Teaching for a New Generation of Students: Understanding the Needs and Challenges of First-Year Students in the Learning Process.

The aim of the paper is to identify and analyse the needs and challenges of the new generation of first-year students in the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences at the University of the Western Cape, South Africa. The objective of the paper is to establish what these needs and challenges are, and how lecturers in this faculty could support and guide the students in order to enhance student learning and in so doing, improve the students' chances at success in their study careers. The theoretical framework of this paper draws on the views of Maslow (1954 & 1970), Rogers (1970, 1983, 2003) and Monteith (1996). These theorists maintain that students need a number of different knowledge bases that they can access and integrate to help them reach their educational goals. They need to know about themselves as learners, about the nature and requirements of different learning or educational tasks, and about a variety of study skills and learning strategies. It is hoped that the analysis and the findings from the research presented in this paper will contribute to a better understanding of the needs that the new generation of students have, and that the recommendations made will provide new ways in which the students could be assisted and guided in the learning process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]