Growth Mindset Day Aligns with USG's Momentum Year

Posted: November 15, 2017 by Jennifer Harris

On Friday, Oct. 20, 2017, the University of North Georgia hosted Growth Mindset Day on the Gainesville Campus with speaker Dr. Craig Curty, Director of Academic Services at High Point University.

Curty's presentation centered on the work of Dr. Carol Dweck, author of the book "Mindset: The New Psychology of Success." Attendees learned about the differences between growth and fixed mindsets, and how each affects success.

Growth mindset helps students make the transition from focusing on grades to focusing on the learning process, thereby deepening their understanding of the subject at hand.

"The outcome of the grade isn't the point, it's what you learn," Curty explained to attendees. "That's really hard because we've been bombarded with grades our entire lives, but what growth mindset is trying to do is focus on the learning outcome rather than the fixed mindset, which is the graded outcome."

During his presentation, Curty compared guiding students in growth mindset to climbing Mt. Everest: each is a process. "Transitioning from fixed to growth [mindset] doesn't happen in an hour tutoring session," Curty said. "It doesn't happen overnight. It's a process that could take a week, a month, [or] it could take an entire semester."

Growth Mindset Day was organized by UNG's University College and aligns with University System of Georgia's Complete College Georgia (CCG) program and UNG's CCG initiative.

According to the USG website, CCG encourages growth mindset and promotes student success, in part, by creating a momentum year: "a starting point that helps students find their path, get on that path, and build velocity in the direction of their goals." The momentum year approach helps students develop "a growth mindset around academics, supporting [their] resilience in the face of setbacks."

While growth mindset is still a theory under study, it shows promise. By embracing Dweck's concept of growth mindset and USG's Complete College Program, UNG's faculty and staff work to help students set and achieve their goals.

UNG's Growth Mindset Day keynote presentation is [no longer] available here:
drive.google.com/file/d/0B3xwKpgSk4w8V1hDZEt5SHBMTFE (Note: This link is now expired.)