Ensuring a Learning Environment Where Veterans May Flourish

While conducting research for a dissertation project aimed at better understanding the demonstrated resiliency traits of veterans in the civilian workplace, I found evidence that veterans can carry expectations from their time in the service with them wherever they go. We should expect this may occur for veterans in the classroom as well.

While pursuing their studies in the classroom, veterans may also face a cultural shock of sorts. This is because those choosing to seek academic pursuits reliably strive to thrive in an egalitarian environment where all opinions are accepted equally. This also includes a learning environment that encourages ideas from everyone involved, regardless of their background or learned experiences. As an Air Force veteran, I would not call the totality of my time in the military an egalitarian, sharing environment where creative new ideas were reliably encouraged.

High Expectations

One theme often displayed by veterans who enter the civilian workplace, or academic environment is that they bring with them high or maybe just more rigid expectations for themselves and others. One 2015 study included some themes of student veterans’ military service that impacted their transition to the classroom. These were task cohesion and social cohesion. For veterans, the study suggested they are used to teamwork and devaluing any individuality when asked to complete a task. They also put a premium on whether members of a group pull their weight and get along well with each other.

Quality of Relationships Between Class Members

Comparably, it has been suggested that to achieve a cohesive and constructive learning environment, one key factor was the quality of the relationships between the class members. As a veteran, doctoral student, and graduate-level instructor, I have found this to be true. The following are some examples of what have served as antecedents behind both good and bad classroom environments.

For Instructors

For the instructor’s consideration, I’ll offer some ideas based on my experiences which I hope may be useful when seeking to ensure a learning environment where all students, veteran or civilian, can flourish. Let’s first consider what traits make up a flourishing learning environment and what do not.

One explanation of what flourishing means involves a combination of positive emotion, engagement, positive relationships, meaning, and accomplishment. Can you see how these traits might apply to a classroom that provides a productive, constructive learning environment?

Instructors have the responsibility to ensure a positive learning environment. They set the tone and this must be done early or during the first few engagements with their students. Instructors should appear to be encouraging, available, and empathetic. I have seen some cold, unapproachable, standoffish instructors who put forth strict rules of engagement and do not hesitate to criticize a student publicly versus privately. Have you had an instructor with a doctorate or PhD who insists on being called by their first name? I recall many but also recall one who clearly and emphatically did not want to be called by their first name. Yet this was only learned after they chided a student publicly and patronizingly after feeling so slighted by such an informality. During the rest of the time in this class, students were weary to engage our instructor constructively for fear of reprisal or even a nasty, misplaced rant.

Classroom Bonding

One exercise I was a part of as a graduate student which, on reflection, helped ensure a classroom environment where engagement, positive relationships, meaning, and a sense of accomplishment thrived involved picking a matching nickname for everybody. Each of the twenty students in our class was asked to pick a word starting with the same letter as their first name. The instructor thought it would be a great way to remember names, but it turned out to be more valuable than that.

For example, I introduced myself as “Merlot Mike” because one method of relaxation for me after class was sitting on my patio with a glass of wine. Some struggled to find their word and other classmates helped them. A nurse in our class was stuck, so we suggested “Syringe Sarah.” An ex-fighter pilot became “Tactical Todd” while a golfer was “Putter Paul.” What resulted was that perceived social barriers, or any anxieties about being self-reflective toward strangers among us students, noticeably came down during this exercise. We were a better, more cohesive class after this exercise and we even added the expectation of having fun to our classroom environment.

Barriers to Flourishing

Barriers to a flourishing learning environment occur when a class appears to be cutthroat, judgmental, and competitive. One example where this may occur is during group projects or even during class discussions. The instructor has a crucial role to consider when this occurs. Some pedagogical studies suggest that instructors should be sensitive about whether their role in the classroom might have to shift between being a cheerleader and a coach. A group project where some members are not contributing equally would frustrate all others involved, but especially a veteran. Although I have found this to be a rare occurrence, instructors should try and keep a pulse on the group’s effort and intervene where needed to ensure it remains a productive, constructive exercise for all involved.

Discussions offered during a course offer a unique challenge to ensuring cohesion in the classroom. Instructors routinely act as cheerleaders extolling the thoughts offered. While keeping a steady dose of students’ professional and personal growth in mind, instructors should serve as a coach when a student strays from a more accepting, appreciative, and non-judgmental tone during these discussions. During all classroom discussions, instructors may ensure the requisite amount of cohesion by keeping discussions on track, reeling in immaterial, boastful asides, and tangential thoughts, or, putting it in a nicer way, urging students to better “contextualize” their inputs. This probably requires a bit of diplomacy and an understanding that some students just may need to vent or boast at times to become a more productive contributor in their classroom.

Learner Growth

The term growth was just touched upon but it really underscores the whole thesis here. Students can only grow, whether personally or professionally, in a cohesive, encouraging, candid learning environment. Students must be challenged to grow. This may involve challenging the thoughts and expectations they brought with them on day one of class. In order to approach this task effectively, the challenge for the instructor is knowing when to be an enthusiastic cheerleader or when to blow their coaching whistle.