I am a Marine Corps and Navy veteran currently serving on active duty. I entered enlisted military service in 1972 (Vietnam era) by joining the U.S. Marines. Boot camp was 13 or so weeks at Parris Island, SC followed by naval aviation jet engine mechanic training in Millington, TN. After four years of almost continuous deployments in 1976, both CONUS and OCONUS, I took a chance and joined the USMC Reserves and started a community college in a 2-year program. Later, I transferred to the University of Florida and earned a bachelors degree in Chemical Engineering (ChE) and, was offered (and of course I accepted) a chance to continue on at UF on scholarship to earn a masters in ChE. After graduation from school, I faced a tough job market, spent several months looking for employment, and finally needed to move from the East Coast to the West Coast to accept a job with Intel Corporation as a process control engineer, stayed put for two years before taking a leave of absence and then joined the Navy as an officer in 1986. Twenty-five years later, it's time to re-invent myself and start a new career. About two years ago (2008), I began an educational program in pursuit of a doctoral degree in education. in the third and final year of the program, I am required to identify a project or program for conducting some focused research to bring about something positive, a positive social change effort.
Since I can readily identify with the issue of rising veterans unemployment, I want to focus my study on how to help veterans gain access to , understand, and take advantage of the opportunities made available to veterans, and possibly identify any shortfalls with the programs or problems that prevent veterans from knowing about or accessing the needed help.
I am interested in your ideas on this topic. You can share your own experiences or those of others. Give me pros and cons of current veterans assistance programs and benefits, etc. I would appreciate hearing from you and including your thoughts and ideas in my research effort. i am interested in helping all veterans and I would be willing to share the results of this study to help and promote the hiring of all veterans, young and old, male and female; we're all comrades and our service counted and still counts.
For the second week of postings, I am going about the task of reviewing the literature and current publications to select materials to aid in my research project. This past week, my focus has been to collect documents that illuminate the historical underpinnings of the veterans' GI Bill, how it has evolved since its inception in 1944, how the veterans' entitlements from the GI Bill fall short in measuring up to the impact on American culture that the initial GI Bill prompted. Some literature documents remark that the early GI Bill had a very lasting effect on the empowerment of working class people that is credited with be instrumental in the formation of the middle class in America. It allowed persons from low economic or working class families opportunities to join the affluents' enjoyment of the American dream of completing higher education, home ownership, economic growth, and overall improvement in the quality of life.
ReplyDeleteAlso during my literature search, I will look for articles that speak to the experiences of veterans of different wars, past and present. The objective is to determine whether certain wars afforded veternas of that era special privileges or considerations, and to what extent the prevailing GI Bill measures up to the initial GI Bill in terms of empowering veternas to achieve the American dread and improve their economic status and academic accomplishments. Ultimately, the plan is to study the issue of veterans' unemployment and to offer methods to address this social and cultural problem.
Well, enough notes for right now. Next week, I'll summarize the past week's findings and accomplishments and speak to future goals. Signing out... Van.
In this blog, I will continue my discussion regarding conducting research of educational settings using either program evaluations or action research. Research questions can be presented and examined from the perspective of examining the issue of increasingly high levels of unemployment among veterans who are transitioning or have transitioned from active military service. For some unknown reason or set of reasons, several hundred thousands of veterans are failing to take full advantage of the provisions of the GI Bill and other veterans’ employment opportunities and are joining the ranks of the unemployed. Researchers could use either program evaluations or action research to investigate the effectiveness of and make improvements to educational programs that are currently used to educate veterans on their GI Bill educational benefits and other entitlements.
ReplyDeleteProgram evaluations, which are conducted for decision-making purposes, involve examining educational programs, whether in a classroom, off school grounds, during school or after-hours (Spaulding, 2006, p. 5). Spaulding added that both qualitative data and quantitative data can be collected during the evaluation; and, either a formative evaluation or a summative evaluation, or both, can occur in a program evaluation. Formative data allows corrections and improvements during the program, and summative data facilitates making improvements in future administrations of the program.
Some of the major types of program evaluations include the goals-based evaluation, process-based evaluation, and outcomes-based evaluations (Lodico, Spaulding, & Voegtle, 2010; McNamara, n.d.). In whatever type of program evaluation that is conducted, there are numerous questions that might be addressed, which are selected by carefully considering what the researcher wants to know about the program (McNamara, n.d.).
Action research is a type of research that is used to enact immediate changes by educators in their own work or educational setting (Lodico et al, 2010, p. 288). Critical action research entails a democratic and equitable environment in which all persons involved in the research have valuable skills and knowledge and their input is valued and used (Lodico et al., p. 294). Practical action research also aims to improve the lives of people involved in the educational setting but are not necessarily advocacy-oriented as in critical research but leans more toward a practical orientation that may become politicized as the problem is being investigated (Lodico et al., p. 295).
Action research questions may be applicable for examining and addressing the issue of high veterans’ unemployment (Barrett, 2009).
For existing educational programs, I understand that both action research and program evaluations are viable research methods for examining and improving educational practices.
Van
References
Barrett, H. C. (2009). Web 2.0 a eportifolios: An open collaborative action research project. Retrieved June 29, 2010, from http://electronicportifolios.com/web2researchdesigh.html
Baskerville, R. L. (1999). Investigating information systems with action research. Communications of the Association for Information Systems, 2, Article 19. Retrieved June 28, 2010, from http://www.cis.gsu.edu/~rbaskerv/CAIS_2_19/CAIS_2_19.html
Lodico, M., Spaulding, D., & Voegtle, K. (2010). Methods in educational research: From theory to practice (Laureate Education, Inc., custom ed.). San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons.
McNamara, C. (n.d.). Basic guide to program evaluation. Retrieved June 28, 2010, from http://managementhelp.org/evaluatn/fnl_eval.htm
Spaulding, D. T. (2008). Program evaluation in practice: Core concepts and examples for discussion and analysis. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publications.
When heading down the path to identify the major barriers that contribute to the alarmingly high rates of unemployment for our military veterans, I must keep in mind that there are many variables that come in to play, and for each veteran, the actual variables and their impacts may vary considerably.
ReplyDeleteWhile the new GI Bill, the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008 may not have the same field-leveling impact of the original 1944 GI Bill but may help boost the U.S. economy and boost college enrollments across the country (Chen, 2009). Chen (2009) observed that the newly improved GI Bill, which began dispensing educational and living stipends in the fall of 2009, will enhance veterans’ future opportunities, where community colleges and universities are expecting several hundreds of veterans to join the ranks of those already enrolled in higher education.
Since the signing of the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944 (also known as the original GI Bill) by President Franklin D. Roosevelt into law, the federal government has passed additional legislation to promote social and economic advancement through educational attainment and training for millions of veterans and their families following the completion of their military service (Verstegen & Wilson, 2008).
The subsequent legislation to the 1944 GI Bill was summarized by several authors, including Verstegen & Wilson (2008) and Serow (2004).
By learning more about the plights of the modern veterans and re-visiting the lessons learned following the implementation of the subsequent GI Bill legislation, programs and processes might be implemented to elp resolve or address veterans’ unemployment or under-employment.
References
Chen, G. (2009). How will the new GI bill impact your community college enrollment options? Community College Review. Retrieved June 25, 2010, from http://www.communitycollegereview.com/articles/130
Serow, R. C. (2004). The evolution of an educational policy: Sixty years of the GL bill, IHELG Monograph, 04-07, University of Houston Law Center, Houston, TX: Institute for Higher Education Law & Governance.
Verstegen, D.A, & Wilson, C. (2008). G. I. bill of rights. University of Phoenix. Retrieved June 25, 2010, from http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/2008/G-I-Bill-Rights.html
The main focus of my research efforts is to closely examine the major barriers that contribute to the alarmingly high rates of unemployment for our military veterans. In addition to the plight of young military veterans, other citizens in the United States are also experiencing alarming levels of unemployment and under-employment.
ReplyDeleteIn today's edition of The Virginian Pilot (7/18/2010), page 4, Louis Uchitelle of The New York Times provided a personal story of an individual, a 2008 college graduate, who is coping with his inability to land that perfect or suitable job opening. The author relates how the individual has been faithfully scouring the papers and Internet for employment opportunities and only captured one job offer over the past five months. The individual goes on to decide to turn down the potential job offer as an associate claims adjuster at $40,000 a year, reasoning that he would hold out for a more corporate position that would draw on his college training and put him on the bottom rung of a career ladder. This insight in a person's period of unemployment while looking for a job offers other perspectives on the high unemployment rates of this new generation of college, the millennials. Uchitelle offered that millennials as a group are optimistic and may hold out and decline some forms of employment in hopes of landing their ideal or preferred job. This optimism, according to Uchitelle, results from their being the children of doting baby boomers, who themselves enjoy lucrative careers and high incomes.
Uchitelle recalled, “The Great Depression damaged the self-confidence of the young, and that is beginning to happen now, according to pollsters, sociologists and economists. The outlook for this generation is not clear.
Starved for jobs at adequate pay, the millennials tend to seek refuge in college and in the military and to put off marriage and child-bearing. Those who are working often stay with the jobs they have rather than jump to better-paying but less secure ones, as young people seeking advancement normally do.”
In addition to carefully exploring factors that affect veterans' unemployment and employability and use of educational benefits, it is important to broaden the study to also examine factors that affect the employability and unemployment rates of college graduates, high school graduates, and other young persons.
In this week's blog, I will continue examining how to address the high unemployment among U.S. Veterans. Recommendations will be proposed as possible solutions for changing the current condition of the problems with the alarmingly high rates of unemployment for veterans.
ReplyDeleteRecommendations for changes (to improve the employment situation of veterans) may include the following:
(1) Reviewing current and past employment and unemployment statistics for young veterans and nonveterans to gain perspectives and lesson learned in order to inform future practices and policies.
(2) Re-examine the provision of veterans’ benefits for our modern heroes who have made and are making supreme sacrifices. Just as the original GI Bill distinguished the sacrifices of the veterans of different wars, similar but new GI Bill benefits are needed to distinguish the great sacrifices of veterans of Gulf War, Iraq War, and Afghanistan War, which includes young men and women who served on active duty and others who were activated from U. S. National Guard and Reserve units (Serow, 2004; Smole & Loane, 2008).
(3) Strongly advertise programs that are available to assist veterans and their families to obtain educational and employment opportunities.
(4) Confirm whether veterans and their families are taking full advantage of programs designed to provide educational and employment resources.
(5) Identify advocates or support agencies that can help provide one-on-one assistance to veterans regarding the available educational and employment resources and opportunities.
(6) Conduct program evaluations of key U. S. Veterans Affairs and Department of Labor programs and initiatives to identify the strengths, weaknesses, and gaps with regards to providing the needed educational and employment services for veterans. As a goal of the evaluations, identify areas and programs that are ineffective, waste resources, or otherwise should be targeted for replacement or dismissal or merger.
Stakeholders that will be involved with implementing changes to address the alarming increase in unemployment among veterans may include the veterans and their families and heirs; local, state and federal governments; U. S. Congress; Department of Labor; Department of Veterans Affairs; advocate groups; and support agencies and their employees.
References
Serow, R. C. (2004). The evolution of an educational policy: Sixty years of the GI Bill. University of Houston Law Center, IHELG Monograph, 04-07. Houston, TX: Institute for Higher Education Law and Governance.
Smole, D. P., & Loane, S. S. (2008). A brief history of veterans’ education benefits and their value. CRS Report for Congress.
In this week's blog, I will examine another approach to obtaining information from international perspectives, in particular, by examining the actions and offerings of international organizations that are focused on improving adult and higher education.
ReplyDeleteWorld Learning’s web page that described the organization’s International Development Programs (http://www.worldlearning.org/international-development.htm ). World Learning offered programs on the prevention of AIDS/HIV as well as programs on civil society and governance, education, international professional, academic, and cultural exchanges, and capacity development and training. Relating the field of adult and higher education, (a) World Learning’s Education program (http://www.worldlearning.org/17650.cfm ) includes collaboration with communities, parents and government agencies to improve education and sponsoring projects for the professional development of policy makers and educators and teachers; (b) World Learning’s International Professional, Academic and Cultural Exchanges (http://www.worldlearning.org/17653.cfm ) draws on 75 years of intercultural exchange and education to improve the understanding and cooperation among nations by, in part, giving tours of the U.S. to adults and students from countries around the world; and, (c) World Learning’s Capacity and Development and Training (http://www.worldlearning.org/17651.cfm ) focuses on capacity building of individuals, institutions, and communities to create a more peaceful and just world. There is much to learn just by visiting different web pages and examining the national, state, regional, and international organizations’ impact on adult and higher education. These insights can then be used to examine education's role in unemployment and and social change.
This final blog posting reports on a blogging project that explored the use of international and educational blogging. As a subject thread for the eight weeks of consecutive weekly blogs, I chose to explore the causes of and possible remedies to address the alarmingly high rate of unemployment of the veterans of the United States armed forces, including active duty and reserve components. The goal was to present a different facet of the veterans’ unemployment issue in each week’s blog post in hopes of obtaining explicit feedback about the quality of my message and suggestions for resolving the veterans’ unemployment issue from fellow veterans, public and government workers, members of support organizations, and concern citizens. Three blogging sites were selected, with one of the sites representing one of many international blogging sites.
ReplyDeleteAfter the blogging period ended, the results indicated that my weekly blogging posts did not capture many comments from interested readers. However, the blogging experience was an enriching experience for me, enabling me to focus on researching the issue of veterans’ unemployment and preparing weekly summaries of knowledge and perspectives gained on this very important issue. This weekly preparation also contributed to my pursuit of additional resources in the literature to more fully describe the extent of the problem, indicate the resources allocated to assist veterans and their families, and shed light on potential causes of the high rates of unemployment among veterans, particularly the young veterans aged 18 to 25. While performing this blogging project, I discovered and appreciated several of the benefits of blogging that have been described in the literature; these included: (a) helping to create opportunities for participants to engage in conversations with other with common interest, (b) improving and promoting participants’ writing and reading habits, (c) learning the ease with which blogging is performed using technology and the Internet, and (d) providing opportunities to learn and engage others in the global education community (Bailey, n.d.; Calberg, n.d.; Downes, 2004; Galbraith, 2004; McGovern, 2004; Merriam, Courtnay, & Cervero, 2006; Online Education Blog, 2009). Possible suggestions for improving the use of blogging in courses may include using educational blogging in closed settings, with postings and responses made by peers, colleagues, educators, or other members that share common educational goals or
interests.
References
Bailey, V. (n.d.). The benefits of blogging. Retrieved July 10, 2010, from http://www.honeycombtools.com/.../the20%benefits20%of20%blogging.pdf
Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), (2010). Employment situation of veterans – 2009. Retrieved June 22, 2010, from http://www.bls.gov/news.release/vet.nr0.htm
Calberg, F. (n.d.). 11 advantages of using a blog for teaching – Presentation transcript. Retrieved July 10, 2010, from http://www.slideshare.net/frankcadberg/11-advantages-of-using-a-blog-for-teaching
Downes, S. (2004). Educational blogging. EDUCAUSE Review, 39(5).
Galbraith, M. (Ed.). (2004). Adult learning methods: A guide for effective instruction (3rd, ed.). Malabar, FL: Kreiger.
McGovern, G. (2004). Blogs and blogging: Advantages and disadvantages. Retrieved July 10, 2010, from http://www.gerrymcgovern.com/nt_2004_08_23_blogging.htm
Merriam, S. ., Courtenay, B. C., & Cervero, R. M. (eds.) (2006). Global issues and adult education: Perspectives from Latin America, Southern Africa, and the United States. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Online Education Blog. (2009). Blogs – Advantages and disadvantages. Retrieved July 10, 2010, from http://onlineedublog.com/tag/advantages-disadvantages-blogs/