2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Photovoice, a participatory action research method, aims to enable participants to document and reflect on their group’s strengths and concerns, fosters critical dialogue and knowledge-sharing through the images captured, and reach changemakers. While widely utilized in the fields of medicine, social sciences, and education, its application in engineering education is relatively new and unexplored within the domain of computer science education. This position paper aims to present a comprehensive account of a pilot study that introduces photovoice to computer science students, showcasing the method's merits and contributions.

The study investigates the contributions of photovoice in comprehending the perspectives of underrepresented groups in computing guided by emancipatory research in which participation is elicited not just from a sample population. Rather, it is used as an analytical perspective because participants actively engaged in co-constructing knowledge with the researchers. Over a two-week period, six participants representing minoritized backgrounds based on race, gender, or sexuality, enrolled full-time in a U.S.-based computer science program and engaged in photovoice as part of a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU). The objective was to capture their experiences and challenges during their initial REU participation. Participants were guided by the following prompts:
- What are your experiences and some of the challenges you may face participating in an REU?
- How has your participation in this program changed your view on computer science/computing?
- How has your participation in this program affected your life?

This paper will outline the implementation of photovoice with this group of participants, detailing how research facilitators adapted and executed the method's steps, the obstacles confronted during the process, and the inherent value derived from the study's outcomes. Themes that emerged and were defined from discussion exercises with participants are the following: 'lost and found,' signifying moments of uncertainty and discovery; 'lack of community,' highlighting feelings of isolation; 'not surface level,' underscoring the depth and complexity of the issues discussed; and 'community,' reflecting participants' desire for, or efforts toward, building a sense of belonging within the research program. These themes serve as integral components of our investigation into the impact of photovoice on understanding the perspectives of underrepresented groups in computing.