What Does Success Look Like?
“Success”
The goal of this work is to humanize the statistical, deficit based narrative about Indigenous Peoples generally and Indigenous post-secondary students specifically, so that readers develop their empathy and drive change toward Indigenous resurgence in their institutions and society.
Project author Samantha Mandamin said it best:
Key Takeaways
“We want people who play the game to say, ‘I had no idea.’ We want them to go through the game and experience something through an Indigenous student’s perspective and understand the weight that they are carrying every day. So that when they come out, they’re like going to say, ‘I had NO idea.’ You know I I understand what you’re carrying now and so my dismissive remark about you asking for an extension was insensitive because I didn’t know you were carrying this heavy load with you all around campus.”
This is the feeling we want the game to have, and this is the purpose the game serves.
We want to create stories that deepen the empathy with Indigenous student experiences.
This could be analyzed in set of pre- and post-intervention measures such as the Toronto Empathy Quotient and then a set of questions that assess how Student Support Staff might better support Indigenous such as:
- This changes the way I think about Indigenous students.
- This will shape how I support Indigenous students.
- I am more likely to give Indigenous students more of my time.
- I am more likely to advocate on behalf of Indigenous students with other departments.
