Thank you for your interest in this project titled:
Exploring the transition of international students to UK Higher Education (HE) and how they adapt to studying on a masters programme.
The research is seeking to answer two main questions:
- What supports and impedes international student adaptation to MSc Public Health at UON?
- How can I (the Academic Librarian) support international student transition better to UK Higher Education (HE) and future practice?
On this page you will see videos and documents to help you engage with the project. This includes:
- An introduction to the project,
- An outline timeframe of the project
- Participant information
- Information about the training workshops
- Prompts for taking photographs
- Instructions on how to upload your photos to your padlet site
- Information on how to caption your photographs
- Information about the focus groups
Introduction to the project
This short video explains the project and why I would like you to be involved.
Timeframe of the project
This table shows the outline of the project. The research will have three main stages.
- Training workshop (1 hour),
- Take photographs independently and
- upload them to your padlet site,
- Attend a focus group (1 hour).
If you agree to take part in the project, you only need to attend one hour-long training workshop, take photographs, upload them to your individual padlet site (which I will give you) and attend one hour-long focus group to discuss your thoughts and experiences. The sessions have been designed to work around your teaching sessions, so you won’t miss any timetabled content by taking part in this project.
Week beginning |
Event |
Actions |
| 29/01/2024 | Recruit student participants | Read and sign your participant consent form and email it to me. |
| 05/02/2024 | Training Workshop: Online | You have a choice of an online or face-to-face training workshop. You only need to attend one. Please use the online booking form to confirm your place. |
| 12/02/2024 | Training workshops: Face-to-face on campus | The face-to-face workshops will be on campus at the University of Northampton. Please use the online booking form to confirm your place. |
| 19/02/2024 | Training workshops: Face-to-face on campus
Participants take photographs |
You can take your photographs in your own time. |
| 26/02/2024 | Training workshops: Face-to-face on campus
Participants take photographs |
|
| 04/03/2024 | Participants upload photographs | You will have an individual padlet site that you can upload your photographs to. You may want to do this on campus, so you can use the university’s Wi-Fi network. |
| 11/03/2024 | Focus Groups – face to face | You choose which focus group you would like to attend. These will be on campus and take one hour. Please use the online booking form to confirm your place. |
| 18/03/2024 | Focus Groups – face to face | |
| Easter and onwards | While you’re studying and working on your assignments, I’ll be transcribing the focus groups and analysing the findings. | |
| Summer | Exhibition: I’ll arrange an exhibition of your photographs at the University in the summer. I’ll be in touch with the dates so you can come and celebrate your contribution to the project. | |
Table above provides an outline of the timetable of the research project.
Participant information
The Fellowship Participant Information Sheet explains the project and what you will be asked to do.
Information about the training workshops
The training workshops will take place either online or face-to-face (on the University of Northampton campus). Pick the date and time that suits you. In the training workshop I will explain the project and what I would like you to do. You will have a chance to consider photographs in relation to a specific context. By the end of the workshop, you will have an individual padlet site that you can upload your photographs to, based on the prompts I have given you. These prompts are designed to help inspire the photographs you take. We’ll also discuss the ethical and safety aspects of taking photographs.
You can book onto a training workshop here.
This video includes guidance on taking photographs for the project.
Prompts for taking photographs.
You will be asked to take and upload between 10 and 20 photographs based on the prompts below. These will be used as part of the discussion in the focus groups.
I’d like you to take photographs that reflect your experience ….
- Moving to Northampton
- Finding information
- Studying
- Researching an assignment
If it helps you might want to think about these questions:
- What’s different about Northampton?
- Where do you get information from?
- What makes you unique? A photo that tells us something about you (not a selfie or a portrait)
This Photovoice workshop handout includes prompts alongside some guidance for taking photographs.
Instructions on how to upload your photographs to your padlet site.
Each participant will have your own private padlet site. This video shows you step-by-step how to upload your photographs to your padlet site. I’ve also written some guidance for you to follow if you prefer.
Please read the padlet terms and conditions to make sure you are happy to upload your photographs to the private padlet site: https://legal.padlet.com/
Once you have uploaded your photographs to the padlet, I’ll clear any identifying metadata from them and upload them to a shared padlet for us to discuss in the focus group for the third stage of the project. Depending on what preference you have put on your photographic consent form, your photographs will be labelled either with your name or pseudonym.
Information on how to caption your photographs
You might find it helpful to add a caption or description to your photograph to help the viewer understand your point of view. Here are some ideas that could help:
- Word association: Look at the photograph and list any ideas or words that come to mind when you look at it, however random or unrelated.
- Ask a question: Who? What? Where? When? Why? How?
- Free writing: write for 2 minutes without stopping or reading back. Then review what you’ve written and delete what you don’t like.
You don’t need to use all of these examples, but they are suggestions if you need help adding a caption to your photographs.
Information about the focus group
In the focus group, we will use the photographs you’ve taken to guide our discussion around your experience as an international student coming to Northampton to study on the MSc Public Health programme. Together we’ll decide the key themes and ideas that you want to share. The focus groups will be recorded, and audio transcribed. Please remember to send me your consent form.
You can book onto a focus group here.