Living Deficit-ly? Nontraditional Transfer Student Experience in Undergraduate Engineering

• In Event: 58.082 - Roundtable Session 25
  In Roundtable Session: 58.082-7 - Relationship and Knowledge Landscapes in Narrative Inquiry

Abstract

This paper reports on narrative inquiry research conducted with a group of nontraditional undergraduates who pursued a common goal of becoming an engineer. Coming from a variety of life circumstances, the students took part in a 2-year engineering transfer program, offered in the evenings, via synchronous distance delivery, by a public land-grant university situated in the United States. The purpose of the research was to understand the nontraditional students’ educational experiences within the 2-year program and later as they transferred/attempted transfer to a traditional 4-year university setting. In this paper, I identify and explore personal, social, and institutional tensions arising from instances of deficit thinking that emerged from their lived and told stories.

Author

• Angela Minichiello, Utah State University