The Immigrant Justice Lab is a team-based learning course that engages undergraduate students from the college of Literature, Sciences, and the Arts (LSA) and Law students from the Law School in public scholarship. Through a partnership with the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center (MIRC), these students work together in teams to collaboratively draft a legal brief to support a claim for asylum made on behalf of one of MIRC’s clients.
Melissa Borja
Assistant Professor of American Culture and Asian/Pacific Islander American Studies at University of Michigan, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts
Jesse Hoffnung-Garskof
Professor of History at Harvard University,
former Professor of American Culture and History at University of Michigan, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts
Jessica Lefort
Clinical Assistant Professor of Law in the Legal Practice Program at University of Michigan Law School and Director of the Immigrant Justice Lab
Amy L. Sankaran
Director, Externship and Pro Bono Programs and Clinical Assistant Professor of Law at University of Michigan Law School
Summary
The Immigrant Justice Lab is a team-based learning course that brings together law students and undergraduate students at the University of Michigan in collaboration with the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center (MIRC) to craft asylum briefs for unaccompanied minors. The course takes two parallel tracks: independent research and writing, as well as collaborative planning, writing and editing in teams. The student teams are composed of two undergraduate students and two law students.
Under the guidance of the course instructors and the community partner, students gain hands-on experience conducting legal and social science research, writing country conditions, and crafting legal arguments necessary for the asylum brief. Additionally, students actively participate in reflections and discussions exploring the intricacies of the immigration and asylum systems in the United States, including strategies for operating within and against those systems.
View the IJL Spotlight Video to learn more about the IJL course design process, team-based learning, and partnering with community partners.
Video Timestamps by Topic
00:00 – Faculty Introductions
1:24 – Course Overview
9:11 – Establishing Relationship with Community Partner
15:00 – Team-based Learning Course Design
20:27 – Designing Student Teams
26:42 – Team-based Learning Tools
35:36 – Scaffolding for Student Success
40:42 – Managing Student Teams
48:14 – Grading in a Team-based Learning Course
1:00:02 – Developing Disciplinary Skills
1:07:02 – Community Partner Opportunities for Students
1:10:54 – Planning for Experiential Learning
1:18:40 – Future of the Immigrant Justice Lab
Course Details
The Immigrant Justice Lab is a cross-listed course at the University of Michigan offered in the college of Literature Sciences and the Arts (LSA) and the Law School. Undergraduate students can take History 441 and law students enroll in LAW 626. The course design follows best practices in team-based learning pedagogies and publicly engaged scholarship.
By working with a community partner, the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center, students in the Immigrant Justice Lab will learn how to research asylum law and country conditions; engage in creative problem solving; maintain respectful and equitable professional relationships; write and edit persuasive legal arguments; and engage in critical reflection about the US immigration system, the ethical practice of legal advocacy, and responsible depictions of violence and injustice in foreign cultures.
The course syllabus linked below offers a comprehensive overview of the course, including the course learning objectives, course structure and policies, and an overview of the weekly activities and assessments.
Related Materials
- Immigrant Justice Lab Course Syllabus
- Contact the Immigrant Justice Lab at [email protected]
- Engaging Undergraduate Students in Public Scholarship
- Teaching in a Team-Based Learning Space by LSA Learning and Teaching Consultants
- Instructional Moves, Team-Based Learning by Harvard Graduate School of Education
- Team-Based Learning Podcast by Teaching in Higher Ed
- Teaching in a Team-based Learning (TBL) Space Planning Guide by LSA Learning and Teaching Consultants.
- Team-Based Learning Planning Guide by LSA Learning and Teaching Consultants
- Team-Based Learning Evidence of Impact and Additional Literature by LSA Learning and Teaching Consultants
- Team-Based Learning Case Study by LSA Learning and Teaching Consultants
- Project-Based Groups or Teams by Center for Research on Learning and Teaching
