In Voices of Vets, the five veteran students discussed their challenges in taking classes at NMC. For some they discussed the lack of sufficient support at home in taking classes, a sense of isolation with a feeling that they needed to do all the work on their own, and a number of health issues that resulted from their combat in the Middle East. With online courses generally requiring a great deal of self-direction and time management, these problems can become even more serious without being directly addressed.
In my online course, I need to be attentive to veteran students and if they self identify to share the services of our Counseling Office and the Military and Veterans Service Office to address any home life or personal counseling needs. I will need to provide regular contacts with students to reduce a sense of isolation. This will include being available for one on one online meetings, and providing discussion forums and Zoom meetings where students can share ideas and engage each other. I will also worked with any student who falls behind and work with them to figure out strategies that can work for them.
As veteran students bring experiences that their classmates have not had, their reasons for some of their academic challenges in class are different. Such problems as missing assignments or needing extensions on class work that occur in class will need to be understood within the context of the veteran students' experiences and addressed with that understanding.