JustLearning: Creating Socially Responsible Citizens Through Community-Based Learning and Critical Experience on the U.S./Mexico Border
Abstract
BorderLinks is a bi-national, non-profit organization operating in Tucson, Arizona and Nogales, Sonora, Mexico. As an education program provider dedicated to justice at local and international levels, BorderLinks offers experiential programs that encourage participants to examine social, political, and economic issues that plague the U.S./Mexico border region. Currently, BorderLinks programs range from short-term delegations to semester-long immersion programs for college students. To increase access to a broader range of participants, BorderLinks encouraged the development of a summer-length program. JustLearning is a result of these initiatives.
JustLearning is designed for students interested in Justice Studies in light of the U.S./Mexico border context. Taking place along the U.S./Mexico border, JustLearning facilitates a challenging and transformative educational experience via a variety of interdisciplinary approaches. Special emphasis is placed on intercultural relationship building, collaboration with community-based organizations, improving Spanish language skills, individual and group reflection, critical analysis, and planning to advocate for social change.
JustLearning is intentionally designed to harness the transformative power of education abroad. All program components, including the mission, goals, objectives, curriculum, and evaluation, reflect and support the application of experiential pedagogy. Its unique location coupled with its explicit experiential pedagogy will assist JustLearning to achieve its civic mission: to prepare participants to become socially responsible, culturally sensitive, and globally minded professionals who are equipped with the necessary skills to observe, analyze, and respond to injustices in the world community.
Disciplines
International and Comparative Education
Recommended Citation
Burrows, Amy, "JustLearning: Creating Socially Responsible Citizens Through Community-Based Learning and Critical Experience on the U.S./Mexico Border" (2007). Capstone Collection. 789.
https://digitalcollections.sit.edu/capstones/789