Support a Growth Mindset in StudentsGuiding students from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset encourages student-centered learning in the classroom with all of its associated benefits. Using a K–12 digital portfolio puts the emphasis on reflection and progress.

DECEMBER 2015

Sponsored by

# 2 9 6 e 9 2r : 4 1g : 1 1 0b : 1 4 6

2

In many schools, the teacher-centered classroom has become an anachronism. As

innovators have learned, the era of the “sage on the stage” has passed. No single

individual can fully address the needs of an entire group of students. Every student learns

differently and comes to the class with distinct abilities and interests.

The alternative – student-centered learning – helps students “understand themselves as

having agency and choice.” Armed with that idea, students “begin to own their learning

and are more motivated and engaged.” 1

When students can see the relevance of the tasks they’re undertaking, explain education

researchers Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey, they go about the work with “a belief that

their efforts will bear fruit” and are likely to be more motivated. 2

However, shifting from instructional practice founded on the idea that the teacher owns

responsibility for student learning to an approach in which students are co-designers of

their education isn’t easy. One good place to start this work is by focusing on student

mindset. Students must see themselves as being capable of learning – a perspective

that requires a “growth mindset.”

A recent survey by THE Journal magazine found that nearly 100 percent of K–12

educators considered student ownership of learning either “important” or “very

important.” 3 Growth mindset paired with using a digital portfolio helps students

recognize their own capacity to learn by allowing them to see their progress over time.

Growth mindset vs. fixed mindsetThe concept of the growth mindset grew out of research conducted by Carol Dweck.

A psychology professor at Stanford University, Dweck came to the forefront with the

publication of her now-classic book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. Her work

“bridges developmental psychology, social psychology and personality psychology and

examines the mindsets people use to understand themselves and guide their behavior.” 4

As Dweck explains in a 10-minute TED video that has been viewed 3.4 million times, students

may come at their work with either a “fixed mindset” or a “growth mindset.” The first is

characterized by a belief that intelligence is a fixed trait or set in concrete. When students fail

in solving problems, their intelligence has been called into question and they’ve been judged a

failure. With a fixed mindset, the children “run from error; they don’t engage with it.”

A growth mindset, on the other hand, sets the students’ brain “on fire.” They believe they

can improve and learn from failure. They persist in correcting themselves. 5

Table of Contents

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

Growth mindset vs. fixed mindset . . . . . . . . . . . .2

The essential role played by the digital portfolio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3

The impact of reflection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

Pursuing growth mindset and reflectionat any age. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

The cumulative value of thedigital portfolio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

Beginning the growth mindset journey . . . . . . .6

About Nureva. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

About THE Journal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

In the summer of 2015, THE Journal sought

feedback from its national readership to gauge

the level of understanding among educators

about the precepts and practices of the growth

mindset and using digital portfolios to support

its development. The survey was completed by

466 people. Administrative leaders (36 percent)

and teaching staff (36 percent) made up the

largest groups of respondents. The remainder

consisted of IT management and education

staff (7 percent), nonteaching staff (4 percent)

and “other,” those primarily affiliated with

schools in some capacity (17 percent). Nearly

half (45 percent) of the respondents worked

in schools or districts with fewer than 2,500

students. Another 27 percent were in schools

or districts with 2,500 to 14,999 students.

Schools with 15,000 students and higher made

up 28 percent.

Survey Methodology

1 Patrick, Susan and Chris Sturgis. “Maximizing Competency Education and Blended Learning: Insights from Experts.” CompetencyWorks. March 2015. http://www.competencyworks.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/CompetencyWorks-Maximizing-Competency-Education-and-Blended-Learning.pdf.

2 Fisher, Douglas and Nancy Frey. “Choice Words.” National Association of Secondary School Principals. December 2012. https://www.nassp.org/tabid/3788/default.aspx?topic=Instructional_Leader_1212.

3 THE Journal. “Digital Portfolios Survey.” September 2015.

4 Dweck, Carol. Stanford University. https://psychology.stanford.edu/cdweck.

5 TED. “Carol Dweck.” December 2014. https://www.ted.com/speakers/carol_dweck.

3

The inner voice of a fixed mindset vs. a growth mindsetThe fixed mindset says The growth mindset says

When facing a challenge “I may not have the innate ability for this.”

“If I fail at this, I can learn from the failure and try again.”

When facing a setback “No surprise there. I could have done this if I had the right abilities.”

“Practice makes perfect. That’s what I need to do.”

When facing criticism “That one’s not my fault. I wasn’t the right person to tackle the job.”

“Give me a chance to fix this and learn from the experience.”

Educators identify numerous benefits when a student develops a growth mindset.

According to the THE Journal survey

A growth mindset helps students embrace challenges and learn from failure (72 percent)

Developing a growth mindset helps students to become lifelong learners (70 percent)

A growth mindset encourages students to learn from their mistakes (69 percent)

Students with a growth mindset see effort as necessary to develop skills (66 percent)

Students with a growth mindset are better able to use constructive criticism to grow and learn (64 percent)

Promoting a growth mindset, says one retired teacher, can “help students own their

work, including mistakes.” 6

The essential role played by the digital portfolioDigital portfolios give students an effective way to monitor the results of their learning

efforts. Nearly 8 in 10 educators (79 percent) believe a digital portfolio serves two vital

functions in this approach to learning:

1) It helps students gain insight into personal growth over time

2) It helps students focus on process and progress

The digital portfolio lends additional value in the classroom in other ways as well.

According to survey results, a digital portfolio may

Help teachers gain insight into growth over time (75 percent)

Encourage students to adopt a growth mindset (61 percent)

Facilitate communication with parents (65.5 percent) 7

That last benefit shouldn’t be underappreciated. As one instructional

technology facilitator observed in the survey results, a digital portfolio helps

parents “see student challenges, strengths and progress.” 8

6 THE Journal.

7 Ibid.

8 Ibid.

Promoting a growth mindset can “help students own their work, including mistakes.” – retired teacher and survey participant

Cou

rtes

y of

Shu

tter

stoc

k

4

Nearly three-quarters of respondents (73 percent) also emphasize digital portfolios

help students by promoting “goal setting.” The importance of goal setting to student

development was cited by almost 100 percent of educators. By tracking goals through a

digital portfolio, explains an assistant special programs director, “Students can see not

only how they have progressed, but how far they still need to go [to] gain new goals.”

The continual appraisal of goals and progress helps students “see growth and build

confidence in planning for future growth,” notes a teacher in advanced placement and

social studies. 9 Those are both critical aspects of the growth mindset.

The impact of reflectionThe number one benefit of using digital portfolios, as cited by almost 9 in 10 educators,

is the technology helps students reflect on their work,10 which education experts

consider a central aspect of learning. “Teachers who promote reflective classrooms

ensure that students are fully engaged in the process of making meaning,” report Arthur

Costa and Bena Kallick in their book, Learning and Leading with Habits of Mind. 11

Reflection provides a way to think about learning and helps learners “understand what,

how and why they learn. It is about developing the capacity to make judgments and

evaluating where learning might take you,” says Karen Hinett, an education developer at

the UK Centre for Legal Education. 12

Pursuing growth mindset and reflection at any ageEducators see no reason not to begin work on establishing a growth mindset and the

practice of reflection as early as possible, according to 85 percent of respondents.

Certainly, conversations and activities will be different depending on the student grade

level. In kindergarten, say Costa and Kallick, reflection could mean a student describing

what has been drawn and commenting on its realism and use of color or letters. By

second grade, the focus may be on details and idea development. In third or fourth

grade, students might comment that they would “proofread” or “stay to the subject.” 13

Given the link between using digital portfolios and their power to encourage students

to reflect on their work, should the youngest learners use digital portfolios as well? The

survey results suggest educators are fairly confident they can. While 17

percent of respondents said a digital portfolio should wait until the student

What is a digital portfolio?

A digital portfolio helps students save digital

versions of their work, as well as observations

and feedback they make themselves and

receive from others. This promotes student

reflection and helps them focus on their

progress as well as the learning process

itself. It also serves as a repository for the

best work, which they can share with peers,

teachers, parents, postsecondary institutions

and potential employers. Content within a

digital portfolio can be linked to other places

in the portfolio and to external web pages or

other content. The portfolio is also scalable

in that it can grow in both breadth and depth

over time, thus encouraging lifelong learning.

As one high school librarian explained, “For the

students, [the digital portfolio] empowers their

ownership in what they’re learning and how

they’re learning. And it also empowers them to

order the way they approach information.”

9 THE Journal.

10 Ibid.

11 Costa, Arthur and Bena Kallick. “Chapter 12. Learning Through Reflection.” Learning and Leading with Habits of Mind. December 2008. http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/108008/chapters/Learning-Through-Reflection.aspx.

12 Hinett, Karen. “Improving learning through reflection – part one.” The Higher Education Academy. November 2004. https://glynfo.glyndwr.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/6025/mod_resource/content/3/id485_improving_learning_part_one.pdf.

13 THE Journal.Cou

rtes

y of

Shu

tter

stoc

k

5

is in middle school, a solid three-quarters said it could be introduced in elementary

school or earlier. 14

The technology company Nureva has seen the effectiveness of introducing a

digital portfolio into K–12 classes. Young children create a bridge or building out of

marshmallows and toothpicks and then take photos of their work with a tablet to post

to their digital portfolios. Kindergartners work with an older “buddy” to record video or

audio files expressing what they’re learning and upload those to the digital portfolio.

Parents and teachers can comment on the work they see in the digital portfolio, which

students can read or have read to them.

Teachers lay the groundwork in simple ways when children are young. Then by the

time children reach those older grades, the practices are embedded into their habits

of learning. While much of early childhood development currently focuses on literacy,

reading and math, educators see the value of acquainting students with these other

tools that will prove highly beneficial in the long run.

The cumulative value of the digital portfolioThe real impact of a digital portfolio grows year over year. As educators report, long-term

use of digital portfolios helps students gain perspective in how they have grown and

progressed (90 percent) and better reflect on how they have overcome past challenges

(70 percent). As one district administrator points out, the use of the digital portfolio can

“remove the feeling of failure if a student does not have a great performance on high

stakes testing. They know they have worked [and] grown and have evidence of it.” 15

Also, as students move from one grade to the next, the digital portfolio helps new teachers

gain a better understanding of the students’ interests and passions inside and outside of

the classroom (74 percent), as well as their challenges and strengths (70 percent). 16

To attain the deep benefits of a digital portfolio, the appropriate technology choice is

important. While a portion of respondents report they could use blogs, image galleries and

online productivity applications for this purpose, these solutions have to be “jury-rigged” to

work. Half of educators recognized the value of using a dedicated digital portfolio. 17

The best of these solutions for K–12 help students:

Easily upload evidence of their learning themselves, no matter the age

Reflect on their work themselves and with others

Receive feedback on their progress

Showcase achievements over time to a select but broad audience

14 THE Journal.

15 Ibid.

16 Ibid.

17 Ibid.

“Teachers lay the groundwork in simple ways when children are young. Then by the time children reach those older grades, the practices are embedded into their habits of learning.”

Cou

rtes

y of

Shu

tter

stoc

k

6

Save content as a continuous learning journey over time, from grade to grade

Foster goal setting and reflection with tools designed specifically to deepen student learning

Access content from anywhere, including mobile devices

Access their work any time, even after graduation or across schools and districts 18

Teachers and administrators also recognize the importance

of ensuring digital portfolio technology helps educators

support their project-based and competency-based

practices (71 percent and 57 percent, respectively). 19

However, to make sure the digital portfolio always remains student-directed, leading

programs feature two “faces.” One is teacher-directed and more academic and the other

is student-directed and more personal. Students should be able to toggle between them.

Beginning the growth mindset journeyPractitioners report that one obstacle to bringing about a growth mindset attitude in

the classroom is the students themselves. They may question why they need to be in

charge of their own learning. A “first step” in helping students adjust to learner-centered

instruction in the classroom will be “to explain why this approach is the best possible

way to enhance their academic success.” 20

Then what happens? Through the THE Journal survey, educators offer a number of ways

to help students understand the need to develop a growth mindset:

Frame assignment goals to support a growth mindset (69 percent)

Praise students for hard work instead of fixed intelligence (64 percent)

Incorporate lessons that directly teach a growth mindset (62 percent)

Read and tell stories that illustrate the power of hard work (54 percent)

Teach students how their brains work (51.5 percent) 21

18 THE Journal.

19 Ibid.

20 National Education Association. “A Clear Rationale for Learner-Centered Teaching.” October 2008. http://www.nea.org/home/34221.htm.

21 THE Journal.

Nureva™ Troove™ digital portfolio software: a purpose-built digital portfolio for K–12

Nureva Troove software is a cloud-based digital

portfolio that enables students to save digital

versions of their academic and personal work,

along with feedback from peers and teachers.

Nureva was founded in 2014 by David Martin and

Nancy Knowlton, the same technology veterans

who introduced another educator favorite: the

SMART Board® interactive whiteboard, in 1991.

To learn more, visit http://www.nureva.com/.

7

About NurevaNureva Inc. develops education solutions that foster a joy for learning. The company

focuses on delighting customers with simple, thoughtful hardware, software and

services. A passion for deep customer understanding and a commitment to innovation

drive the company’s product road map.

For more information, visit http://www.nureva.com.

About THE JournalTHE Journal is dedicated to informing and educating K-12 senior-level district and

school administrators, technologists, and tech-savvy educators within districts, schools,

and classrooms to improve and advance the learning process through the use of

technology. Launched in 1972, THE Journal was the first magazine to cover education

technology.

THE Journal’s franchise consists of a digital format magazine, the web site

thejournal.com, six newsletters (THE News Update, THE Journal Insider, IT Trends,

THE SmartClassroom, and School Security), and targeted list rental opportunities.

With a distribution of 100,000 circulation, THE Journal is the leading resource for

administrative, technical, and academic technology leaders in K-12 education.

To learn more, visit www.thejournal.com.9201 Oakdale Ave.Suite 101Chatsworth, CA 91311

(818) 814-5277

# 2 9 6 e 9 2r : 4 1g : 1 1 0b : 1 4 6

Instilling a growth mindset is vital. It sets up a child to fulfill all the

capabilities every educator wants to see in each student:

Self-motivated learning

Enthusiasm for the next challenge

A view that mistakes are temporary setbacks to be overcome

An ability to accept feedback and criticism

Perseverance

Continual questioning

A risk-taking mentality 22

The journey starts by helping students understand that their intelligence can grow with

practice. Reflection and goal setting are aspects of the process. A digital portfolio is the

optimal tool for supporting the growth mindset by helping students track their progress

and gain insight into how they learn best.

Nureva1000, 1221 8 Street SWCalgary, ABT2R 0L4Canada

© 2015 Nureva Inc. All rights reserved. Nureva, Troove, the Nureva logo and the Troove logo are trademarks of Nureva Inc. in the United States, Canada and other countries. All third-party product and company names are for identification purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective owners.

22 THE Journal.

Cou

rtes

y of

Shu

tter

stoc

k