Skip to main content

Mission, Vision & Values

SUNY Online Teaching

Our Mission

SUNY Online Teaching cultivates, supports, and promotes system-wide excellence in online teaching and learning across the State University of New York.

We do this by fostering a collaborative community of practice, advancing evidence-informed professional learning, developing openly licensed resources and tools, and encouraging research and innovation that deepen our collective understanding of how people teach and learn well online.

Our Vision

We envision a SUNY-wide online teaching ecosystem in which:

  • Faculty and instructional designers are supported as reflective, empowered educators.
  • Online teaching is grounded in pedagogy, equity, and human connection.
  • Quality online learning is continuously improved through collaboration, inquiry, and shared practice.
  • Knowledge about online teaching and learning is openly developed, shared freely, and sustained across institutions.

Through this work, SUNY Online Teaching contributes not only to system-wide excellence, but also to the broader field of online and digital education.

Our Values

SUNY Online Teaching is guided by the following core values:

Community as Practice

We believe expertise is distributed and learning is social. We cultivate communities of practice that connect faculty, instructional designers, and academic partners across SUNY and beyond.

Pedagogy First

We center teaching and learning, not tools or platforms, because meaningful online learning emerges from intentional pedagogical design, with technology in service of pedagogy.

Continuous Learning and Improvement

We value reflection, iteration, and growth. Our work assumes that effective online teaching evolves through practice, feedback, and shared inquiry.

Openness and Sharing

We promote open, openly licensed resources and a “share what you know” culture that strengthens individual practice and advances collective capacity within SUNY and beyond.

Research, Evidence, and Innovation

We ground our work in theory, research, and evidence-informed practice while contributing to and advancing the scholarly understanding of how people teach and learn well online.

Inclusive and Equitable Practice

We are committed to designing and supporting online learning environments that foster access, belonging, and meaningful participation for all learners.