Becoming real: Using the artistic pedagogical technology of photovoice as a medium to becoming real to one another in the online educative environment

Over the past decade, online education has become common place. Critics of online education point to the possible loss of social interaction and interpersonal connections in this educational medium. Broadly, our research focus is how human to human interactions can be sustained and even enhanced in online classrooms. Specifically, this paper focuses on how one Artistic Pedagogical Technology called Photovoice (Perry & Edwards, 2010) may support these valued social interactions. Using a purposive sample of 46 graduate students in a large online university, online interactions resulting from the teaching strategy of Photovoice were analyzed for presence of authentic voice and authentic interaction. Lincoln and Guba's (1985) authenticity criteria were adapted to evaluate Photovoice as an authentic medium. The results of this study show support for the use of Photovoice as a medium for becoming "real" or authentic to one another and as a modality of sustaining authentic interaction in the online environment.