Assessing the Impact of Military Cultural-Competence Training: Lessons for Creating an Inclusive Campus Environment

Abstract

Campuses are increasingly offering military cultural-competency professional development training to staff and faculty to support military-connected students. Using four years of program data, we examine outcomes for a custom training, including retention of content knowledge, application of lessons on campus, and comparison of outcomes for in-person and online versions of the training. Results suggest that participants, both in-person and online, developed higher confidence and greater capacity to support student veterans. Evidence for examining training impact included correct response rates on a post-training quiz, scaled perceptions data, and open-ended feedback. Implications for research on the effectiveness of military cultural competency training are discussed, along with recommendations for creating an inclusive campus culture for military-connected students.

Keywords:

• Military-connected
• inclusion
• assessment
• student veterans

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Phillip Morris

Phillip Morris is an Assistant Professor of Education at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs.

Michael McNamee

Michael McNamee is Director of Regional Engagement and Advancement at Colorado College.

Kayleen St. Louis

Kayleen St. Louis is a Program Manager at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs.