Date of Award:

5-2016

Document Type:

Dissertation

Degree Name:

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department:

Engineering Education

Committee Chair(s)

Oenardi Lawanto (Committee Co-Chair), Sherry Marx (Committee Co-Chair)

Committee

Oenardi Lawanto

Committee

Sherry Marx

Committee

Kurt Becker

Committee

David Feldon

Committee

Idalis Villanueva

Abstract

Nontraditional students, including those who delay college entry, attend college part-time, work full-time, or financially support themselves or dependents, are highly underrepresented in engineering education. Recently, the United States began emphasizing a need to access this untapped human potential. U.S. educational policymakers now seek increased nontraditional student participation in engineering education through the creation of robust new pathways—within and between 2- and 4- year institutions—to undergraduate engineering degrees.

To be impactful, alternative pathways must be grounded in knowledge related to nontraditional student success in engineering. To access this knowledge, this study qualitatively examined the experiences of 14 nontraditional students who pursued engineering degrees via a distance-delivered, alternative engineering transfer program. Data from in-depth interviews were used to create personal, experiential stories with each participant. Analysis revealed that nontraditional student views of their educational success departed substantially from common views of academic success. In addition, analysis showed that the alternative engineering program promoted nontraditional student success in three ways: a) by promoting long-term career goals, b) by enabling academic bootstrapping, and c) by maintaining connections to local communities of support.

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