This engineering education research project will partner with an on-campus Veterans Resource Center and a local community and technical college to develop programmatic guides for educating veterans in engineering and computer science. The project is grounded in theories of adult learning and experiential learning theory. The work draws from, and will help guide, recommendations from others active in the field of educating veterans to enter the engineering workforce. The proposed work addresses three categories of activities including enhancing recruitment, accelerating placement, and better supporting transition into the university.
The broader significance and importance of this project will be to broaden participation of veterans in the engineering workforce by increasing their enrollment and retention in university engineering programs. Veterans represent a highly diverse group with skills that are potentially synergistic with engineering. A knowledge base will be developed from the data collected on veterans who transition to engineering program, and this data will enable more effective and targeted programs to be developed in the future.
There are many differences between military life and life in a college classroom. These differences can make returning to college from military service a difficult transition, especially for those veterans who served in combat areas. Faculty and their fellow students need to understand this transition as well. And complicated bureaucratic hassles about admission paperwork, transferring credits from previous schools, getting financial aid -- problems college students learn to navigate -- may discourage and frustrate the veteran trying to return to college life. To make the transition work in favor of the returning veteran, the UK College of Engineering (COE) partnered with the recently established Veterans Resource Center (VRC), and Bluegrass Community & Technical College (BCTC) to develop clear guides for educating veterans returning to college in engineering and computer science. This collaboration takes advantage of a program called "BCTCblue+," a transfer/dual enrollment program between BCTC and UK that includes advising on how to take the right courses, guaranteed admission, taking UK courses at lower BCTC tuition rates, and more. The project addressed three major problem areas: 1. Recruitment and Support provided improved outreach to attract veterans and better support for veterans once they enter college. 2. Transition addresses the challenges in the sometimes difficult transition that comes with moving from life in the armed forces to life on a college campus. 3. Integration of Technical Experience refers to administrative problems in transferring credits from veterans' coursework while in the military. The project conducted a survey to get a better sense of what attitudes and beliefs veterans had about returning to college. Results of the survey meant better targeted marketing and outreach. Results of the survey also led to increased support for veterans in the form of "veterans-only" review courses in first year classes, including a "strategies for college success" course. Additional tutoring was also made available. Transition support included orientation workshops to college life for veterans, faculty training workshops on how they can help returning veterans adjust to college classroom expectations, and on-campus community building to make the larger campus aware of and welcoming to returning veterans. A faculty workshop was held to raise awareness of faculty to the presence of returning veterans on campus and to discuss the challenges they are facing in making the transition from military life to academic life. The workshop also recruited faculty interested in providing remedial courses and assisting with tutoring. A presentation called "Military 101" was given multiple times on campus to increase understanding of life in the military for everyone on campus. Work was also begun on creating a "veterans-only" co-op opportunity. "Co-op" students alternate a semester of classes followed by a semester working in a company in their major field. Valuable for all students, co-op was seen as especially helpful for veterans because it provided a real-world break from the classroom and helped them make the connection between the classroom and their future career.
