Search results

An innovative approach for enhancing college courses using virtual worlds was developed to raise the students' level of engagement, promote critical thinking, and meet pedagogical objectives. Reaching to a new level of teaching delivery, this approach involves conducting tours of rich and exciting virtual world venues and assigning students' reflective assignments during and after the tour. In this chapter, the procedures for conducting virtual educational tours are presented, descriptions of explored virtual demonstrations and simulations are provided, findings from the learning experiences are discussed, and students' reactions to the technologies based on comprehensive surveys are shared. Furthermore, key lessons learned and recommended teaching strategies are provided and future plans for application of cutting-edge technologies to education are described.

Due to the country’s most recent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the enactment of the Post 9/11 GI Bill, colleges and universities across the United States have experienced a remarkable increase in student veteran enrollment. As a result, many college campuses have been challenged with knowing how to effectively support veterans as they transition from military life to college life. Although there is notable good intention, this challenge can impact an institution’s ability to offer adequate support. Consequently, many student veterans remain at the margins of the college experience, often affected by their distinct circumstances and a campus that may not be fully prepared to support them. This is a matter of equity and inclusion at its core. Students who are not well understood are likely to be underrepresented and underserved. Therefore, veterans must be included in the equity and inclusion conversation. A review of the literature confirms that student veteran support must involve a greater understanding of the student veteran experience, address institutional barriers to access, replace deficit models of support with more equitable practices, and challenge the dominant paradigm of student success that overemphasizes students’ individual and group characteristics and overlooks the role educators play in student achievement.

Company programs to hire military veterans and Olympic athletes represent a convergence of responsibilities, interests, and opportunities for human resources (HR) and public relations (PR) staffs. These employment initiatives often reflect corporate social responsibility (CSR) values as well as business goals. This chapter explores why companies create special hiring programs, how they are integrated into an HR function, and the role of PR in communicating about the program as part of a socially responsible mission. Though distinctive in their roles – HR in managing corporate staffing and PR in shaping a company’s image and promoting its brands – these two functions can jointly amplify the value and impact of special hiring programs.

This empirical study provides a phenomenological analysis of student veteran perceptions and experiences regarding student support programs in higher education and the accommodations provided for student with hidden wounds, specifically posttraumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injuries. Qualitative data were collected through semistructured interviews to answer the research question: What are the traits of student support programs in US higher education institutions that assist in the successful degree completion of student veterans coping with hidden wounds? Participants were military veterans who recently attended undergraduate degree programs at US-based higher education institutions. Data analysis through in vivo and thematic coding showed dominant themes related to student expectations of student support programs. These themes included acknowledging specific needs of student veterans as nontraditional students, communication between students and institutions, awareness of the stigma around disabilities, standardization of services offered, social groups to connect veterans to other veterans, and need for proactive assessment of students unwilling to initiate accommodation requests. Practical implications for higher education leaders to improve current student support programs and future research recommendations are provided to expand upon the need for improving student support programs in America and abroad.

The transition from military service to civilian employment is one of the most important factors related to post-service well-being and success. It is also one of the biggest challenges. The majority of veterans describe finding a job as the greatest challenge in transitioning to civilian life. While research has demonstrated a number of contributory factors related to difficulty in finding employment, a conceptual framework for understanding such challenges has yet to be proposed. Military transition theory describes the progression through which service members’ transition out of the military and illustrates how certain factors may create susceptibility to negative transition outcomes. The purpose of this chapter is to utilize the military transition theory to provide a foundation for understanding the factors related to successful transition to the civilian workplace after military separation.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) affects both civilian and military populations following wartime experiences. However, despite an abundance of research investigating civilian and military populations separately, much less focus has been given to synthesizing and integrating findings to describe how civilian and military war survivors are comparatively affected by PTSD. This review is broken down into three sections covering (1) risk factors associated with PTSD, (2) relationships between PTSD and mental health outcomes, and (3) protective factors that can attenuate PTSD and its effects. Each section covers findings for civilians and military personnel and highlights similarities and differences between groups.

Black male student veterans enter postsecondary education with three intersecting identities that should be acknowledged through the academic and student support services provided by the institution they attend. The academic guidance provided by competent and compassionate advisors coupled with student affairs engagement contribute to the graduation of this unique population.

The purpose of this literature is twofold: (a) identify and highlight effective academic support methods that contribute to Black male veteran graduation and (b) identify and highlight effective Student Affairs engagement strategies that contribute to Black male veteran graduation. The literature will further inform higher education professionals in both Academic Affairs spaces and Student Affairs spaces of collaborative partnerships that can be formed to increase the graduation rates of Black male veterans. Black male student veterans are not a monolithic population nor are the institutions they are attending. Therefore, it is also important to examine how the literature addresses advising and engagement of Black male veterans at diverse types of postsecondary institutions.

This study aims to provide a better understanding of Native American women veterans’ experiences with Veteran Administration and Indian Health Services. Eighteen interviews were conducted with special attention to the quality and quantity of health and mental health care services veterans accessed, the barriers and local contextual factors in accessing and utilizing services, and potential solutions to service gaps for women veterans from two Montana reservations, the Northern Cheyenne Reservation and the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Reservation.

We examine the barriers and needs of Native American veterans in both reservations using qualitative methods. The research analyzed 18 interviews with women veterans from the Northern Cheyenne and Flathead reservations.

Native American women veterans identified a number of barriers to accessing care, some of which include lack of information regarding eligibility and the types of services available. Women often found the application process to be confusing and difficult. Other barriers included distance, cost of travel, and conflicts with their work schedule.

This exploratory case study served to clarify the challenges and obstacles Native American women veterans experience with accessing health and mental health services. This research revealed several patterns and themes in the experience of Native American women veterans in both reservation communities when attempting to access and seek care at Veterans Administration (VA) facilities and Indian Health Services (IHS). This research calls for policy changes and research to clarify how resources can be more efficiently and effectively distributed to rural veterans.

Little research has addressed the needs of Native American veterans. American Indians and Alaska Natives serve at a higher rate in the U.S. military than any other population. This research provides important information about Native American veterans who are often underrepresented in survey research, yet a rapidly growing segment of the United States military and veteran population.

In recent years, a wide range of psychosocial health interventions have been implemented among military service members and their families. However, there are questions over the evaluative rigor of these interventions. We conducted a systematic review of this literature, rating each relevant study (k = 111) on five evaluative rigor scales (type of control group, approach to participant assignment, outcome quality, number of measurement time points, and follow-up distality). The most frequently coded values on three of the five scales (control group type, participant assignment, and follow-up distality) were those indicating the lowest level of operationally defined rigor. Logistic regression results indicate that the evaluative rigor of intervention studies has largely remained consistent over time, with exceptions indicating that rigor has decreased. Analyses among seven military sub-populations indicate that interventions conducted among soldiers completing basic training, soldiers returning from combat deployment, and combat veterans have had, on average, the greatest evaluative rigor. However, variability in mean scores across evaluative rigor scales within sub-populations highlights the unique methodological hurdles common to different military settings. Recommendations for better standardizing the intervention evaluation process are discussed.