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Faculty and staff play an important role in supporting undergraduate students as they complete their Immersion Vanderbilt requirements.  

Section Contents

What is Immersion Vanderbilt? 

Immersion Vanderbilt is an undergraduate degree requirement with two key parts: immersive experiences and a culminating project.

  • Part 1: Immersive Experience

    Immersive experiences provide students with opportunities to pursue their intellectual curiosities, obtain hands-on experience, learn to take initiative and make independent decisions, and engage in critical thinking and ethical reasoning.

    Staff members interested in serving as mentors for an immersive experience should contact Immersion Vanderbilt to learn more.

    • Pathways:  Immersive experiences are completed within one of the six experiential pathways: Undergraduate Research; Study Abroad; Internships; Community and Civic Engagement; Leadership and Professional Development; Innovation, Arts, and Design
    • Credit: Immersive experiences can be credit or non-credit bearing.
    • Format: Students may complete their immersive experience independently with a faculty or staff mentor or with a faculty mentor through their academic coursework. Research experiences must be mentored by a faculty member.
    • Timing: Students usually complete an immersive experience in their sophomore or junior year, and students are allowed to complete multiple immersive experiences during their time at Vanderbilt until they have completed their culminating project.
    • Roles and Responsibilities:
      • Students determine the pathway and format of their immersive experience.
      • Students should devise a proposed meeting schedule and project timeline before contacting potential experience mentors and culminating project faculty advisers.
      • The mentor and student determine the amount of time and depth of advising needed based on the type of experience selected.
      • Faculty/staff mentoring two or more students will submit one cohort form detailing all student involvement in the cohort.
      • Classes tagged as experiential are automatically tracked as an immersive experience; no forms are required.
  • Part 2: Culminating Project

    Culminating projects are a demonstration of learning and should reflect the goals students set with their Immersion Vanderbilt faculty adviser at the outset.

    • Credit: The culminating project can be credit or non-credit bearing.
    • Format: Projects can take any tangible format, including but not limited to:
      • Research paper or thesis
      • Presentation (e.g., conference, research fair, Immersion showcase)
      • Artwork, installation, or exhibit
      • Media project (e.g., podcast, website, film, recording, etc.)
      • Musical composition
      • Live performance (e.g., theatre, musical, dance, etc.)
      • Portfolio (can involve multiple formats and products)
      • Creative writing
    • Roles and Responsibilities: 
      • The student creates and completes culminating projects under the mentorship of an Immersion Vanderbilt faculty adviser.
      • Students should devise a proposed meeting schedule and project timeline before contacting potential experience mentors and culminating project faculty advisers.
      • The faculty adviser assesses the project and marks it as complete.

     

Tracking Students' Progress

Students Completing Independent Experiences or Projects

  • Students can track their immersive experiences by submitting Independent Experience forms.
  • Students will submit a project plan proposal when they decide on their culminating project format and must have an Immersion Vanderbilt faculty adviser who has agreed to oversee the completion of their project.

Students in a Pre-Approved Program, Class or Cohort

  • Pre-approved programs, tagged classes, and participation in experiential cohorts led by faculty or staff at Vanderbilt are automatically tracked and do not require student form submissions to log the experience.
  • Cohort mentors will submit one form detailing all students' involvement in the cohort.
  • Students enrolled in pre-approved programs who want the program requirements to also be their Immersion Vanderbilt only need to submit their culminating project submission form when they submit their program project.

 

Pre-Approved Programs

Several majors, minors, and programs of study are pre-approved to fulfill immersive experience and culminating project requirements.

Undergraduate Class Tagging 

Class tagging highlights opportunities to complete Immersion Vanderbilt embedded in the curriculum. When classes are tagged as experiential or as providing a culminating project, satisfying the class requirements automatically satisfies a component of Immersion Vanderbilt.  

  • Immersive experience classes provide students with hands-on, active engagement opportunities where they learn through the act of doing. 
  • No forms are required for tagged experience classes to be tracked for students. 
  • Culminating Projects classes offer students the opportunity to integrate and apply their learning to the creation and completion of a culminating project. 
  • Students choosing to use tagged culminating project classes will submit a Project Completion Form at the end of the class to finalize their Immersion Vanderbilt requirement. Faculty instructors sign off on those forms as the Immersion Vanderbilt faculty adviser after the student has successfully completed the class. 

Contact the Office of Education Design and Development for additional support or to learn more about experiential learning and culminating projects. 

 

Immersion Vanderbilt Faculty Fellows and Immersion Faculty Advisory Committee 

Immersion Vanderbilt Faculty Fellows and Immersion Faculty Advisory Committee

  • Each school and college has designated faculty to contact with questions about Immersion Vanderbilt.
  • Immersion Vanderbilt Faculty Fellows work closely with the staff in Immersion Vanderbilt to assist with student advising, and programmatic support. They are liaisons with the faculty and administration in the undergraduate schools and colleges.
  • The Immersion Faculty Advisory Committee is comprised of the Immersion Vanderbilt Faculty Fellows as well as designees from the professional schools. The role of the committee is to assist Immersion Vanderbilt leadership with decisions affecting the students and faculty in the nine participating schools and colleges while supporting the overall mission of Immersion Vanderbilt.