The Michael V. Drake Institute affirms the importance of intellectual inquiry, dialogic exchange and critical reasoning in an environment that is inclusive to all members of The Ohio State University community. Buckeyes engage with one and other thoughtfully, respectfully and constructively and recognize the worth and dignity of every person. Expressions that dehumanize people or groups of people, based on any protected class, or that create hostile learning environments for students, staff or faculty, do not reflect the values or ethos of Ohio State or the Drake Institute and will not be tolerated.
Mission
The mission of the Drake Institute for Teaching and Learning is to provide services and programs that:
- cultivate teaching excellence among all who teach and support instruction at The Ohio State University
- integrate and enhance teaching and learning initiatives that support academic programs, elevating them to the institutional level
- improve learning experiences for our students
- support the university as a national leader in teaching, learning, and research
Vision
Our vision is to promote teaching excellence to advance the educational mission of the university and enhance student learning.
Our Values
Drake Institute staff engage in work and interact with colleagues and stakeholders in ways that reflect a number of shared, core values including integrity, creativity, action, relationships and engagement. These values align with university values (excellence and impact, diversity and innovation, inclusion and equity, care and compassion, and integrity and respect) and serve as guiding principles of our practices.
It is through operating with integrity, embracing creativity, taking action, establishing and cultivating relationships, and fostering ongoing engagement across our staff, clients and stakeholders that the work of the institute is operationalized, and strategic goals of the institute are established.
Our Goals
Looking to the future, the Drake Institute has defined a set of strategic goals to direct our planning and decision making. The strategic goals for FY24 (July 2023 – June 2024), FY25 (July 2024 – June 2025) and FY26 (July 2025 – June 2026) include the following:
Operational Excellence
Improve operational excellence to support organizational efficiency, enhance client experiences and build capacity to expand organizational development support.
Individual Instructor Support
Continuously improve services and programs, including one-on-one and individualized support for faculty, graduate students and postdocs who teach and who are preparing for academic careers.
Instructional Development Support
Continuously improve instructional development services to support development or revision of courses and curricula, as well as broad programming on effective teaching and assessment practices.
Organizational Development Support
Expand services and programs for organizational development support designed to strengthen leadership and organizational capacity to advance excellence in teaching and learning focused on high-priority university initiatives and departmental teaching-improvement efforts.
Promoting Teaching Excellence
Promote teaching excellence at Ohio State through communication channels, disseminating research to amplify the work of instructors and educational developers.
Land Acknowledgement: The Ohio State University occupies the ancestral and contemporary lands of the Shawnee, Potawatomi, Delaware, Miami, Peoria, Seneca, Wyandotte, Ojibwe and Cherokee peoples. The university resides on land ceded in the 1795 Treaty of Greeneville and the forced removal of tribal nations through the Indian Removal Act of 1830. The Drake Institute honors the resiliency of these tribal nations and recognizes the historical contexts that have and continue to affect the Indigenous peoples of this land.