“This class has opened up my eyes”: Assessing outcomes of a sport-for-development curriculum on sport management graduate students

As the field of sport management has grown, so has a plethora of teaching efforts and classroom methodologies. One such effort has entailed introducing the topic of sport-for-development, the utilization of sport to yield positive outcomes in society, to students. While academics within the field of sport-for-development have made great strides in recent years attempting to determine the impact of practitioners utilizing sport for social change, the majority of these efforts have targeted key stakeholders such as participants, staff, volunteers, leadership members and donors. Considering the paucity of literature on the influence of sport-for-development education on sport management students, the purpose of this research was to examine the impact of a sport-for-development class with a student population that had never taken a course of that nature. The authors utilized reflective journaling to fully delve into the thoughts of the 19 study participants in an effort to investigate the perception of the class and the lessons taught. The findings revealed that a sport-for-development classroom setting enhanced knowledge of the field and increased desire to become involved in some capacity. In addition, there was a noticeable gain in awareness of marginalized populations and out-groups through the lens of sport.