# Using photovoice to engage students in a non-major microbiology course

## TL;DR

This study explores using photovoice, a participatory research method, to engage non-major microbiology students in a university course.

## Contribution

The study introduces photovoice as a novel pedagogical tool for enhancing engagement in non-major microbiology education.

## Key findings

- Students reported a positive experience using photovoice in their microbiology course.
- Themes of choice, creativity, critical thinking, and research skills emerged from student feedback.
- Photovoice appears to be an effective engagement tool for non-major students.

## Abstract

In the past decade, it has become increasingly difficult to engage and encourage critical thinking and deeper learning in students who participate in higher education, particularly in non-major subjects. Photovoice is a participatory action research methodology that has been used in community-based research in many different areas including social science, health science and education. In this study, photovoice was used as a pedagogical tool in a third-year BSc Bioscience non-major microbiology module at Dundalk Institute of Technology. In order to ascertain if photovoice was an effective way of engaging these students, a qualitative descriptive methodological approach, in the form of a focus group, was employed. Six of the 13 students who took the module participated in the focus group, reporting a positive experience overall of using photovoice. Further analysis of the focus group data resulted in the overarching theme of choice, with creativity and critical thinking and research skills as sub-themes to emerge. These findings suggest that photovoice is an effective way to engage students in microbiology as a non-major subject. However, as it was a small sample size, future research would need to use a larger cohort of students to provide further evidence of using photovoice as a pedagogical engagement tool for non-major subjects.