Webinar: Developing An Effective Academic Advising Protocol For Military Veterans

Date: Thursday, June 26, 3:00-4:30 (Eastern)
Type: online webinar

Info:
Military veterans returning as students to the campus environment need a certain level of support as well as key academic services to help ensure that they have a successful, long-lasting experience. Academic advising is one very critical part of this picture.

What are truly normal human responses to traumatic experiences may actually cause severe symptom formation resulting in academic struggles, potential failure, and lower retention rates. If we identify and understand these responses and build programming that addresses the needs of students with traumatic life experiences, we can increase success and retention.

This webinar will focus on the development of a protocol for academic advisors providing services to military veterans. This protocol takes into consideration military culture, life experiences of military veterans, previous military training, deployment issues, family issues, and traumatic life experiences.

Goals:
- Discuss the importance of academic advising to the military veteran
- Gain an understanding of traumatic life experiences in the context of the military veteran
- Address ways to build retention and long-term academic success for military veterans
- Walk away with a clear and concise protocol that includes consideration of variables that may impact a military veteran student's successful completion of their chosen academic pursuits

Web address: http://www.innovativeeducators.org/product_p/2172.htm

Augmenting Military Skills with Online Education

Online education in the military is a growing trend related to the needs of modern life and military effectiveness. “Computer literacy is now considered an essential battlefield skill” (Stapp, 2001, p. 26).  The modern use of technology is important for successful completion of military objectives and use of advanced weaponry. Online education also offers greater cognitive development for military students that seek to balance their military learning with their educational pursuits to create greater personal and professional advantages. A presentation by Susan Bricker (2012) offers some insights into the needs of online military learners and some of the challenges they face. 

There are many similarities and differences between military and non-military learners. The greatest success seems to come from self-motivation and time management. Self-motivated learners engage in learning for learning sake by setting goals and engaging in those goals. Independent time management requires learners to start work early and continue to work on their assignments to finish them before their work is due. 

Self-Motivation: Self-motivation is something some students have and some don’t. It requires the ability to stay on task and continue to work on defined goals despite the many challenges the student faces. Those who can stay motivated often show a confidence that other students do not. They are willing to work and challenge self-doubts despite the difficulties of the task. 

Time Management: Time management is as important in the online world as it is in the working world. Time is a resource and students must make judgments between how and when they will use their time. Learning to make judgments to expend time on one’s goals and to start projects early is a major factor in online learning success. 

Military students come with some unique challenges that are not necessarily faced by other online students. In addition to time management and self-motivation they must also deal with potential combat situations, alienation into other places of the world, and lack of support among some of their military companions who may encourage them to engage in other activities. 

President Bill Clinton issued an the Executive Order 13111 on January 12^th, 1999 that put in motion the President’s Task Force on Federal Training Technology. It states, “…provide leadership regarding the effective use of technology in training and education.” The program began the development of large-scale distance learning options within the Armed Forces to raise human capabilities (The White House, 1999). 

Online education has some differences when compared to traditional education and requires different skill sets to complete. The good news is that students who make their way through online programs show that they are self-motivated and have time-management skills that enhance their new career knowledge. Military members can serve both their countries and themselves by educating themselves and applying that education to combat, military management, and within their future career choices. Learned higher skills can transfer to higher technology requirements of the modern era for a wide range of uses. 

Bricker, S. (2013, Nov.). Responding globally to the online learning needs of military students. Virtual presentation offered at 2012 Global Education Conference.

Stapp, Katherine M. (2001, June). Benefits and costs of Distance Learning: A Perspective from the Distance Learning Literature Since 1995 – Annotated Bibliography. White Sands Missile Range, NM: Department of the Army. Retrieved from http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA396197&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf 

The White House. (1999). Executive Order 13111. Using Technology for Federal Government Employees. Retrieved from http://www.opm.gov/pressrel/1999/eo.htm

Engaging Military Students for Greater Learning

Active military learners enjoy online education due to the ability to complete their functions in the military and move forward with their career goals that would not be possible in ground-based school settings. David Starr-Glass completes a phenomenological study of military learners and how instructors can help them engage with their classmates more and raise their learning levels (2013). The findings have implications for both online and off-line schools. 

Active military members in college are 1% while veterans are 3% of all students in higher education (Radford & Weko, 2011). Military students have similarities with the general population but also remarkable differences. These differences require additional effort by instructors to ensure that the learning environment is conducive to student development. 

Military students live in a hierarchical world of chains of command. They deal with hot situations and cold situations while bouncing between them. Hot situations are combat related where survival and achievement of objectives is important and the cold situations exist in the barracks where socialization and daily life take precedence. The student could be jumping between these two extremes. 

Instructors are not often aware of the hesitancy of military students to explain their situations. They may have just left a combat situation, had a media blackout, or were engage in heavy exercise leading to late work. Professors will need to be aware that the civilian world of open, egalitarian, and normal daily stress may not exist at the same level for active duty members and this may impact their learning. 

The report offers some tips for effectively encouraging military students and very well may apply to other students. 

Encouraging the Presence: Instructors need to be engaged in the classroom and may need to gently coax military students to engage more because they come from a world where information is on a need-to-know basis and can be verbally restrictive. 

Awareness of the Said and Unsaid: Military students may be dealing with various hot and cold situations that the instructor may not be aware of. 

Withhold Judgment: All students are facing difficult situations. Adding on top of normal stressors are more profound stressors faced in combative situations. 

Being Accepting:  Military students live in a different world and have differences in experiences and it is not the professor’s place to judge. 

Be Flexible and Responsive: Situations change for military students and lateness may be a function of duty and not procrastination. Be flexible in the educational approach and timeframes depending on circumstance. 

Be Empathetic: Understand that the student has rights to full integrity and should be treated as an individual. 

Starr-Glass, D. (2013). Experiences with military online learners: toward mindful practice. Journal of Online Learning & Teaching, 9 (3).