Understanding Growth Mindset for Online Learning (Part 2)

The Power of Growth Mindset in Instructional Design

Adopting a Growth Mindset, a journal article written by Amelia Dress (2016), found that it is particularly important for online instructors to understand the idea of growth mindset for themselves as educators.

Even skilled instructional designers need to be willing to make mistakes on a regular basis. They should accept these mistakes as learning opportunities (see Blendspace Tile 13 Blendspace Tile 14, and Blendspace Tile 15).

This idea is equally important for optimal progression within their learners in the eLearning classroom. Specifically, Dress (2016) states that the way in which designers approach a lesson to their learners can make an immense impact on the learner's perceptions on how well they will do on an assignment.

Before reading a book with new vocabulary, a designer might say, ‘Let’s see which of these words you know already.’ This is a vastly different statement from ‘Let’s see which of these words you know.’ The small addition of the word already implies that knowledge will change. When developing content for your eLearning classroom, keep this idea in mind.

Growth vs. Fixed Mindset into Adulthood

It is also essential for instructional designers for the online college-level courses to ensure they are aware of growth mindset in their adult online learners.

A peer-reviewed journal article titled Habits and beliefs that guide self-regulated learning: Do they vary with mindset? (2014) written by Veronica Yan, Khanh-Phuong Thai, and Robert A. Bjork was evaluated. The researchers wanted to examine whether individuals in the older and broader population might have different viewpoints on how they ought to study and learn.

The main goal of this study was to determine how one’s attitude towards learning strategies related to their theory of intelligence. The article revealed that growth theorists are more likely than fixed theorists to hold mastery, rather than performance--Conversely, fixed theorists tend to believe that ability itself is sufficient for learning, and effort merely reflects a lack of ability.

The study included several statements that related to people’s motivation to learn. Results indicated that fixed theorists were more intrinsically motivated to learn, whereas growth theorists were more motivated by extrinsic factors. 

This could be helpful in the eLearning environment in that when designing eLearning curriculum, instructional designers must take these findings into account. For example, they could conduct surveys on their learners to see where they stand on their idea of growth mindset.

This is a video that helps further explain the idea of growth vs. fixed mindset in simple terms.

Why is Growth Mindset Important in eLearning Design?

Growth mindset has particularly been of interest to me specifically because I had never heard of the topic until becoming an instructional designer. To be honest, I used to have a more traditional view of the theory and had always thought that one’s own intelligence was the strongest indicator on how well individuals did in academics and other aspects in their lives.

I believe that it is particularly important for instructional designers to have a full understanding of the two mindset theories. It should be your goal to bring out the full potential in all learners in the eLearning classroom. When designing content for your eLearning courses, it is important to use vocabulary with your learners that drives them to develop more of a growth mindset as opposed to a fixed one.

Instructional designers should plan to practice statements of encouragement with their learners to help them develop their own growth mindsets.Designers also need to understand how to help their online learners learn to struggle. (see Blendspace Tile 22).

Curriculum online should be designed in a scaffolding manner so that learners are continuously being challenged and learn to work more independently.

 
Conclusion

Growth mindset is continuously being studied today even more so than it was thirty years ago and is extremely valuable knowledge for instructional designers to be more effective with curriculum development.

Out of a multitude of research that has been done, this two-part blog post summarized and reviewed four different scholarly journal articles. Researchers are constantly developing more knowledge on the theory that is helping online instructors and their learners access their full learning potential.

It can sometimes be challenging for instructional designers to create a connection with their learners if they aren't using effective research based learning techniques.

Understanding the theory of growth mindset is essential for instructional designers to be the most that they can be.