This week’s teaching tips come from our recent VOISES panel featuring veteran and military-affiliated student experiences. The top strategies are summarized below:
Remember that every student is unique.
While there are some common experiences shared by military affiliated students, it is important to remember that individuals have unique lived experiences that contribute to how students show up in the classroom. For example, some students continue to identify strongly with their military affiliation while others would prefer not to disclose this information to instructors and fellow classmates. Adding an optional question to a course introductory survey shows students that you care and understand the needs of military affiliated students, but empowers students to make a decision about revealing this information.
Share resources proactively.
The student panelists often commented how helpful it has been for instructors to recommended a particular resource (professional, academic, or otherwise) as it can be difficult and at times overwhelming to seek support for various reasons. Instructors can share resources in a number of ways including making announcements during class, incentivizing the use of a resource through a course assignment, or inviting guest speakers. Resources can be on campus or from the community. This helps to show all students that there is a network of people to support and guide them and that they are not alone.
Consider attending Green Zone training.
UNCG Military-Affiliated Services provides training for faculty and staff to learn more about the military-affiliated student experience. This Green Zone training is offered periodically throughout the year. According to the website, “Its goals are to train members of the UNCG community to know more about the issues and concerns faced by military affiliated students and to identify individuals who are available to assist this population. These individuals are not expected to be experts who can ‘solve problems.’ They are individuals who can lend a sympathetic ear and help the student veteran identify and connect with the appropriate resources.” The next Green Zone training is coming up on Wednesday, February 22! Learn more and register now.
Keywords: VOISES, Inclusive Teaching