United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Open Pedagogy Fellowship
Academic Service Learning: Advocacy and Migration

Introduction:

Lynnae Thandiwe, Pima Community College (Arizona)
Roberto Hurtado, Montgomery College (Maryland)
2021-2022

You are a part of a collegewide effort to increase access to education and empower students
through "open pedagogy." Open pedagogy is a "free access" educational practice that places you
- the student - at the center of your own learning process in a more engaging, collaborative
learning environment. The ultimate purpose of this effort is to achieve greater social justice in
our community in which the work can be freely shared with the broader community. This is a
renewable assignment that is designed to enable you to become an agent of change in your
community through the framework of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs). For this work, you will integrate the disciplines of Spanish and Paralegal Studies to
achieve SDG #10: Reduced Inequalities with a focus on 10.7 - Facilitate orderly, safe, regular,
and responsible migration and mobility of people, including through the implementation of
planned and well-managed migration policies.

Learning Objectives:
This activity is intended to build a deeper understanding of migration trends and the refugee
crises. Students shall learn about basic human needs and rights of asylum seekers and refugees
especially as these rights and barriers include language access issues.
This is an interdisciplinary assignment because it addresses issues of non-native speakers
classified as refugees or asylees.

Purpose/Rationale:
This active learning practice is also designed to improve your academic skills, increase
community connections, and improve social justice for our community. Spanish speaking skills
and paralegal skills are powerful communication skills that increase access to justice, and access

to service while breaking down communication barriers. Defining a problem and compiling
strategic resources improves communication skills.

Instructions:
This is a scaffolded assignment. The first assignment for Paralegal Studies is drafting a memo and
for Spanish students is participating in a discussion forum. To complete this, students will watch a
documentary of their choice and read a blog about refugees and asylees as well as conduct
research. The second assignment is drafting an advocacy piece. Students should identify a person
or community entity that may be effective in advancing the position that student takes as part of
their advocacy. The piece should identify their position. They should provide evidence for their
position from research. The advocacy piece can be produced in the format of email to a
government official, or advocacy group: a persuasive discussion post to fellow students: a blog, or
an op-ed or opinion piece submitted to a journal outlet. Students have the ability to be awarded a
Changemaker Badge for extra credit. The third assignment should be a reflection piece. The
reflection piece should be 250-300 words. The reflection can be submitted as an essay, a threefive minute video, or a discussion post. The reflection piece should address what the student
learned, any suggestions for improving the assignment, and reflection on community engagement.
Students will read asylee vs refugee background blog.
https://www.lirs.org/refugees-asylum-seekers-migrants-whats-thedifference/?gclid=CjwKCAjwuvmHBhAxEiwAWAYjOUKwMhBWq8aS6Bq3gkPdj4QfXPNhF63uSpTcHQ9DenXcjt5Do6h7hoCmOsQAvD_BwE
Students will watch a documentary of their choice:
•
•

Paper Children (Niños de papel) | Inside America’s Overwhelmed Asylum System
https://youtu.be/jdsPSkFXrD4
Children of Syria or ISIS in
Afghanistanhttps://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/forced-to-flee-6-documentaries-towatch-to-understand-the-global-refugee-crisis/

Format Requirements:
Format Requirements for Memo – Paralegal Students. The memo should be written following the
format for legal memos. The word length should be 500 words. The memo should identify the
legal questions, and brief answer and discussion. For Spanish students, after watching the video,
they will respond to a discussion prompt in the target language in 8-10 sentences.

Format Requirements for Advocacy piece. The advocacy piece should use a minimum of 3
sources. A reliable source is one that is not biased and that can be backed up with evidence. The
advocacy piece should be between 400-700 words. For Spanish students, this must be done in the
target language.
Format Requirements for Reflection piece: The reflection piece can be submitted as an essay,
video, or a discussion post. It should be around 200-300 words. Students are not required to use
sources as part of their reflection. Reflection for Spanish students will be done in the target
language.
*We've adapted the Montgomery College Changemaker rubric
*The assignment will be worth 10% of students' final grade

Academic Service Learning: Advocacy and Migration is licensed by Lynnae Thandiwe, Pima
Community College (Arizona) and Roberto Hurtado, Montgomery College (Maryland) under the
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC-BY)