Ways of Knowing to Empower the New Student on Campus: The Returning Vet ! Joan E. Dacher, PhD, RN, GNP Barbara B. Pieper,PhD, RN Excelsior College Education Day May 1,2015

 “This project is/was supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under grant number and title for grant amount (specify grant number, title, total award amount and percentage financed with nongovernmental sources). This information or content and conclusions are those of the author and should not be construed as the official position or policy of, nor should any endorsements be inferred by HRSA, HHS or the U.S. Government.” 2 Disclosure

There is no conflict of interests or relevant financial interest by presenters of the activity. 3

 Largest troop reintegration in history  Growing population of younger veterans  Integration into civilian workforce challenging  Large numbers of medical specialists ( medics and corpsmen) filing unemployment claims 4 Background:Veterans

Opportunities in Nursing  Long terms drivers of nursing shortage: aging population, aging workforce, ACA reshaping the need for nurses.  Employment for nurses predicted to grow at a rate of 19%.  Growing nationwide emphasis on achieving a BS in nursing.  Nationwide shortage in nursing. 5

Federal role: Creating opportunities for program development  HRSA Nurse Education Practice, Quality and Retention ( NEPRQR) created a new program – Veteran’s Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing ( VBSN ) Program. Currently in it’s 2 nd year.  VBSN Goal: to help service members separating from the military earn a bachelor’s degree in nursing and enter well paying careers in the profession 6

VBSN: Mission Transition  Excelsior College SON is one of 19 programs nationwide awarded to create a VBSN program.  Funded in July 2014 it is a 1+ million dollar grant award for 3 years.  For VBSN development in EC’s RN to BS program. 7

VBSN Highlights at EC  Guided transition into higher education, including mentoring.  Nursing faculty who are veterans, successful veteran nursing alumni, serve as role models.  Dedicated academic advising by staff cross-trained to address nursing study and veteran issues.  Curriculum revision in multiple courses to support veterans as they enter higher education.  Faculty/staff development creating understanding of the unique academic and social characteristics impacting veterans’ performance in higher education. 8

Who are Veterans ?  Team-bound culture of intense military life.  Moving forward toward a more self-sufficient civilian life.  Share a common experience of military culture.  But population very diverse! 9

Challenges of Moving into Higher Ed.  Relative lack of structure of higher ed.  Socialization to culture of higher education: Expectations of self-sufficiency in higher education  Accustomed to orders, receiving direction, expectations. 10

Challenges of Moving into Higher Ed.  Dualistic mind-set  Right-Wrong epistemology  Communication issues  Military life is more repetitive with expected  routines, higher education is less predicable 11

Challenges of On-Line Environment for Veterans  Loss of concept of rank.  Loss of signifiers of identity.  Loss of face to face creates anonymity/confusion.  Military conventions of power and hierarchy which guide communication are suspended.  Nuances of communication are lost in on-line environment. 12

Challenge of Asking for Help  Accustomed to a team bound culture  May be particularly difficult for women students who have suppressed gender associated characteristics while in the military  Want to avoid the appearance of weakness 13

Pro-Active Approaches to Serving the Military and Veteran Students  Good orientation to program and courses.  Having specific points of contact for students.  Having Veteran specific learning community.  Explaining the structure of higher education. 14

Constructs that Support Veteran Success  Activities that support identity re-alignment:  Multiple aspects of self: veteran, student, civilian, H.C. professional.  Multiple dimensions to negotiate.  Active management of emerging identity.  Support for finding the middle ground between military identify and civilian identity 15

Self-Authorship  Is the ability to define one’s coherent belief system and identity that supports working and engaging in the larger world  Part of identify re-alignment  Transition from military to civilian identify 16

Self-Authorship  Considers the questions of “How do I Know?”, “Who am I?” and “How do I want to construct relationships with others?”  Identified skill for self authorship include formation of integrated identity independent learning consideration of multiple perspectives deciphering ambiguity 17

Unlearning  Unlearning is a strategy for improved learning  “Learning to unlearn is, indeed, the prerequisite to all true learning…”. (Dhiman, 2002)  The degree of difficulty in unlearning will reflect the context in which you have to unlearn and the extent to which the knowledge or habits are embedded 18

Transformational Learning  Learning that induces far-reaching change  Associated with learning experiences that shape the learner, have significant impact or result in a radical change in world view or lens  Requires an intentional context for education/learning that seeks to result in transformational learning 19

Transformational Learning  Three common themes are experience, critical reflection and rational discourse.  Is rooted in the ways we as human beings communicate.  Can be developed and stimulated through journal writing, metaphors, life history exploration, group projects, case studies and using literature to raise critical consciousness. 20

Questions ? Contact 21