ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we share personal experiences and lessons learned from designing, implementing, and assessing the integration of vocation outcomes with community-based global learning immersion experiences. We discuss how positioning the idea of a “journey” through immersion experiences offers students an opportunity to explore vocation in a very tangible way by connecting the process and needs of a physical journey (packing, new sensory inputs, traveling, etc.) with the spiritual and developmental aspects of a vocational journey. The development of community-based global learning immersion programs to incorporate vocation was guided by insights from both “The Purposeful Graduate” (Clydesdale, 2016) and “The adjustment journey of international postgraduate students at an English university” (Brown and Holloway, 2008). The insightful call for universities to engage students in exploring their sense of purpose (Clydesdale, 2016) and the conceptualization of the fluid and iterative adjustments students make during their journey experience (Brown and Holloway, 2008) offer a more nuanced perspective in our students’ immersion journeys when exploring vocation. These dynamic, fluctuating journey experiences link back to ways in which students make meaning of vocation. The strategies we used to incorporate vocation learning outcomes into immersions include pre-immersion community-building and dialogue, developmentally situated reflective practices during immersion, and a post-immersion retreat to further facilitate student reflection on both their physical and vocational journeys. Throughout the chapter, we share these program elements, including assessment tools and results from our own assessment of the strategies used.
