Темата за имиграцията в университетските аудитории и извън тях: модел за активно социално включване
The Immigration Experience in the Classroom and Beyond: a Model for Active Social Involvement

Summary/Abstract: Immigration experience is a multifaceted phenomenon that presents unique opportunities for combining academic and community-engaged learning in meaningful ways. The present study focuses on the student learning outcomes of a community-based project that was part of the academic curriculum in a large public university in the USA. The research objective of the project was to provide students enrolled in an elective course with the necessary analytical tools for separating the myths from the realities of the immigration experience as seen in works of various genres and experienced in volunteer work for one of the local immigrant and refugee centers. The pedagogical objectives were informed by Jack Mezirow’s transformative learning theory and models of community-engaged learning. The data for the study were obtained from students’ oral presentations and various written assignments (reports, short reflection papers, and a final paper), in which students analyzed works of fiction, films, and theoretical studies of immigrant languages and cultures. The assessment of students’ academic and volunteer work at the end of the semester showed that the students were able to recognize and articulate the complexity and diversity of the immigration experience, to identify and use various strategies in cross-cultural communication, and to formulate long-term goals for active social involvement.

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