Immersion Adviser Overview
What is Immersion Vanderbilt?
Immersion Vanderbilt is a degree requirement for all Vanderbilt undergraduate students.
Immersion Vanderbilt consists of two key parts:
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- Experiential Learning
- Culminating Project
Students must also complete four online forms known as milestones for Immersion Vanderbilt. These forms guide students through critical self-reflection and integrate the learning goals of Immersion Vanderbilt.
The Role of the Immersion Adviser
Faculty and staff advisers guide students through the experiential and culminating project phases, ensuring students are learning through the act of doing. Vanderbilt University faculty and staff members can mentor part 1 of Immersion (the experiences). However, research experiences must always be mentored by a faculty member. Part 2 (Culminating Project) is mentored by faculty only.
Immersion Vanderbilt advisers guide students through to the completion of the final culminating project and decide when the student has completed their requirement.
Staff members interested in serving as an Immersion Vanderbilt adviser should contact the Office of Experiential Learning and Immersion Vanderbilt (EL&IV) to learn more.
Advising Requirements
The plan to complete the final culminating project is decided upon by the student and their Immersion Vanderbilt adviser. Final projects can take many forms and can be presented at a showcase, fair, performance, etc. This is an opportunity for students to be creative and present their work in the manner most suited to their individual experience. The student and their advisers agree to the student's plan and add it to the Post-Experience Goals and Plan for Completion form. This plan submitted via form should include details about the final culminating project and the proposed timeline.
Submit a Proposal
Submit an Opportunity Proposal to be added to the Opportunities Database on the Immersion Portal. Posting these opportunities allows you to connect and partner with students on projects, research, and internships.
Immersion Portal
Use the Immersion Portal to check on a student's progress and access additional Immersion Vanderbilt Resources.
*Faculty and Staff may need to complete the FERPA tutorial and quiz or request access to the view the Immersion portal
Undergraduate Course Tagging
Purpose:
This spring we embarked on a pilot to tag classes in YES that fulfill the experiential learning or culminating project components of Immersion Vanderbilt. We employed this strategy to provide students additional awareness of opportunities that are embedded in the curriculum.
Following an assessment of the pilot program, we plan to extend the option to tag additional classes for Fall 2023.
General Guidance:
Experiential learning provides students with hands-on, active learning opportunities where the student learns through the acts of doing and reflection. Classes that include direct or indirect community or civic engagement, or methodological training for research or production are examples.
Culminating projects offer students the opportunity to integrate and apply their learning to the creation of a final project. Projects may include but are not limited to poster presentations, blogs, academic papers, artistic pieces, prototypes, podcasts, etc. Classes that result in a substantive research paper, an installation or creative work of art, or a public presentation are examples.
Support:
The Office of Experiential Learning and Immersion Vanderbilt has partnered with the Center for Teaching to identify and collect resources to help you design, enhance, and assess classes that you would like to tag for Immersion Vanderbilt. Please contact Amy Johnson (amy.m.johnson@vanderbilt.edu) if you would like to learn more about the tagging project or Immersion Vanderbilt. You are invited to contact Joe Bandy at the Center for Teaching (joe.bandy@Vanderbilt.Edu) for additional support or to learn more about experiential learning and culminating projects.
Resources:
General information about rubrics/rubric for community engagement project
Rubric to assess experiential learning class (1)
Rubric to assess experiential learning class (2)
School & College Faculty Contacts
Each school and college has a designated faculty contact for Immersion Vanderbilt.
Explore the School & College Faculty Contact page.
To receive access to all information for advisers on the Adviser Resource page, please contact the Office of Experiential Learning and Immersion Vanderbilt (EL&IV).