Making Sense of the Borderlands: Short-Term Immersions and Communicating upon Returning

Abstract

Educational immersions provide opportunities for students to experience a lot in a short time. How do instructors aid studentsin processing and meaningfully reflecting on their experiences? I describe the development of an immersion—and an accompanying pre-and-post-trip class—to sites along the U.S.-Mexico border. Then, I analyze student reflective writing assignments to see if and how the students were able to communicate their learning.