Campus Green Spaces Matter: Engaging Students With Place Through Course-Based Photovoice

Background: Course-based photovoice brings together high-impact educational practices and can serve as a mechanism to engage students with their surrounding environment through photography, narrative, and critical dialogue. Purpose: This article (a) considers how photovoice may serve as a pedagogical tool for fostering student engagement with place; and (b) explores students’ perspectives on campus green spaces and how engaging with these spaces through photovoice may have implications for sense of belonging. Method: Through photovoice, 26 undergraduates were invited to capture photos of campus green spaces and voice preferences, concerns, and potential improvements, culminating in a photo exhibition. Findings: Findings suggest that photovoice is a promising tool to allow multiple narratives about place to emerge. For example, student photo-narratives suggest that, in addition to more traditional spaces, informal, in-between green spaces hold meaning. Project outcomes include a change in student perspective (e.g., actively noticing campus nature) and feelings of empowerment (e.g., having a platform and audience). Overall, findings suggest course-based photovoice has the potential to encourage critical noticing, interpretation, and relation to place. Implications: The article concludes by critically reviewing limitations of course-based photovoice, providing recommendations for pedagogical practice, and considering how visual approaches may enrich place-based pedagogy.