The problem

Last week was supposed to be ‘Interview week’ having scheduled 4 pair interviews ready to collate the thoughts and experiences of students that were on the thinking inside the box project. Prior to this week I had issues with arranging interviews and a few cancellations. However, I had my hopes up this week after matching people up and arranging lots of interviews. The worst thing after someone cancelling is someone just not turning up, which unfortunately ended up happening for most of my interviews. I was feeling as though I was holding the project back as i couldn't collect the data I needed.

After countless emails and waves of forms office surveys (despise these intensely) I was left frustrated, feeling out of control due to reliance on other individuals to respond. Feeling like a lemon because i couldn't actually progress in my project until I conducted these interviews. So I took the initiative to contact my supervisor, Anna,  to explain the issue I was having. My stress levels decreased within 20 minutes (no joke)  because of how understanding she was. We came up with a plan together of how to reach the students and make sure they are responsive by using more direct platforms such as WhatsApp and changing our approach. Following this my inbox was filled with apologies and requests for new interview dates.

This moment made me realise I should just ask for help more often, not only does it prevent me from getting a chronic stress disorder, but it also forms bonds and promotes collaboration. Accepting that not everything can be done alone allowed me to tackle the problem, and has resulted in going from no interviews to 3 back to back successful interviews just this morning (was very tiring but so rewarding).

The change

I feel as though these interviews served as a turning point for me and have allowed deeper understanding of the project and completely changed my perspective on my research. Initially, i was slightly confused of what the project has impacted and how my research was going to ultimately contribute in making a difference to student learning and university experiences. But after hearing the opportunities and transformational experiences its brought students and the community it made me realise this project has grown to be so much larger than I had initially thought and the beneficial impacts exceeding expectations. 

 I have gathered so much insight from the students and valuable information that will contribute to the formation of a module, expansion of the project and having the potential to promote the use of archival pedagogy in the current curriculum. Understanding how they would adapt the project and evaluating features that would or wouldn't work in a module, this has allowed me to assess the practicality of our ideas and how they can be adjusted. I will go into detail of the content of these interviews in the coming weeks and in my essay!

Overall, this week has been an emotional roller coaster, from being posed with such a challenge and then ending in such an intense lightbulb moment where the dots of my research have finally been connected.  Ultimately, I have learnt to not be afraid to ask for help from your supervisor, peers or general Laidlaw programme leads and this goes for all the scholars currently doing or are about to start their research. Because believe it or not they want to make your lives easier and want to help you learn and grow from this experience :)!