Mission Driven or Not? What Your Syllabi Say About Your Mission

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Wednesday 9:00 am Four Seasons Ballroom 2-3
  In Roundtable Session: Self-Studies Within Higher Education: Missions, Partnerships, and Promotions (Table 9)

Abstract

After acts of hate on our campus, the education department pledged to do more than offer empty rhetoric. We collaboratively revised our mission statement, focusing on antibias and antiracism. This research seeks to discover the impact of this mission by asking: How do our syllabi reflect our mission? Are we truly mission-driven?

This self-study used case study analysis to explore how our courses reflected our mission through content, practices, and instruction. We began our research by analyzing the required elementary education syllabi utilizing a mission-driven framework.

Preliminary analyses demonstrated an increase in two areas: Education for Critical Self-Examination and Inclusive Pedagogies. A primary implication is when organizations are mission-driven, the members are held accountable and driven by those values.

Authors

• Claudine Prairie Bedell, Saint Michael's College

• Katy Farber, Saint Michael's College

• Soo Joung Kim, Saint Michael's College

• Katherine Lee, Saint Michael's College

• Stacy Simonyi, Saint Michael's College