Latijnse School Nijmegen
Latijnse School Nijmegen

Observing through the eyes of homeless people

TLC voucher project
Duration
2023 until 2023
Project type
Education

Motivation

Students often have difficulty observing a situation from an insider's perspective, causing them to perceive it from the outside. An insider's perspective is a perspective in which the researcher looks at a situation from the perspective of the people who are part of it. How can student engagement in observation be increased so that they can adopt a true insider's perspective while observing? 

Aim

When students participate in activities that are outside their comfort zone, it helps them conduct participatory observation. Participatory observation means that the researcher actively participates in the activities of the group under study while observing. Through the city walk "Vagabond", students come into contact with a social challenge, which is homelessness. This activity will make students aware of societal issues and teach them how this participatory observation in research can help in understanding complex societal issues. 

Desired solution

Bareerah Hafeez uses her innovation voucher to let students participate in the city walk "Vagabond", where homeless people show them around Nijmegen. This gives students the opportunity to conduct participatory observation, an important method for qualitative research. Through this experience, students not only become more aware of the challenges surrounding homelessness, but also learn how research can help understand complex societal issues. 

Plan of action

Business Administration students take part in the "Vagabond" city walk while taking notes. They write individual notes and compare them with other group members in a subsequent workgroup session. During this session, students will code their observations and ask reflective questions such as, "How the existing current societal structure enable or/and prevent homelessness?" and "How can I address this issue when I join my future workplace?".  Subsequently, the activity will be evaluated based on the number of students participating and the assessment of the lecturers of the workgroup session on the quality of the observations, the debriefing, and the overall evaluation of the activity. 

Funding

This project is funded by a TLC voucher from the Radboud Teaching and Learning Centre. This voucher programme aims to set up projects in the field of educational innovation, lecturer development and educational research.

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