The Immersion program is based on the need to provide better congruency in the content and methods involved in teaching instructional design and actual practice in the field.

Researchers have noted that students upon leaving traditional courses have difficulty with their first real projects, noting the wide gap between the complexity of the instructional design case they encountered and the simple processes they learned in their program of study.  To avoid the problems of teaching instructional design as a simple procedure and focusing on the media production, the Immersion program involves student participation in complex, real world design projects and focuses heavily on the integration of processes and theory related to these projects and the field of instructional design.

The philosophy of this approach is based on a compilation of several  theoretical constructs including: problem-based learning, authentic macrocontexts, constructivist teaching and cognitive apprenticeship.