3.3 Chandru
Chandru is classed as a ‘mature student’, although he is only 25 years old. He has just finished his Foundation Pathway year and started the first year of an engineering degree. He had not felt confident enough in his academic skills to go to university straight from school, so he took a job working with a firm that installed air-conditioning units. He discovered that he was good at sales. He enjoyed meeting new people, talking to clients and finding the right solutions for them. During the Foundation year, where academic reading and writing skills were core to the course, Chandru was surprised to see that his abilities in this area had really improved. This gave him the confidence and encouragement to apply to the engineering course.
Chandru struggled with reading and writing at school and found spelling and learning the multiplication table difficult. This knocked his confidence in school, and it was made worse when some of his peer group made fun of him, and a teacher told him that he would not go far in life. However, Chandru excelled in technical drawing, where he had a very supportive teacher who noticed he was good at constructing 3D images and encouraged him to keep going.
In his engineering course, Chandru discovered the great value his work experience had, helping him understand many advanced concepts more quickly than his peers. He has started using mind mapping techniques which suit his multidimensional thinking. While in the past he struggled to develop his thoughts logically in writing, mind mapping allows him to brainstorm ideas and make new connections. Chandru uses assistive technology offered to him during his course, which has dramatically improved in the intervening years since he was at school. He especially values a speech-to-text application that lets him quickly get his thoughts onto paper and structure and refine them later.