Attitudes and beliefs about our ability to learn are called Mindsets. People with fixed mindsets believe that our qualities, such as intelligence and talent, are characteristics that we are born with. They believe that, similar to being born with a certain eye color, you either have these qualities or you don't. People with growth mindsets, however, believe that qualities such as intelligence and talents can be developed through our efforts, strategies, and with help from others. The initial research was completed by Carol Dweck and her team of researchers at Stanford University. Their work was published in peer-reviewed journals as well as shared to the public in Dweck's book, "Mindset: The New Psychology of Success".

Students who hold a fixed mindset are less likely to do well in school. They are less likely to try harder when faced with academic or social challenges because they believe their efforts won't make a difference. However, we know from scientists that the brain has neuroplasticity, meaning it grows and develops. When we take on new challenges, for example, the brain grows new connections between brain cells and strengthens new pathways when we practice. Check out this short video (~ 2 minutes, required) to find out how.

As instructors, it is important for us to understand our mindset so that our interactions with students aren't sending them subtle but powerful messages that they can't learn or that they don't belong. For example, feedback that praises intelligence, such as, "You are so smart!", increases students' motivation to perform better rather than to learn more, while feedback that praises efforts and strategies is more likely to motivate students to engage in the learning process (Mueller and Dweck, 1998). If instructors have a fixed mindset about their students' abilities, they are more likely to see their students as having a low potential to learn, lower their expectations for those students, and then provide comfort-oriented feedback, all of which lowers students likelihood of learning the material (Rattan, Good, & Dweck, 2012). We do our students a great disservice when we see them as limited in their ability to learn. Take this short survey to learn your mindset (required). Faculty messages about student belonging also have an impact on student performance. Read more on belonging and mindset here.

There are a number of strategies that faculty can use in their online classroom to promote a growth mindset in their students via our announcements, emails, discussion posts, and assignment feedback in the Gradebook. However, before we get to that, it is important to know what not to do. Research has shown that telling students to have a growth mindset or to just put in more effort will not be helpful (Khan Academy & PERTS, n.d.). The students have already tried and were unsuccessful. However, there is much that we can do.

Provide students with information about mindset and a mindset survey (resources listed below). You can also adapt this announcement for use in your class (which contains the resources listed below).

You can also share a personal story about a time that you struggled and how, with hard work, changing your strategies, and asking for help, you were able to succeed. You could use this as your introductory post and then ask students to introduce themselves by telling about a time when they were struggling to do or learn something and then how they were able to succeed by changing their strategies, working hard, and asking and receiving help. Asking students to share examples from their own lives will help serve as a reminder of how they have struggled in the past and were able to be successful through persistence, changing their strategy, and asking for help (noticing a theme here?). Sharing these stories with each other also increases social belongingness, an important support of learning. Alternatively, you can ask students to share their fears about taking an online course or learning about a particular topic and then ask students to share solutions with each other. Or, introduce the concept of a growth mindset and ask students to discuss how they will use this information to strengthen it in themselves.

Another way to support a growth mindset in our online classes is to ensure that our assignments are clear regarding the purpose, task, and criteria (see Module 6 in this course). Providing examples of excellent, good, and developing work can also help students to better understand your expectations. Providing students with the opportunity to receive feedback on a draft of a paper also helps develop a growth mindset (and makes it easier to grade final versions of the paper). When providing feedback on graded work, focus praise on their efforts and process and any improvements over their last attempt. You can clarify what they can do differently to improve their work on a future attempt or similar assignment. You can also ask them what they can commit to doing differently in order to improve. Check out these sample feedback phrases (required).