Category: Innovation Plan

ADL Program, Advising, ePortfolios, Evolution, Innovation Plan, Learner's Mindset, Learning, Professional, Reflecting

The New Culture of Learning & me

The Advisor That Cares

I have always been a proactive person by nature.

Unfortunately, much of higher education functions more reactively, like many of my students. My innovation plan intends to shift learning to foster more proactive, active engagement for my learners. As Harapnuik (2021) outlines in the Introduction Video, we are here to “facilitate learning” and “help our learners learn” by making “meaningful connections” (Harapnuik, 2021).  

In the early stages of my innovation proposal and the accompanying portfolio development, content creation was due to student questions or lack of information. Those reactive additions have since evolved into proactive opportunities for new students by providing links and information in every correspondence.

Creating significant learning environments (CSLE) and The New Culture of Learning are guides for the struggle of inspiring students to take ownership of their education and learning journey by improving learners’ engagement. Thomas (2012) says it best when he says we can “help people connect their passions to the things they need to learn” (TEDx Talks, 2012). He further explains that we must rethink training and education systems to “make learning fun and easy,” just as it is “natural and effortless” throughout life outside these environments (TEDx Talks, 2012). 

The New Culture of learning outlines that learning is no longer “taking place in a classroom” but instead “happening all around us, everywhere” through online information and freely available resources (Thomas & Brown, 2011, p. 17).

References

Dwayne Harapnuik. (2021, April 16). EDLD 5313 Module 1 [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4RIBNgK6xI

TEDx Talks. (2012, September 13). A New Culture of Learning, Douglas Thomas at TEDxUFM [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lM80GXlyX0U

Thomas, D., & Brown, J. S. (2011). A New Culture of Learning: Cultivating the Imagination for a World of Constant Change (1st edition). CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.

ADL Program, Growth, Growth Mindset, Growth Mindset Plan, Innovation Plan, Reflecting, Tips

Growing my Mindset

The Advisor That Cares

In the ADL Program, we have been asked to create our own growth mindset plans. As a follow up to my last post Growing your Mindset, I am going to attempt to answer the questions posed as openly and honestly as possible.

Reflections

Reflecting on the statements proposed by Dr. Carol Dweck’s (2016) book Mindset, I must admit growing up I completely believed “you can learn new things, but you can’t really change how intelligent you are” (p. 12). As I shared in my Getting Personal post, I did not have the best childhood experience in relation to school. I truly believed back then that “your intelligence is something very basic about you that you can’t change very much” (Dweck, 2016, p. 12). Thankfully, I had a much better college experience (studying psychology) and realized that my ideas of being “stupid” must be mistaken because as my coursework advanced my grades got higher. In chapter 3 of the Mindset book, when Dr. Dweck (2016) talks about the student who said “you mean I don’t have to be dumb?” my heart dropped because I felt exactly like that student in my grade school years (p. 55). I worked very hard to hide how truly stupid I believed I was as a result of learning disabled labels that were applied to me at a very young age. I definitely never volunteered to go to the board, those were mortifying reinforcements of everything I believed about myself. I was extremely shy. I believed that teachers didn’t like me.

Fortunately I survived elementary school, squeaking by in junior high and high school. I became involved in things like drill team and FFA which gave me outlets that boosted my confidence in other areas. As I learn about mixed mindsets, it is very interesting to reflect on my ability to try a dance routine over and over, making mistakes until perfected, performing for large groups of people but doing the same for academics was never on my radar.

I started to believe in myself and my ability to learn in college but reflecting now I can honestly say that I think I was just waiting for the truth to be exposed. I think I believed that through some strange fluke I was learning and doing well, but I completely felt like a fraud. Reflecting now, I have a feeling that this is why transpersonal psychology appealed to me so much. We started every class with a meditative session. We learned about accepting ourselves just as we are in each moment. I found peace and freedom in learning how to just be.

Questions and Answers

Q: Why is the growth mindset so important?

A: I am living proof that the growth mindset is very important because students can get stuck living a fixed mindset life, believing that there is no means to improve and better themselves. Assisting students in their academic pursuits requires that students learn that intelligence is something that can be improved over time with effort. College and life inevitably come with hardships and challenges. Students with a fixed mindset may never bounce back from those experiences. I have a whole section on my portfolio called When Life Happens to guide and assist students with their options along their academic journey. I hope to add growth mindset language throughout my portfolio and in my correspondence with students to fortify their growth mindset and to help develop it for those who do not currently have one. As cited by Scott Jeffrey (2020), “Dweck has found that just learning about the growth mindset can cause major shifts in how people view themselves and their lives.”

Scott Jeffrey’s guide How to Establish a Growth Mindset proposes this four step process to changing a fixed mindset to a growth mindset:

  • Step 1: Learn to hear your fixed mindset “voice.”
  • Step 2: Recognize that you have a choice.
  • Step 3: Talk back to it with a growth mindset voice.
  • Step 4: Take the growth mindset action.

Q: How will you incorporate the four steps?

A: I will admit that I still have to really pay attention to my inner dialog and recognize that fixed mindset voice identified the first of these four steps, because old habits are hard to break. If I still struggle with hearing my fixed mindset voice and recognizing I have a choice, then I can safely assume my students do too. Some students may have survived their whole primary, secondary, and post-secondary education without ever knowing about the growth mindset. I want to incorporate a mini course or some means of exposing students to the growth mindset concepts to help them begin to respond to their educational journey and challenges with a growth mindset voice.

Q: How will you communicate the message of “yet” to others?

A: By utilizing Dr. Dweck’s TedTalk The power of believing that you can improve in welcome emails at start of online graduate programs. By utilizing encouragement throughout program completion that focuses on progress. I will communicate the message of yet to my students, by acknowledging their challenges as opportunities. I will direct student to course correction strategies and remind them failure is a normal part of progress toward difficult long-term goals.

Q: What resources (content, video, media, etc.) will you use to promote the growth mindset?

A:

Q: When and how often will you promote the growth mindset?

A: I feel that the growth mindset should be introduced to all students upon admission but should be further reinforced when students reach out about dropping, withdrawing, or when students face academic standing issues. I will strive to include “growth mindset message[s that include] phrases about the universality of challenges (this is incorporated with the phrase, ‘‘all students struggle’’), and nods to the importance of effort (e.g. “help your hard work pay off’’), strategies (‘‘learning strategies,’’ ‘‘I’m happy to strategize with you’’), and help-seeking (“I’m glad you reached out’’) for success” (Kyte et al., 2020).

Q: How will the growth mindset influence or impact the way you approach your work in this course and the program? 

A: I must approach new content with a mindset that holds excitement for what new knowledge I will learn that can later be implemented into my Advisor’s Tips Page. I must continue to recognize the fixed mindset behaviors and thoughts from the past. I can only continue gains toward the learner’s mindset by replacing those old habits with new growth mindset thoughts and actions. I must acknowledge I have a choice about how I approach new challenging content. When I struggle and fail, I must regroup and search for the lessons learned through the attempt. I must seek feed forward from trusted relationships as encouraged by the COVA model either from my classmates/learning when course related and from my team when professional. As I recognize my fixed mindset voice and choose to replace it with a growth mindset one, while implementing growth mindset actions it is important that I continue to find ways to share the mindset message with my advisees continually improving my portfolio.

References

Dweck, C. S. (2016). The Mindsets. In Mindset (Updated Edition). Ballantine Books.

Jeffrey, S. (2020, June 23). Change your fixed mindset into a growth mindset [complete guide]. Scott Jeffrey. Retrieved June 14, 2022, from https://scottjeffrey.com/change-your-fixed-mindset/

Kyte, S. B., Collins, E., & Deil-Amen, R. (2020). Mindset messaging: Fostering student support and confidence through micro-messaging in advisor communication. NACADA Journal, 40(1), 36–48. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.12930/NACADA-19-08

TED. (2014, December 17). The power of believing that you can improve | Carol Dweck [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_X0mgOOSpLU

ADL Program, Advising, ePortfolios, Growth Mindset, Innovation Plan, Professional, Reflecting

Technology and Advising

The Advisor That Cares

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 

ADL Program, Growth, Innovation Plan, Personal, Professional, Reflecting

Communicating Vision

The Advisor That Cares

I think as a personality trait, I have always had a touch of an innovative spirit. I have often described myself as a bit of an efficiency expert. I always try to tweak systems and processes to be better, clearer, simpler, and more effective in every role I have held. I hope to become an innovative “educator” through my role as an academic advisor. I can confirm that my influence currently does not include meaningful or authentic learning opportunities. Often general information is sent out to students. However, the messaging is the same old, templated messages with very little valuable information.

My innovation proposal seeks to make the information more meaningful for students than generic copy/paste notifications. I also aim to provide a resource that will allow students ownership over locating the information they will need along their academic journey. The programs I advise for have specific paths to program completion, course offerings, and more. However, I believe students often go along with the flow and do not stop to ask essential questions until a substantial investment of time, money, and energy has been spent (or worse, wasted) if they are not on the path they intended. 

Regarding under communication, I agree that because we live in the planning, preparing, researching, meeting, and are party to endless discussions of our innovation/implementation plans, we can make faulty assumptions about how much communication has been shared with our constituents.

The above video makes a good point when it pointed out that we need to remember that sometimes the people we hope to influence are a few steps down the hierarchy. We have to remember that they may not be aware of all the information that has been shared in the prior planning stages. The video made an excellent point that we should all try to keep in mind when communicating about our innovation plan and implementation strategy. We must remember that we are competing with the day-to-day business in their workday. We must constantly send out updates and find other ways to communicate excitement and a sense of urgency about our plan. 

ADL Program, Innovation Plan, Professional, Reflecting

Nowist?

The Advisor That Cares

We can learn from these examples of innovation that sometimes, as Plato was paraphrased as saying, “necessity is the mother of all invention” or, in our case, innovation.

I was struck by Joi Lto’s statement that “education is what people do to you and Learning is what you do to yourself” (Perry, 2015, 10:12). That is a way of thinking of learning that never occurred to me. What a great perspective for myself and my student population. I do not think I have been practicing this in my learning or the environments I influence. I need to incorporate this quote into my signature and daily life for a while, inspiring myself and my students. 

I enjoyed Lto’s now-ist call to action. Nevertheless, somewhat ironically, I seem to have a case of analysis paralysis regarding the Literature review. His challenge to stop plotting and planning every move and instead act is quite the timely message for me to stop trying to control everything before picking a direction. The only thing holding me back is myself. I know I must embrace failing forward. 

I am somewhat new to my current role, but during my interview process, I made it very clear that I was looking for a position that would allow me to use my skills, knowledge, and big picture perspective to suggest improvements. I have already implemented some strategies and am constantly looking for more ways to make our processes more effective. Thus far, I have had full support from my supervisor. 

My colleagues have been willing to adopt my suggestions. All seem open to incorporating technology if they feel it is valuable and will make their day-to-day operations more efficient. 

I will strive to provide a resource through my innovation plan to provide students with choice, ownership, and voice through an interactive resource that they can utilize at their own pace, as needed, throughout their program at each step of the educational process. 

References

Perry, Joshua. (2015, May 15). Joi Lto Want to innovate Become a ‘now ist’ [Video]. TED Conferences. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRAMQJJu7uY&t=222s

ADL Program, Innovation Plan

Disruptive Innovation

The Advisor That Cares

In order to prepare for my innovation plan, I found that I needed to learn more about why there is a need for change in education. 

Sir Ken Robinson explains that our education system is based on an outdated industrial model of grouping students together, throwing lesson plans and objectives, then sending them out to be productive members of society (Robinson, 2010). Students are still advancing to the next grade level, topic, or learning objective despite lapses in learning or understanding. This practice of advancing students whether or not they are prepared or understand the concepts on which the next grade or following content will build only sets students and education systems up to fail. To change our educational system, we must approach learning in new and innovative ways. This type of change is essential because education provides our future generations of political leaders, teachers, doctors, lawyers, trade skills-people, and members needed for a functional society. 

Sir Ken Robinson explains that we “cannot predict the outcome of human development. [We] can only create conditions under which they will begin to flourish” (Robinson, 2010). This analogy to an agricultural model is an appealing way to reframe “human flourishing as an organic process.” 

Through the materials of this course thus far, I have learned about the idea of nonconsumption as an opportunity to broaden learning opportunities through disruptive innovation in otherwise unmet needs areas within educational systems. Through Michael Horn’s conference talk, I learned that competing in areas of nonconsumption is more likely than trying and overtake an existing system which is helpful information as I formulate my innovation plan (Horn, 2013). 

Disruptive innovation is vital to education because students and our education systems are falling behind. Currently, education teaches the average student level at an average pace, leaving high achievers bored and slower learners behind. Scott Cook goes on to argue that in addition to teachers teaching to the average student, our “students don’t get the best teacher in their geographic area; they get the average based on the instructors in that system/grade at that time” (Disrupting Higher Ed, 2014).

Disruptive innovation brings things that were impossible to do in the old model into the realm of possibility, explains Clayton Christensen (Tech as Disruptive Force, 2014). He goes on to say that using disruptive innovation can take costly and complicated systems “to make it affordable and accessible so that a whole new population of people [has] access to something that used only to be available to the wealthy” (Tech as Disruptive Force, 2014). Scott Cook agrees that applying technology is a profound disruption because it makes education more easily accessed and more affordable (Disrupting Higher Ed, 2014). This access to technology explains how the concept of blended learning is not about the devices themselves but instead the access to tools that were not previously available in the traditional classroom. 

According to Michale Horn, disruptive innovations provide an opportunity to “reinvent the model itself to solve for: multiple intelligences, learning styles, talents, motivations/interests, aptitude,” and more (Horn, 2013). With advances in technology, students can now get real-time feedback and on-time support through blended learning opportunities. By giving learners control over their learning, students can help them become more engaged in the learning process.

The opportunities for innovation I see within my organization are giving students equal access to information related to their program of study. Currently, students are left to navigate the world of higher education by learning lingo, searching websites, and trying to determine what information is essential to know. There is currently no assessment to determine their level of understanding, and students cannot become the navigator of their learning effectively. I want to develop an innovation plan that allows all students access to the most common policies and program information they can review and process at their own pace through blended learning modalities. I want to utilize various resources such as onboarding information for student information systems and degree tracking purposes. I want to include program specifics such as internship applications and departmental websites/information links. I want to incorporate an element of ownership component for students to inform themselves about their program with my guidance. I want an option for students to assess their understanding, possibly through quizzes or feedback surveys, so that I can target interventions and information sharing that will keep students engaged through the completion of their chosen program. 

References

Horn, Michael. “Disrupting Class – Part 3: Disruptive Innovation in Education.” YouTube, uploaded by Edmentum, 5, March 2013, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iX2hOF5YkfQ

“Part 6 — Technology as a Disruptive Force in Education.” YouTube, uploaded by Clayton Christensen Institute, 5, June 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0ENX-GTUf4

“Part 7 — Disrupting Higher Education.” YouTube, uploaded by Clayton Christensen Institute, 5, June 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IY18XHjGTFU

Robins, Sir Ken. “Bring on the learning revolution! | Sir Ken Robinson.” YouTube, uploaded by TED, 24, May 2010, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9LelXa3U_I