Muddy Waters

<a href="https://embed.stanford.edu/iframe/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpurl.stanford.edu%2Fsn470md8122" class="su-underline">Show Content</a>

Abstract/Contents

Abstract: Service work is messy, particularly when working with marginalized communities. It requires navigating complex power dynamics, stakeholder relationships, and much more. However, novices with the best intentions, eager to help, often do not recognize this challenge. This especially applies to service-learning programs where students learn through a service project involving a ‘developing’ community. Students often have a design-for-charity mindset, characterized by the desire to “help” communities without equitably engaging them as opposed to a design-for-justice mindset, characterized by deep community involvement. Though experiences in service work can help students transition from a design-for-charity to a design-for-justice mindset, their inexperience can lead their projects to be ineffective or even harmful to communities as they struggle to find their footing. Muddy Waters is a story-based approach to instilling a design-for-justice mindset in students engaged in service work. Through an interactive fiction story of a student entering their first service project and discussion activities, students vicariously experience a similar learning journey as a traditional service project within a simulated environment. Muddy Waters helps students recognize the “muddiness” of service work and provides stepping stones for them to engage communities equitably and effectively.

Type of resource	mixed material, text
Publication date	January 4, 2023

Author	Marimuthu, Goutham

Related item	Title Muddy Waters Interactive Fiction
DOI	https://doi.org/10.25740/sn470md8122
Location	https://purl.stanford.edu/sn470md8122

Use and reproduction: User agrees that, where applicable, content will not be used to identify or to otherwise infringe the privacy or confidentiality rights of individuals. Content distributed via the Stanford Digital Repository may be subject to additional license and use restrictions applied by the depositor.
License: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike 4.0 International license (CC BY-NC-SA).

Preferred citation: Marimuthu, G. (2022). Muddy Waters. Stanford Digital Repository. Available at https://purl.stanford.edu/sn470md8122. https://doi.org/10.25740/sn470md8122.

Learning Design & Technology 2022

Loading usage metrics...