Resources For Vanderbilt Faculty
Faculty will find resources below intended to support and amplify the significant work they do as Immersive Experience mentors and advisers on final Culminating Projects.
Please contact Assistant Provost Amy Johnson (amy.m.johnson@vanderbilt.edu) or Senior Director Carolyn Floyd (carolyn.floyd@vanderbilt.edu) for additional information or to have someone speak to you or your class, program, department, or office about Immersion Vanderbilt.
All Vanderbilt faculty are invited to apply now through November 30, 2023 for the Provost's Faculty Immersion Grant!
Funds support faculty who are mentoring immersive experiences and advising final culminating projects that qualify for Immersion Vanderbilt.
Details can be found on the application page. Questions can be directed to experiential.learning@vanderbilt.edu.
Access to the Immersion Portal includes checking on the status of a student's Immersion Vanderbilt project as well as a variety of resources offered in support of Immersion Vanderbilt. Please log into the Immersion Portal using your Vanderbilt University VUNetID and password.
*Faculty and Staff may need to complete the FERPA tutorial and quiz or request access to the view the Immersion portal.
Direct questions or comments to experiential.learning@vanderbilt.edu.
Immersion Vanderbilt is made up of two things- immersive experience and final capstone/culminating piece. The entire process requires four milestones to completion for every undergraduate student:
- Experience - Students must declare and complete an immersive experience (such as internship, study abroad, research, etc.) by submitting an Immersive Experience Declaration Form. Students may submit an unlimited number of experiences and select which will be the bases of their Immersion Vanderbilt final culminating piece. All experiences must be mentored by a staff or faculty member. All research must be mentored by a faculty member.
- Reflect - Upon completion of the experience, students will submit an Experience Self-Reflection, where they discuss their experience in the context of the five learning goals of Immersion Vanderbilt.
- Ideate - After the experience has been completed and reflected on, students lay out the rest of their plan, including who their faculty adviser is, what their final learning goals are, and the kind of final culminating piece they will create.
- Create - Lastly, the student will integrate their knowledge from the immersive experience into a final culminating piece, such as a paper, presentation, podcast, portfolio, work of art, musical composition, and more! The final piece will be reviewed and approved by their Immersion Vanderbilt faculty adviser.
All students must declare their experience by the first Friday in April of their sophomore year. Transfer students who are juniors submit by the first Friday in April their first year at Vanderbilt. The final culminating piece may be completed on a timeline determined by the student and their Immersion Vanderbilt faculty adviser, provided the final culminating piece is completed before the end of their last semester of classes.
Questions and comments can be directed to experiential.learning@vanderbilt.edu.
Faculty involvement in Immersion Vanderbilt projects is possible in several ways:
Milestones 1 & 2: Experience and Reflect
The first two milestones of a student's Immersion Vanderbilt project require them to declare an immersive experience and reflect on the completed experience. All immersive experiences must have an experience mentor, who may be a staff or faculty member. All research experiences must be mentored by a Vanderbilt faculty member, whether the research is done on campus or elsewhere.
Milestones 3 & 4: Ideate and Create
During the last two milestones of a student's Immersion Vanderbilt, they must integrate their learning goals and knowledge into a final culminating piece. The possibilities for the final piece are many and should be selected by the student and their Immersion faculty adviser. Examples of past final culminating pieces include a research paper, presentation, work of art, podcast, and more. The creation and submission of their final culminating piece must be overseen by a full-time Vanderbilt University employee with a faculty appointment.
Creation of Immersive Experiences and Capstone Projects
Faculty can offer immersive experiences that can satisfy the first two Immersion Vanderbilt milestone requirements and can also offer opportunities for creation and completion of the final culminating piece. While a faculty member can provide the entire Immersion Vanderbilt experience, from milestone one through four, that is not necessary. Faculty can consider what they may already be doing in their classes or as projects with undergraduate students that can be used for the students' Immersion Vanderbilt requirement. In addition, Vanderbilt faculty are able to invite students to participate in special projects they create, such as analyzing unused data, creating a reading circle with reflective writing, developing a community-based service project, or offering a final project at the end of a course. Contact the Office of Experiential Learning and Immersion Vanderbilt to discuss ideas at experiential.learning@vanderbilt.edu.
Submit an Opportunity Proposal to be added to the Opportunities Database on the Immersion Portal. Posted opportunities are great ways to offer students immersive experiences and capstone opportunities, such as research, internships, service opportunities, and project ideas. Contact the Office of Experiential Learning and Immersion Vanderbilt with questions or ideas at experiential.learning@vanderbilt.edu.
Vanderbilt University's Center for Teaching: Guides
- Teaching Outside the Classroom
- Service Learning & Community Engagement
- Service Learning Challenges & Opportunities
- Service Learning Step by Step
- Teaching Laboratory Classes
Supporting Literature
“High Impact Practices,” AACU, https://www.aacu.org/trending-topics/high-impact
“What is Experiential Education,” Association for Experiential Education, https://www.aee.org/what-is-experiential-education
“Toward a Model for Capstone Experiences: Mountaintops, Magnets, and Mandates” by C.J. Rowles, D.C. Koch, S.P. Hundley, & S.J. Hamilton. Assessment Update, Jan/Feb 2004, 16(1) [Available online via Hamilton Library.]
Goldberg, Jay R. "Active Learning in Capstone Design Courses [Senior Design]." IEEE pulse 3, no. 3 (2012): 54-57.
Hummer, J. (2012). The Content of Capstone Experiences: Determining Best Practices in Assessing the Culmination of Student Learning. In APSA 2012 Teaching & Learning Conference Paper.
Kolb, D. A. (1984). Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Kuh, G.D, & O'Donnell, K. Ensuring quality and taking high-impact practices to scale. Washington, DC: Association of American Colleges and Universities.
Schermer, T. and Gray, S., (2012, July). The senior capstone: Transformative experiences in the liberal arts (The Teagle Foundation Final Report). New York, NY: The Teagle Foundation.
Wurdinger, D. D., & Carlson, J. A. (2010). Teaching for experiential learning: Five approaches that work. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Education.
Questions or comments can be directed to experiential.learning@vanderbilt.edu.
Frequently Asked Questions
The Immersion portal is the platform students will use to submit and track approval for the four milestone forms that track their progress through Immersion Vanderbilt. In addition to accessing the required forms, students can schedule an advising appointment with the Office of Experiential Learning & Immersion Vanderbilt (EL&IV), view tutorials, and so much more. Also included in the Immersion portal is the Opportunities Database, which students can use to search and browse available experiential and capstone opportunities for Immersion Vanderbilt. The opportunities are searchable based on type, location, and keyword. As they progress through the Immersion Vanderbilt milestones, students use the Immersion portal to track and revise experiences, engage in self-reflection, propose their final goals and project, and submit their completed projects. Access to the Immersion portal is not limited to students; faculty and staff also have access to the host of resources available through the platform.
Any full-time Vanderbilt University employee with a faculty appointment can mentor an Immersive Experience and serve as a student's adviser on the final Culminating Project.
Full-time staff who meet the eligibility requirements may mentor any Immersive Experience except for undergraduate research.
Questions and ideas can be directed to experiential.learning@vanderbilt.edu.
Use the Opportunity Proposal to add Immersive Experiences and options for final Culminating Projects. Posted opportunities are effective means to help students connect with mentors and advisers like you who are available to guide them through their Immersion Vanderbilt journey. Examples include undergraduate research, internships, and ongoing, faculty-led projects.
Questions or ideas can be directed to experiential.learning@vanderbilt.edu.
For a full list of forms with your name listed as an immersive experience mentor or an Immersion Vanderbilt faculty adviser, please contact the Office of Experiential Learning & Immersion Vanderbilt.
The duration of Immersive Experiences may vary based on the goals, type of experience, or standards set by the school or college.
The Immersive Experience mentor will determine the length and communicate their expectations directly to their student(s).
As a general guideline, Immersive Experiences last a semester or more, Maymester, or Summer term. Shorter experiences like embedded travel typically include some preparation and post-event activities.
If you have questions about pedagogy or would like more information, contact Dr. Amy Johnson (amy.m.johnson@vanderbilt.edu) or EL&IV experiential.learning@vanderbilt.edu.
Led by an Immersion Faculty Steering Committee, the office interfaces with students, faculty, and staff and can answer any questions about experiential learning and Immersion Vanderbilt. In addition to individual conversations, EL&IV can give presentations, informational sessions, and presence at meetings. Visit our office in Suite 109 of the Student Life Center or email experiential.learning@vanderbilt.edu with questions or requests.
In addition, Immersion Coordinators and Faculty Directors of Immersion Vanderbilt are in place in every school and college. These are faculty positions whose purposes are to answer questions, brainstorm ideas, and help navigate the Immersion Vanderbilt requirements. They can describe what types of opportunities other faculty are offering and how you can fold experiential learning and Immersion Vanderbilt into your courses, existing research, and new project ideas. A list of current Immersion coordinators and faculty steering committee can be found on our website.