Technology and Advising

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The wildly important goal related to technology integration I am focused on is encouraging my advisees to take ownership of their degree program, the path to attainment, and to set goals for themselves. Too many of my students begin programs with little to no understanding of the requirements they need to research and prepare (such as internships). The students’ lack of knowledge and information causes hostility and confusion as they reach those later points in their programs.

My goal is to integrate technology into my advising practices to guide them through the research and information-gathering processes needed to succeed. Universal Design for Learning allows all learners to utilize the what, how, and why of learning as they engage with active learning by incorporating technology into the classroom and learning opportunities. This shifts the one size fits all approach to learning, does not meet learners where they are and doesn’t consider diversity. Technology integration allows for different types of media to be used to engage students in the learning process. We must have a purpose to stay involved and engaged in our learning journey until we obtain mastery of our given goals.

When asked whether I thought I had a fixed or growth mindset last semester, I believed I was primarily a growth mindset individual. I am optimistic about most things. However, upon learning of the false growth mindset and further evaluation this semester, I can honestly say that many of my internal dialogs and personal expectations fall more in line with a fixed mindset. I can feel quite defensive when challenged professionally, and I know that comes from personal insecurity. I am very growth mindset oriented when assisting others but often hold myself to an unrealistic expectation of perfection. The more I learn about the growth mindset, the more I aspire to replace my perfectionist thinking with a perspective that allows for trial and error along with failing toward my goals. The messages about praising progress and avoiding a false growth mindset are also beneficial because I began focusing on effort as the key to a growth mindset. Now, I know that progress is the key to praise. Perfectionist thinking has held me back from achieving important goals throughout my life. I have been on and off weight loss plans for almost all my adult life. When I am super strict and losing weight, I can fool myself into believing I have a growth mindset, but one slip-up or terrible choice can immediately trigger me into a fixed mindset. I have entirely spiraled into a weekend of junk food binging over a minor setback. Don’t even get me started on October through December (Halloween candy leads right into the holidays), and fixed mindset thinking can derail all prior progress. To avoid a false growth mindset, I will focus on praising the process and progress over simply praising effort. The suggestion of tying praise to strategies, persistence, and performance will assist me in avoiding the development of a false growth mindset. 

There have been times that I have made decisions in life to avoid failure. Now I see that failure is just a part of learning and an opportunity for my brain to grow. I would say that avoiding situations was my go-to defense mechanism back in high school and college. I struggle severely with mathematics and will still find myself avoiding situations that test my abilities. I definitely could have used a growth mindset perspective as I fought through multiple levels of remedial math, desperately trying to grasp concepts that escaped me. Even pursuing a graduate degree was something that I avoided for fear of failure. I have to constantly give myself a pep talk about growth and perseverance regarding the program and the vague nature of assignments. I know the design of projects and assignments creates an environment for deeper learning through the process of researching and finding answers. Still, in the heat of the moment, my fixed mindset thinking can flare and try to convince me of all the old terrible things I would tell myself in my internal dialog growing up. It helps to learn that I can name that inner voice and “recruit it to collaborate on your challenging goals instead of letting it undermine you with doubts and fears.” 

With almost every new thing I’m learning, I tend to turn to YouTube and internet search engines to inform myself. I also seek out podcasts and books on different topics that interest me. I have watched the Learner’s Mindset Discussions on the growth mindset topic and sought additional YouTube resources such as TEDTalks. I will follow a rabbit hole by clicking links off of links to other resources. Additionally, I have begun actively seeking additional research related to advising via google scholar.

Reference

Dweck, C. (2016, January 11). Recognizing and overcoming false growth mindset. Edutopia. Retrieved June 7, 2022, from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/recognizing-overcoming-false-growth-mindset-carol-dweck