Photovoice to be taught in Honors College

By Lizandra Portal/News Video Producer

The Lens project will be offering a two-semester long course for Honors College upper-level students.

The project was a two-year long project in the Dominican Republic that helped get people involved in their communities by helping them become social analysts by putting cameras in their hands and teaching them the photovoice technique.

Mark Padilla, a professor in the Global and Social Studies department, spearheaded the Lens Project in the Dominican Republic along with Armando Matiz, project director of Public Health. Padilla told Student Media that photovoice is a set of techniques that began in public health meant to enhance the voice of a community by using photography.

“This course is going to be a mix of different types of learning. The students are going to better understand how they can use certain types of methodology applicable to the community members,” said Matiz. “The course is going to teach the students to learn how to talk to the community. The students are going to learn about the artistic [side of] things specifically the photography… And the ethical aspect related with the work [in] the community.”

There are certain aspects of the photovoice technique that will be taught in the class as well, according to Padilla. With this technique, there are certain focus questions asked which will be taught to the students in the class.

“In this series of questions… they each require meetings which will bring together community photographers,” Padilla said. “Which is where community facilitation techniques come in because you have to be able to do a consensus-building process with these individuals on what their needs are and how to address them.”

The course will not just teach the students the photovoice methods, however, according to Padilla and Matiz. The course will teach students how to go out into the communities and teach others the technique in order to encourage public policy changes.

Because the course is a two-semester-long class, which will be a total of six credit hours, it will only be available to students in the Honors College, but it is open to all majors. The only prerequisites are the lower-level 60 credit hours.

The course initially had a Spanish language test requirement which has since been scrapped. Only conversational Spanish speaking skills are required because the class will be taught in both English and Spanish. Enrollment for the course is now open and class will begin in the fall of 2018.