Birds of a Feather
Written by Kelly Fodel
MAE 2011 Volume: 6 Issue: 2 (March)
Just as no two people are exactly alike, no two students can be considered identical. The individual experiences, strengths and personalities of students vary, requiring instructors and schools to carefully consider the needs of the group as a whole. Students with a military background certainly cannot be lumped together as a homogenous group, but there are similarities in learning styles that schools and teachers would do well to keep in mind.
“There is no real difference between how military and civilian students learn,” said Fred Stielow, associate vice president and dean of library and educational materials at American Military University (AMU). “There is not some switch that gets thrown when one enters the military that makes them all fit into a common mold with a common learning style. The three basic styles, auditory, visual and kinesthetic, are all represented in military students to about the same degree as in civilians.”
Stielow pointed out that G. Ronald Gilbert, a clinical professor, consultant and management development specialist, has conducted a significant amount of research in trying to differentiate military and civilian students through his tool, the work preference indicator, which is used in AMU’s College 100 classes. Based on thousands and thousands of responses, Gilbert has concluded that military and civilian students are basically the same—not specifically in regard to learning styles—but in terms of the variety of their work goals, preferences and other concerns.
According to Louis F. Martini, director of military and veteran education at Thomas Edison State College, there is no specific learning style that works best. “Students work and learn based on their unique learning styles, situations and history,” he said. “The key is not to find one learning style that works for everyone, but to provide multiple formats so students can select what works for them. The goal is for students to be successful. In order to create an environment where that is possible, you must allow for a variety of course formats, scheduling and various degrees of interaction.”
While one student may learn best in a structured classroom with other students and a professor, another may thrive working independently at home with fewer boundaries. “It is not the job of the institution to determine the best learning style for each student,” Martini added. “Instead, schools should provide options and flexibility to help students identify that for themselves.”
Adaptation
Martini believes that military students may have to adapt to particular learning styles based on the resources available to them and the situations they face. Servicemembers often face very challenging situations and do not always have the freedom to choose what may work best for them. While institutions may offer multiple formats, military students may not have the option to pursue their first choice of learning style due to lack of time, lack of technology, and the inability to pursue a course in a classroom.
“The underlying commonality is that these students are resourceful, finding direction and creating order in their academics,” recognized Martini. “These students demonstrate unique ways of learning, as would any population of students, but they may gravitate toward those styles that are the most adaptable and convenient given their circumstances.”
A common characteristic among servicemembers and veterans is that they have the ability to readily adapt to a variety of media and learning environments. While more research is needed, there are indications that this may, in large part, be directly related to the flexibility and quick thinking that is required of members of today’s military. “Being a servicemember requires you to be an effective team member, which includes both cooperation and knowing when to take the lead,” said Stielow. “This is something that is instilled in all members of today’s military and it carries over [into the classroom].”
Servicemen and women also work very well on collaborative projects, which are a hallmark of effective learning. This is also required to produce true higher order cognitive outcomes, which are derivative of digesting feedback from others and using it to develop one’s own personal learning schemas. However, there may be challenges for the military student.
Students trained in a military environment are often required to learn and absorb large amounts of information in short periods of time. They learn to process quickly and turn information over as it was taught. According to Martini, in some cases, his school has found that students respond to test questions with very similar responses to one another, not because of unethical behavior, but because they repeat information exactly as it was learned, verbatim to the texts they studied in preparation for the exams. In an academic environment that prides itself on independent thought and integrity, this degree of precision may call into question the validity of the evaluation. Training that conditions students to such a high degree of meticulousness in one environment may prove to be contrary to the independent thought praised by another environment.
Readiness
But, on the plus side, the servicemember is prepared to handle just about anything. “Students in the military face many of the same challenges any of our adult students would face—multitasking, family responsibilities, demands of the job and financial pressures,” said Martini. “Our military students face all of these challenges compounded by the instability of their schedules, the dangers they address daily, and the lack of consistent resources. Students have to develop and refine a strong sense of self-motivation and discipline to be successful in these circumstances. They come to us ready to achieve a goal; they want to succeed and they have been equipped with the skills to do so simply by the nature of the work they do every day in the service.”
Current military students agree with those assertions. “Due to the military instructional environment, I believe that many of the military students find it easier to learn,” said Charles Russo, a student at AMU. “The military as a whole has an ingrained way of teaching and instructing its students in their technical schools, and therefore this learning becomes easier for the student to carry over to other instructional environments. Might it be based on their structured military experiences? Yes, it is highly based upon what they have learned through the working and learning experiences in their military career.”
Another student at AMU, Kim Byers, concurred. “Military students do come to the education table with a mind designed to learn and grow. As a military member, when I first started college, it did not appeal to me. But after a few months, I realized that it was the same as if I were studying to take a test for promotion. Once I readdressed the issues with learning, taking college classes became easier and easier. With online being so popular, it has really helped me to develop both personally and professionally in my career.”
Indeed, many servicemembers find that an online education program best fits their learning needs. “Being an effective team member is just half of what we as military members do,” said Byers. “We must also be effective communicators and writers. With the ease of online classes that help to develop those skills, most people in the military have been able to do just that. Becoming effective team members allows you to be an even more effective leader and mentor for the soldiers coming up behind you.”
Accommodations
Certainly, military students can have special needs due to the unique challenges they face. Schools can do a number of things to assist the servicemember. Many AMU staff and faculty are former servicemen and women, so they are particularly attuned and empathetic to the unique learning challenges of some students. AMU has spearheaded efforts to help educate online educators about dealing with students who may have PTSD. They have spoken at conferences, run a workshop for the Sloan Consortium, facilitated information sharing through a LinkedIn Group, and have also done some topical research. Their objectives are to increase industry awareness, help educators understand what PTSD is and how it might manifest itself in an online classroom, and also help educators find topical resources to bring to bear as needed.
At Thomas Edison State College, “we try to create situations that allow students to identify and choose what works best for them and not try to force them into a mold that we have created based on what worked best for one,” said Martini. “Thomas Edison State College understands that schedules vary and we respond by offering a new term every month. We realize that not everyone learns the same way and so we offer courses that range from high interaction to entirely self-taught.”
The school addresses the needs of its students through a variety of programs that offer flexibility, high transferability and enduring quality. “The mission of the college is our call to action for each of our students,” added Martini. “As it applies to our military students in particular, it is an opportunity for us to serve them as they continue to serve our country.” ♦
Further Information
If you would like to learn more about learning styles and the way your personality and experiences may impact your education, here are some resources to explore:
Emotional Intelligence: The Consortium for Research on Emotional Intelligence in Organizations contains multiple links to a variety of sites dedicated to emotional intelligence. See http://www.eiconsortium.org/links.htm. There is also an emotional intelligence quiz from Educators from Edutopia available at http://www.edutopia.org/louisville-social-emotional-learning-quiz.
Multiple Intelligences: At the Edutopia website, there is an introduction about Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences in the “Multiple Intelligences: Special Report.” You can take a quiz, read articles, watch videos and explore resources. See http://www.edutopia.org/multiple-intelligences-introduction.
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI): According to the Myers & Briggs Foundation website, “awareness of differences between types can help people understand and value other people who think and act quite differently.” See www.myersbriggs.org/. Teaching approaches that will appeal to different MBTI profiles can be found at: http://www2.gsu.edu/~dschjb/wwwmbti.html.