Civic Media Codesign Studio
MIT OpenCourseWare offers this project-based studio course from Comparative Media Studies/Writing, pairing student teams with community partners to design civic media projects around real neighborhood needs. The syllabus covers co-design and lean UX methods, walking through ideation, prototyping, testing, launch, and long-term stewardship of a project with the partner organization. Materials include assignment sheets, readings on participatory design, and guidance for structuring community meetings and feedback sessions. Students work in mixed teams that combine media-making skills with direct community engagement, treating the partner organization as a collaborator rather than a client. The course assumes some interest in community-based organizational work rather than prior design experience. As with other MIT OCW offerings, the materials are free to use and there is no certificate; this is the professor's own syllabus, assignments, and case examples rather than a polished self-paced class.