Indigenous students’ Involvement in a photovoice study: Opportunities for mentorship
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2021-05-04
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The University library’s commitment to providing informal learning spaces for all students lead the researchers to consider Indigenous students’ perspectives (Boys, 2014). Essential to the inquiry was our responsibility to ensure cultural reciprocity to learn from one another (First Nations Centre, 2007; MacDonald, 2018). Inviting indigenous students as co-researchers in a photovoice study provided the opportunity for mentorship. The Indigenous students, with little or no research experience, were recruited as both participants and collaborators. Designed to document how they learn in informal library spaces, the students “…become researchers in their own right” (Julien, Given & Opryshko, 2013, p. 259). To guide their development as researchers, the research team, including an Indigenous support worker and research assistant, designed a series of workshops to orient the students to the photovoice methodology. We provided formal and informal mentorship to the Indigenous students/co-researchers. To acknowledge the Indigenous students’ individual perspectives and lived experiences, a community-based participatory research (CBPR) framework was adopted. CBPR is designed to share power and foster trust which is necessary for mentorship (Castleden & Gavin, 2008). The outcome of the first phase of this study indicate mentorship opportunities for both the Indigenous students and the research team. As a result, the research team, including the students as co-researchers, identified ways in which we learned from and with each other about Indigenous student learning in informal spaces. In this poster presentation, we will showcase our collaborative process including our learning and mentorship experience. Participants will be encouraged to consider implications for future planning of research projects with Indigenous students.
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Jeffs, C., Beatty, S., & Hayden, K. A. (2021). Indigenous students’ Involvement in a photovoice study: Opportunities for mentorship [Poster presentation]. Presented at the Conference on Postsecondary Learning and Teaching: Mentorship in Higher Education, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB.