NOTE:  The student version of ArcGIS does not have the Data Interoperability extension.  You will need to do steps 1-6 on an STC computer.

See the following Youtube videos for a walkthrough of the procedure below:

Garmin GPS track to ArcGIS Polygon - Part 1

Garmin GPS track to ArcGIS Polygon - Part 2

Downloading GPS data from the Garmin units and converting to Geodatabase format datasets: 

1. Plug Garmin GPS unit in to computer via USB (port on Garmin is under rubber lid on bottom of unit).  Wait a moment and the computer should mount the drive just as happens with a USB flash drive.  On my computer it was taking 10-15 seconds for the computer to recognize the drive. 

2. Go to the drive that is mounted, navigate to the following folder: 

Garmin : GPX : Current 

3. Inside this folder is a file called Current.gpx 

Save this file on to your filesystem (or your USB flash drive) 

4. Launch ArcMap.  Select the Customize menu in the main menu and select Extensions.  Check the "Data Interoperability" box.  If you skip this step the "Quick Import" tool will not be active. 

NOTE:  The student version of ArcGIS does not have the Data Interoperability extension.  You will need to do this in an STC. 

5. Open ArcToolbox and go to the Data Interoperability item, select Quick Import 

6. Select the Current.gpx file as the input file.  Create a name for the output geodatabase (the Quick Import tool appears to only create geodatabase files, and can not create shapefiles as the output files).  After you click ok here, there is a bit of a lag while the tool runs in the background.  On my computer this took about 15 seconds or so and then I would see the new geodatabase created.  This should create a "Track" line feature in the Geodatabase for the track you recorded as you were moving, and a "Waypoint" feature in the Geodatabase for any Waypoints you saved in the device. 

7. Once you create this output geodatabase (which may contain both a line and point dataset inside the Geodatabase), you should be able to open them in ArcMap. 
 

Creating a polygon from the downloaded GPS data: 

1. Create a new empty polygon shapefile (or feature class in your new Geodatabase), making sure to apply the correct coordinate system (the Track dataset will probably be Geographic, WGS 84).

2. Add the Track line dataset and the newly created polygon layer (that you created in Step 1) to the data frame.

3. Right click on the polygon dataset and edit it.

4. Right-click the Track layer in the table of contents and select Selection > Select All.

5. Add the Topology toolbar (Customize menu : Topology).

6. Click the Construct Features icon on the Topology toolbar (wrench on top of rectangle icon).

7. In the Construct Features dialog box, select 'Use existing features in target' and click OK.  A polygon should be created.

8. Optionally clean up the boundary if you strayed from the boundary as you were walking around, or stopped in one place as you were walking around and there are "hooks" in your polygon.

9. Save edits and stop editing.