Defying Gravity: Experiences of Students with Challenges

Document Type

Oral Presentation

Campus where you would like to present

Ellensburg

Event Website

https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/source

Start Date

18-5-2020

Abstract

The current investigation explores the influences and attitudes associated with university students with disabilities and those students studying abroad in the United States. Thirty students from two Pacific Northwestern universities were recruited from disability service and international program offices. Respondents self-identified as being served by the one office, or the other, or both. An anonymous, online Qualtrics survey consisted of ten statements in each of six broad categories related to the transition to university (specifically, seeking help, family dynamics, interpersonal issues, teacher relations, grades, and studying). Categories consisted of ten questions: five positively and five negatively worded statements to encourage the full use of the Likert scale. Participants rated their degree of agreement/disagreement on a 1-6 scale. Descriptive statistics (means and standard deviations) were calculated for the broad categories for both the positively and negatively worded statements across three groups. ANOVAs were calculated when group means differed by more than one point. Results indicate that students in all three groups tended to agree with positively worded statements in all six categories. However, negatively worded statements revealed potentially meaningful differences between the groups. Statistically significant differences were found for negative teacher statements and negative statements about grades. Results suggest that students with disabilities and international students do share some similar transitional experiences in some areas (seeking help, family dynamics, interpersonal issues, and studying) and could benefit from interactive interventions. However, differences do exist in key areas (specifically regarding challenges with teachers and grades) that might require more targeted intervention efforts.

Faculty Mentor(s)

Wendy Williams

Department/Program

Psychology

Additional Mentoring Department

https://cwu.studentopportunitycenter.com/2020/04/defying-gravity-experiences-of-students-with-challenges/

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May 18th, 12:00 PM

Defying Gravity: Experiences of Students with Challenges

Ellensburg

The current investigation explores the influences and attitudes associated with university students with disabilities and those students studying abroad in the United States. Thirty students from two Pacific Northwestern universities were recruited from disability service and international program offices. Respondents self-identified as being served by the one office, or the other, or both. An anonymous, online Qualtrics survey consisted of ten statements in each of six broad categories related to the transition to university (specifically, seeking help, family dynamics, interpersonal issues, teacher relations, grades, and studying). Categories consisted of ten questions: five positively and five negatively worded statements to encourage the full use of the Likert scale. Participants rated their degree of agreement/disagreement on a 1-6 scale. Descriptive statistics (means and standard deviations) were calculated for the broad categories for both the positively and negatively worded statements across three groups. ANOVAs were calculated when group means differed by more than one point. Results indicate that students in all three groups tended to agree with positively worded statements in all six categories. However, negatively worded statements revealed potentially meaningful differences between the groups. Statistically significant differences were found for negative teacher statements and negative statements about grades. Results suggest that students with disabilities and international students do share some similar transitional experiences in some areas (seeking help, family dynamics, interpersonal issues, and studying) and could benefit from interactive interventions. However, differences do exist in key areas (specifically regarding challenges with teachers and grades) that might require more targeted intervention efforts.

https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/source/2020/COTS/104