“Moving beyond words”: Using photovoice to explore the experience of international students coming to study at UON.

Description

Library research often focuses on dominant white, western voices and rarely includes the views and experiences of those from diverse backgrounds (Roberts, 2021; Tewell, 2019). Increasing numbers of international students are entering UK postgraduate (PG) education. There is little research exploring their information literacy practice or transition into UK PG study (Murphy & Tilley, 2019). However, literature recognises that PG students are a diverse group (Murphy & Tilley, 2019) that bring various cultural and social practices into the classroom (Hicks & Lloyd, 2016). Those working with international students in Higher Education (HE) have the opportunity to collaborate and co-create information that can enhance both the staff and student experience (Mittelmeier, Lomer, Al Furqani, & Huang, 2022).

The workshop will explore the use of photovoice to include the diverse perspective of international students. As a creative research method participatory photography empowers the students to present their experience in a visual way and acts as a catalyst for deeper discussion. The progress, findings, and lessons learnt from the research so far will be presented.

This hands-on workshop will also allow attendees to try some of the visual literacy activities that underpin the photovoice method and explore how this method could facilitate different perspectives on research questions.

Funded by the AHRC-RLUK Professional Practice Fellowship Scheme for research and academic libraries.

References
Hicks, A., & Lloyd, A. (2016). It takes a community to build a framework: Information literacy within intercultural settings. Journal of Information Science, 42(3), 334-343. https://doi.org/10.1177/0165551516630219
Mittelmeier, J., Lomer, S., Al Furqani, S., & Huang, D. (2022). Internationalisation and students’ outcomes or experiences: a review of the literature 2011-2022. Retrieved from https://www.advance-he.ac.uk/knowledge-hub/internationalisation-and-students-outcomes-or-experiences
Murphy, H., & Tilley, E. (2019). Libraries Supporting Transition: Developing a Pre-Arrival Open Educational Resource (OER) for Taught Master’s Students. New Review of Academic Librarianship, 25(2–4), 271–294. https://doi.org/10.1080/13614533.2019.1622580
Roberts, L. (2021). “This Is Just What We Do”: PhD Students on Becoming Scholars in a Community of Practice. Communications in Information Literacy, 15(1), 75–94. https://doi.org/10.15760/comminfolit.2021.15.1.4
Tewell, E. (2019). Reframing Reference for Marginalized Students. Reference & User Services Quarterly, 58(3), 162–176.

Period	25 Jun 2024
Event title	UON Research Conference 2024
Event type	Conference
Location	Northampton , United KingdomShow on map
Degree of Recognition	Local