecturers can create a Padlet for their teaching and students can create one based on their own needs or to collaborate [8].
• Mentimeter: Mentimeter, found athttps://www.mentimeter.com, provides an integrated, cloud-based system to present course content and engage students with interactive questions, word clouds, live polling, quizzes, and short surveys [9].
• Nearpod: this tool helps to create interactive lessons based on real-world applications
• Edpuzzle: Introducing Edpuzzle to students before their lab sessions helped increase student learning in biochemistry courses as reported in a study [10]. This application helps students maximize their learning outcomes while giving teachers an insight into the areas that students perceive as difficult.
• Case Study Generator: This tool helps in the generation/development the scenarios for practical discussion.

Similarly, a plethora of innovative applications are available online that are designed to make teaching engaging and sustain interest over extended periods. Notable examples include Classcraft, Pear Deck, Headspace or Clam, Moodkit, SHE, ePals, UpToDate, NCSBN learning extension, Blackboard Collaborate, Microsoft Teams or Slack, zSpace, Coursera and EdApp, Knowji and Quizlet.

Funding: Nil

Conflicts of Interest: The author declares no conflict of interest.

References