The video Voices of Vets portrayed students at NMC who were veterans. They discussed the challenges that they encountered such as being in crowds, not having a support system, and emotional and physical challenges. It was disappointing to read that only 3% finish college.
This video gave me information for both the classroom and online environments. The first step that I must take is to identify who is a veteran in my course. I will want to connect with them individually, just as I do with other students that have different learning needs. In particular, a challenge for online classes may be the lack of connection they might feel with the instructor and other students. I will need to be intentional in keeping in frequent contact with the student and also plan activities that require students to engage with other students. The focus will be to help build a support system for students who are veterans in particular.
Understanding the unique needs of veteran students in general will be important. It will be equally important to understand each veteran student’s individual needs. In all of my classes I take into account the individual needs and preferred learning styles of each student. The concept will not be new, but the unique needs may be different than I’ve worked with before.