The Pepperdine Voyage Assessment

The assessment plan for the Pepperdine Voyage had two primary objectives. The first was to measure the effectiveness of each of the five Voyage project components: the curricular component, the co-curricular component, the faculty development component, the ministry component, and the professional schools component. Assessing the effectiveness of these components was helpful in implementing the project, but also in helping us to modify approaches to maximize effectiveness in creating a culture of vocation at Pepperdine.

The second objective was to evaluate developmental changes and gender differences among both students and faculty.  Assessing developmental changes in vocation was consistent with the notion that the development of vocation should be viewed as a dynamic journey. Evaluating developmental changes in vocation was helpful to discern the extent to which this project exerted a meaningful impact on the development of students' and faculty members' thinking regarding faith, career, and vocation over a seven-year period. The research shed light on the different ways in which men and women experience the call of vocation. Christians receive not one, but many vocational callings- callings that relate both to professional (e.g., career, service, etc.) and personal lives (to be good mothers, fathers, husbands, or wives; to serve as responsible stewards of the earth, etc.) The truth is, however, that while many calls may come our way, we may hear only a fraction of those calls, partly because of gender difference. In terms of identity development, for example, women tend to define themselves through their relationships with others while men often define themselves in terms of occupation. This difference in self-definition may be due to the fact that, until recently, many occupations were essentially closed to women. The second assessment objective was therefore designed to examine barriers that may prevent both men and women from fully realizing their God-given potential and discerning their vocational call. Here, the hope was to enlarge the understanding of the role gender plays in facilitating vocational discernment and, in this way, give something back to the Lilly Endowment and to others concerned with the issue of vocation in the form of expanded knowledge.

Both objectives of the assessment strategy were accomplished by utilizing student and faculty reflective writing, paper surveys, web surveys, interviews, and focus groups. Dr. Don Thompson and Dr. Cindy Miller-Perrin shared the responsibility for these assessment efforts.

The work of assessment for spiritual life and vocation-related programs at Pepperdine continues through the Christian Spirituality Research Institute.

Don Thompson, co-director of assessment for The Pepperdine Voyage, detailed many of the findings from the Pepperdine Voyage research on his research website.