Exploring Engagement and Identity in a Living-Learning Community: First- and Second-Year Students' Experiences

• In Event: 18.073 - Poster Session 3
  In Poster Session: 18.073-5 - Division J Section 1 Poster Session

Abstract

While intended to increase student engagement, unclear evidence exists concerning the impact of student participation in Living-Learning Communities (LLCs). Students in a particular LLC, Learn-Lead, are interviewed in this qualitative study. Discourse analysis is employed to address the nature of student engagement as intrinsically bound with students’ identities. Findings suggest students have a range of motivations for joining the LLC and enact a variety of identities. Enactment of particular identities influenced the nature of students’ engagement with peers and in Learn-Lead activities in ways that could not be explained in quantified metrics. This paper offers a nuanced and dynamic conception of engagement as bound to identity, offering an alternative to quantifying engagement in hours and level of effort.

Author

• Andi M. Rehak, Indiana University