Fostering first-year students’ engagement and well-being through visual narratives

Abstract

This article reports on a qualitative study that explored the learning outcomes from an innovative instructional method, visual narratives, used in a first-year seminar. Fifty-three students enrolled in a mandatory first semester student success course were instructed to use visual images to tell the story of the first-year experience. Data generated from visual narratives and reflection papers were analyzed to identify emergent themes. The findings extend current understandings of student engagement and well-being, and document the significant role pedagogical strategies can play in shaping meaningful learning experiences that facilitate first-year students’ transition to university. The study's findings have implications for policy and practice at the institutional and classroom levels.

Keywords:

• student engagement
• well-being
• pedagogy
• visual narrative
• first-year experience

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. For the purpose of this study, personal well-being encompasses the psychological and social dimensions of well-being.

2. Participants were undergraduate education majors: 43 female and 10 male. All university procedures for conducting research with human participants were followed.

3. The first half of the semester focuses on goal setting, study skills and career exploration; the second half of the semester is devoted to project-based learning.

4. Minor edits have been made to excerpts from student reflection papers to increase readability.