Open AccessA Sense of Belonging
Author(s) -
Wanda M. Hadley
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
the journal of college orientation and transition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2690-4535
pISSN - 1534-2263
DOI - 10.24926/jcotr.v25i2.2116
Subject(s) - focus group , psychology , interpretation (philosophy) , qualitative research , mathematics education , pedagogy , qualitative property , medical education , sociology , medicine , linguistics , social science , philosophy , machine learning , anthropology , computer science
First-year students that identify as having a learning disability are an at-risk subgroup of students self-identifying on college campuses. Many of these students choose not to disclose their learning disability upon admissions to the university because of their concern about being accepted in the university culture. This research is from a two year study of the experiences of a group of first-year students with learning disabilities transitioning to a private, selective, coeducational, 4-year University in the Midwest. Qualitative data of focus group interviews and semi-structured individual interviews present the findings of the study. Chickering (1969) and Chickering and Reisser’s (1993) stages of student development theory are presented through Hadley’s (2009) interpretation of their experiences.