"Young people have exalted notions because they have not yet been humbled by life or learned its necessary limitations"- Aristotle

There is the assumption that each generation is more educated than the one that preceded it, and it’s a fact that each generation is confronted with different conditions for their learning. Adapting to the generation of students in front of teachers is tempting, especially when technology is at stake and contributes to very different learning experiences. But the fact that Generation Z has grown up with a cell phone in their hands does not mean they are using it in an ‘intelligent’ way. Does texting, creating TikTok videos, watching YouTube tutorials, or using ChatGPT confirm intelligence? Or do we confuse ‘educated’ with ‘smart(er)’?

Over the past few decades, higher education institutions (HEIs) were confronted with the COVID-19 pandemic shock that hit both faculty and students and forced HEIs to offer teaching via technological or digital resources to their students. Since then, they have sought new ways to make their courses more attractive and more engaging for their students. HEIs need to change, as they must innovate and adapt to attract and retain quality students. One way could be through technology but in which way does it contribute to better learning?

After all, Generation Z (and soon Alpha) belong to the so-called ‘digital natives’ who master all that is technology. They entered HEIs before, during, and after the pandemic and unlike previous generations who have done their studies in more traditional modalities, Generation Z (and those who are following) experienced various course modalities (online, offline, hybrid, hyflex) during their academic journey. However, they often sit in a classroom where courses are as old as the walls where they take place. Teachers, being by nature older than their students, are more at ease with this kind of environment, having experienced during their school time other learning paths with other resources at their hands. For Generation Z, these changes led to the acquisition of one of the skills we attribute, i.e., resilience, or the ability to adapt and thrive in diverse (often significantly so) conditions. They want to be active but at the same time are limited by the technology around and their ongoing distractions.

In short, we began by positing these questions: Who should adapt to whom? How can we create a solid learning journey for our students? Thus, to investigate this topic further, we drafted the following research questions:
1) How do the learning paths of the different generations differ?
2) What is the impact of generational differences on learning?

To gather the data, we surveyed faculty members in Swiss HEIs to describe their learning experiences and ascertain their perceptions of the current learning of their students. We have taken the most effective elements of analog- and technology-based learning to propose a flexible, even resilient, HEI roadmap for the learning and teaching of future generations.

Keywords: Generations, learning, course modalities, adaptation.