Durham College is equipping faculty and support staff with tools to help students with prior or current military experience.
For decades, the college has had these types of students but very little in the way of training college staff to support their needs, according to Thom MacDonald, associate vice-president of enrollment and international education at Durham College.
He said what was once just a concept has now grown into a college-wide initiative.
“We’ve had [military-connected students] forever,” MacDonald said. “I can guarantee you we’ve had them for 30 years because I am one.”
For MacDonald, there was no standardized help for those in his position.
“There were no policies in the day,” he said. “People could have said, ‘hey, sorry, you’re out of luck.’ That’s sort of where my career started.”
He had commitments outothat were unusual for most students
“I had certain training to complete. Which meant that I had to go to my teacher sometimes to say, ‘hey, can I reschedule my exam a little bit? I’m supposed to be in Gage Town, New Brunswick, on this day.’”
Now, Durham College is taking official action across the entire campus to reduce learning barriers for people who have served in the military or been connected to it in some way.
Since November, the college has been creating workshops and modules to help faculty and employees adjust to the learning needs of veterans.
“Our president, Doctor Elaine Popp and the senior leadership, are all lining up behind it, MacDonald said.
“It’s an easy thing for people to get behind, supporting any special cohort of learner, in the military in this case. We’ve been working with individual teams to ask ‘what does this mean to you?’”
The online module introduces employees to the unique needs of military-connected learners and prepares employees for the in-person workshops.
The workshops then are split into two sessions. The first session focuses on marketing, recruiting and admissions aimed at attracting prospective learners.
The second session focuses more on directly supporting the day-to-day learning needs of this unique cohort of students, including physical and mental health considerations, as well as supplying resources to staff.
According to MacDonald, both will shape how DC delivers the supports and services needed to help learners succeed. Workshops and training are ongoing.