DOING GOOD HANDBOOK

Student engagement handbook for the UMD Center for Community Engagement

The Doing Good Handbook is a capstone project created in collaboration with the University of Maryland Center for Community Engagement (UMD CCE). As the primary product designer on a 4-person team, I led the design and implementation of a modular Notion-based platform that helped students engage more thoughtfully with surrounding communities through curated opportunities, contextual learning, engagement toolkits, and structured reflection systems.

CLIENT & PROBLEM

The UMD CCE aims to help students engage with communities on and around campus through volunteering, civic engagement, and community initiatives. However, many students struggle to find opportunities, navigate fragmented information, or approach community work with sufficient context and awareness.

The original scope focused on designing two digital toolkits: “Running a Drive” and “Planning a Good Neighbor Day Project,” aimed at guiding students through UMD-specific logistics and community engagement resources. Over time, the project evolved into a broader handbook system after recognizing the need for a more centralized and scalable platform.

FEATURES & PURPOSE

LEARNING MODULES

Through curated readings and reflection prompts, students start by exploring essential concepts like solidarity, systems thinking, humility, and sustained engagement. The goal was to encourage more thoughtful and context-aware participation in community work.

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES

A curated collection of actionable opportunities to get involved in community work at and around College Park.

COMMUNITY CONTEXT

A repository of local data sources, research materials, and community references intended to help students better understand the social context surrounding the University of Maryland and College Park area.

TOOLKITS

As the project evolved from creating standalone toolkits into building a broader platform for engagement resources, the “Running a Drive” toolkit currently exists as a wireframe concept for future capstone teams to expand upon. The “Plan a Good Neighbor Day” toolkit was fully implemented by my teammate, Caleb Nebiyu.

PERSONAL JOURNAL

A structured journaling and reflection space designed to help students document volunteering experiences, track personal growth over time, and critically reflect on community engagement through reusable templates and guided prompts.