Engineering education research has increasingly used qualitative approaches to understand student learning, success, and identity development by centering students’ lived experiences. In this presentation, I draw on our Photovoice studies to examine what becomes visible when engineering students have greater control over how their experiences are represented and interpreted. Photovoice is a participatory visual research approach in which participants use photographs to document and reflect on their experiences.
Drawing from studies of engineering identity development and student success, we highlight how participants’ photographs and narratives reveal structural barriers, emotional tensions, recognition, belonging, and strategies for navigating engineering. These findings demonstrate how Photovoice can surface dimensions of engineering experience that may be difficult to access through interviews alone.
The Henderson Research Group has increasingly employed participatory and visual methods in engineering education research, leading to methodological insights about how these approaches can deepen our understanding of students’ experiences while expanding their role in the research process. This presentation highlights lessons learned from this work, including the possibilities and challenges of Photovoice, and considers what comes next as we extend participatory methods across new populations, contexts, and research questions. Ultimately, we consider how participatory visual methods can shift students from respondents to active contributors in knowledge construction.