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
Disclosure

“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.”
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Disclosure
There is no conflict of interests or relevant
financial interest by presenters of the
activity.
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Background:Veterans
 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
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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.
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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 2nd 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
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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.
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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.
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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!
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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.
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Challenges of Moving into Higher Ed.
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Dualistic mind-set
Right-Wrong epistemology
Communication issues
Military life is more repetitive with expected
routines, higher education is less
predicable
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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.
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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
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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.
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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Questions ?
Contact
Dachej@sage.edu
bpieper@excelsior.edu
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