Review of Student Affairs: Experiencing Higher Education

Abstract

The third theme involves three undergraduate programs at The University of British Columbia. Warick, advisor at the disability resource centre, presents a moving description of students with hard-of-hearing disabilities. Reports revealed that many perceive themselves as visitors to class as they try to adjust to different classroom environments, people, communication patterns, and styles of teaching and learning. In a second study, Hawkey, a graduate of the UBC higher education doctoral program, reports on a study focusing on learners' perceptions on what it means to belong and be a member of a community within an academic program. The section concludes with a study on co-operative education presented by Grosjean, senior research fellow and coordinator of the doctoral program in leadership and policy program at UBC. Using questionnaire and interview methods, he illustrates how students perceive and assign meaning to their co-operative education experiences and details the benefits and limitations of the program. The heart and soul of student experiences in post-secondary institutions lies in the voices of learners. The opportunity to learn about the lives of non-traditional students, so richly presented in this volume, is central to the strength of this collection. The co-editors and authors alike have captured and communicated student voices through stories recounted in various studies. For example, Warwick's chapter explains why one hard-of-hearing student considered leaving the program after a devastating experience. The resolution of this issue was transformational for this student and both the process and the outcome should be illuminating for other students who may be considering enrollment in an undergraduate education program in the future. Similarly, Grosjean's chapter on co-operative education contains many useful insights for future students, while at the same time conveying how deeply this experience had impacted on students involved in the study.