1. NACADA International Conference
Growth Mindset and Metacognition: Keys to Promoting Student Autonomy in the Advising Relationship
John B. Craig, Ed.D.
Assistant Professor, Director of the Academic Development Program, West Chester University of Pennsylvania, USA
Ann Lieberman Colgan, Ed.D.
Associate Professor, Educational Development
NACADA International Conference
2018

2. West Chester University of Pennsylvania
Fast facts about WCU
17k+ students, approximately 118 undergraduate majors, 80 graduate programs and 4 doctoral programs. Largest in the PASSHE system and founded in th largest university in the Philadelphia region. Frederick Douglass gave his last public speech at the university in We have international students from over 40 countries.

3. Growth Mindset: A Refresher
“…the belief that intelligence is not stagnant and can be developed as we learn new things” (Dweck 2006).
“Test scores and measures of achievement tell you where a student is, but they don’t tell you where a student could end up” (Dweck)
“Picture your brain forming new connections as you meet the challenge and learn. Keep on going.” (Dweck)
References
Dweck, Carol. (2006) Mindset: the new psychology of success. Random House. New York.
Carol)
The overall point here is that intelligence is not stuck in time. One can always learn…make new connections. During the advising process, it is critical that we not only say this to our students; but, our verbal and non-verbal communication must emit this same message.
American Colleges use SAT’s/ACT’s as a means of making determinations about admissions, etc. These can represent fixed data points that really do not tell the entire story of a student’s potential for growth into the program that they have as goals. Good researchers know to triangulate their data (qualitative, quant.)

4. Our Brain at work
Neuroplasticity is “the ability of the brain to form and reorganize synaptic connections, especially in response to learning or experience or following injury.
"neuroplasticity offers real hope to everyone from stroke victims to dyslexics“ (Oxford Dictionary)
*Persons with severe intellectual disabilities don’t experience neuroplasticity in the same manner. “Don’t let the labor define the person, push for growth.”
Students and others often envision their brains as containing specific abilities and not others. This is especially problematic when students leave secondary education thinking they are “good” in a content area that then proves challenging in college.

5. Metacognition: Overview
John Flavell coined this term in 1976.
“Thinking about your thinking.”
Broken down into three areas: Metacognitive Knowledge, Metacognitive Experience and Metacognitive Strategies
thinking.html (Retrieved 5/31/2018)
The reason we're doing this presentation is to highlight the great work that effective advisors are already doing.  This session is designed to foster your own mindful development of these discussions about MC and GM.  To this end, as we proceed consider your practices and how this discussion can potentially add value to your advising practice.

6. Metacognitive Knowledge
involves (a) learning processes and your beliefs about how you learn and how you think others learn, (b) the task of learning and how you process information, and (c) the strategies you develop and when you will use them.
(Retrieved 5/31/2018)
Students come to us with all types of beliefs about how they learn, what they like to learn, etc. It is up to us to take the time to learn as much from our students as possible about how they think they learn, as this is the ideal time to have conversations about how these beliefs (often fixed mindsets) will guide the students’ choice of majors, minors, gen. ed., selections, etc.
“The other students in the class are smarter.” “These students who do better do so because they’re smarter, not that they studied more efficiently, spent more time, sought tutoring. These are all assumptions of the students who have a fixed mindset. “It’s easier for them.” Students need to make the shift that learning is work.
Self-talk, stories that students tell themselves about themselves. Self narrative is how we see ourselves. Social awareness, self awareness and empathetic.

7. What students say reveals their mindsets
What have your students said that provides you with insight into the current state of their metacognition?
Solicit student quotes from the audience – eg: “I’m not good at science,” “Languages are hard for me,” “I studied for that test for hours, I guess I can’t do this subject” Self talk is characterized by “I’m good at ” I’m bad at “ “I struggle with ” etc.

8. Metacognitive Experience
One’s internal response to learning
Feelings and emotions which are related to the goals and tasks of learning
intelligence/s06-thinking-about-thinking.html (Retrieved 5/31/2018)
Arnold Bennett, a British writer, said that one cannot have knowledge without having emotions. Bennett (1933). Your feelings and emotions serve as a feedback system to help you understand your progress and expectations, and your comprehension and connection of new information to the old, among other things.
When you learn a new language, for example, you may recall memories, information, and earlier experiences in your life to help you solve the task of learning a new language. In doing this, your internal responses (metacognitive experience) could be frustration, disappointment, happiness, or satisfaction. Each of these internal responses can affect the task of learning a new language and determine your willingness to continue. Critical to metacognition is the ability to deliberately foster a positive attitude and positive feelings toward your learning. Share student stories of student who needed to drop Psy in the summer. Student who got a 40% on her first test in Chem.
If they’re struggling, they’ll choose some actions which are not conducive their growth. However, if they choose a response which is consistent to their metacognitive growth, they will grow and learn from their experiences. We have to help them transition to metacognitive strategies so they can feel good about their learning.
One student – “I knew I was going to have to work harder in college than I did in high school, but what surprised me was how much I liked it. I found out I enjoyed learning the new stuff and fitting it into my head.”

9. Metacognitive Strategies
What you design to monitor your progress related to your learning and the tasks at hand
A mechanism for controlling your thinking activities and to ensure you are meeting your goals.
Show students Bloom's Taxonomy
thinking-about-thinking.html (Retrieved 5/31/2018)
These strategies have been used for years; however, it’s good to point to recent relevant. Pre-reading, etc.  Refer to McQuire.
Importantly – there are key times to teach metacognitive strategies when students will be more receptive and likely to integrate the new learning techniques – right after their first tests, etc.
Showing BT allows students to visualize the work and the type of thinking which is required at the collegiate level, which they may not have been exposed to previously.  

10. Growth Mindset Quiz
If time permits, and you're interested, we can share with you an informal instrument to assess your own GM.  

11. Advising Relationships
Prescriptive (Monologic)
Appreciative (Collaborative-Holistic)
Developmental (Education)
Dialogic (Knowing when to combine relationship methods)
Prescriptive: Telling the student what classes to take, et. The goal is delivering your expertise, with the expectation that students adhere to your recommendations
Appreciative: Taking the time to develop a more meaningful relationship with the student so as to learn more about their goals, concerns, background, etc.
Combination:  When is it appropriate to use either
Education: Engage with the student to transform their learning experience (intrusive, diagnostic, summative and formative)
Different advising relationships respond accordingly to the students’ mindsets and needs to growth

12. What is Metacognition?

13. Growth Mindset and Metacognition
Provides students the foundation for taking charge of their college experience
Allows for more robust conversations about majors/careers with advisor
Keys to success
There are specific conversations we can initiate with advisees to spark growth mindset and metacognition –
One of the key things we have to do in the US education system is distinguish HS from University learning behaviors
A first step is acknowledging where students are in order to connect with their real experiences, make them feel known, so they trust your recommendations for behavior/ learning/ attitude changes.

14. Student Autonomy - Advising
Students takes ownership of their learning
Student advocates for him/herself 
Student is self-aware
This is our goal for students
Ways that we know students are beginning to behave and think autonomously = 
Bringing in their questions
Arriving with a plan of action for obtaining their goals
Acknowledging weak preparation and plans for improving
Improved academic performance
Having the confidence of their choices, even opposing the advisor's alternatives

15. What Can We do to Increase Motivation to Learn?
Tell students about how their brain works and about emotions and mindset
Put students in the driver’s seat
Enhancing students’ overall collegiate experience
Enhancing students’ social and emotional well-being
Enhance self-awareness
(McGuire, 2017)
Techniques for putting students in the driver’s seat = (from the book)
How they feel about their education is based on how they think about what they're experiencing.  Ex. "My professor is so hard?" There are things on the test that she didn't discuss.  The readings don't have anything to do with the lecture."  Pull that all together will help students get a complete picture of what the subject entails.  As McGuire states in the text, the brain likes to know the whole picture.  Since this is the case, helping our students see the big picture about why they're here, why they are taking a particular course and what's required to succeed in the course (lectures, labs, texts, assignments, groups assignments, tutoring, etc) gives the brain what it wants—the big picture.  
FYE example.  Most US vs. European model (General Education vs. Major-specific model)  There is an assumption that you learned what you should have learned in high school

16. Scenario 1
You have been Charles’ advisor for 1 year.  When you first met Charles, he said he wanted to be a physician.  So, you and he identify courses he should take to get started in the pre-med curriculum.  After taking classes that semester, he realized that being a physician is not what he wants to do.  The fact that he failed biology and pre-calculus led him to this conclusion.  So, you and he meet the following semester and try to identify another area of interest. 
Question: How might you or your colleagues have advised Charles prior to this presentation? 
Question:  How might you advise Charles, given what we’ve discussed about Growth Mindset and Metacognition?
We’re looking for a realistic conversation about his work ethic and methodology about learning the material
We’re looking for trends in his thought processes as it pertains career/major 
How is he describing himself to himself (metacognition) 
How can we assist Charles to use the information he learned about himself in this process to 
How can Charles realize where he is and how he can get to where he needs to be – I haven't done the work to understand the material well enough vs. I'm not smart enough.  The path may be crooked to med school, law school or other professions 

17. Scenario 2
Rhonda is a 3rd year student who has been undeclared for the past 2 years. She is simply taking general education requirements in hopes of “finding something she’s interested in.” She has a 2.5 gpa and has no clue what she wants to do for a career. She is closed to suggestions; and, she has met with the career center a few times to no avail.
Question 1: Why do you think Rhonda is still undeclared?
Question 2: How might you advise Rhonda?
Question 3: Given what we’ve discussed about GM and M, in what ways might you help Rhonda?
Rhonda could be asked several questions:  What's preventing you from making a choice?  Are you nervous about making a choice?  "I want to make money.  I need to support my family, etc."
By asking questions, we're encouraging the student into a Metacognitive process by which she can begin to self-actualize and identify her barriers to decision making. 
In cases where this advising dialogue reveals other circumstances, the advisor must consider outside referrals. 

18. Scenario 3
Linda is very interested in majoring in business management.  However, she has not earned the required grades in her economics, math and accounting courses despite several attempts.  She insists on this major, even though her advisor told her on multiple occasions that she does not have to major in business management in order to work in the field.   
Question: How might you broaden Linda’s view of the field?
Question: In what ways might we introduce Linda to growth mindset and metacognition?
Is Linda realistic?  Does she have a realistic view of what the business management major is and how it relates to what she wants to do as a career?  
Perhaps Linda might benefit by conversations with faculty in various departments and with community members who hold jobs she might be interested in
Is she good at self-reflection? Her advisor can ask why she persists in insisting on this particular path. Explore her thinking about the major and career she wants
Why does she not perform well in math, accounting and economics? Has her work ethic and methodology been sufficient to the content? If not, use M to explore the gap and cause her to engage in introspection and ask  herself if her commitment to the courses has been consistent with her insistence on the majors.

19. Fostering growth mindset and metacognition
Timing is everything
Connect student to his/her current practices and assumptions
Describe what should be happening in students’ academic and cognitive lives
Students might need to connect their HS behaviors to their current situations in order to grow and become learners rather than test-takers
- Student readiness is critical for receptivity – expect to repeat yourself. Showing students Bloom's taxonomy when they arrive helps them understand the degree of the work required,
     BUT showing them Bloom's taxonomy AGAIN after the first round of tests helps them to make the connection between effort and performance. If students applied their high-school practices, maybe increased their time commitment, but didn't practice higher orders of thinking, we need to start to show them how to think critically. Build on the foundation they arrive with to bridge the gap between knowledge and higher orders of thinking.
Remember Vygotsky – faculty often teach in the higher echelons of the taxonomy, whereas students often arrive with lower level thinking, so sometimes they don't know anything  about what we're talking about. We tell them to read the text, but they might not have the analytical skills to know what they should pull out of the text, they might need the professor or advisor to model how to make meaning out of the readings -
   As Vygotsky says – support student learning transitions with scaffolding – EXPS, ADP, summer bridge designed to help students transition to college level Chemistry
Growth mindset and metacognition are required for students to become the learners that they need to be – linking these two concepts empowers them to take charge of their learning experience and has implications beyond the undergraduate experience
The practice of exercising growth mindset and metacognitive strategies has lifelong implications and can become habits that impact every area of one's life – the idea that we can learn and grow, 
Students come to their advisors to talk about more than class and degrees, 
- Students need to connect their behaviors and thoughts to the results they obtain – in the classroom and out of it.

20. Tips from the book
"Tell Students How Their Brains Work and About Emotions and Mindset."
It's not what you say, it's how you say it!
"Share Stories, Set Clear Expectations, and Encourage Big-Picture Thinking"
Raffini's Five Bases of Intrinsic Motivation
Build rapport with students by sharing something personal with them and let them see that you're human.  For example, during the first meeting with the student, you might ask about their hobbies, interests, etc.  With that information, you can relate that to something about yourself, (love of horses, swimming, cars, crochet, etc.).  This approach allows the student to see us as human and allows us to build a meaningful rapport with them.  To this end, the advisor can then begin having in depth conversations about
Use Raffini's list – 5 items – how does intrinsic motivation translate into linking growth mindset with metacognition so that autonomy of learners in advising relationship produces autonomous decision makers. Advisors can be less prescriptive, empower students so conversations can be dialogic and appreciative. As they grow academically and personally, they are in the driver's seat

21. Works Cited
Colgan, A. (Fall 2017) Think about it: Philosophy and dialogic advising. NACADA Journal, 37 (1), pp Craig, J. (Fall 2017) Identifying and Eradicating Barriers to Success for Black Male Undergraduate Students. PBCOHE Journal 19 (1), pp Gredler, M., & Shields, C. (2008). Vygotsky's legacy : A foundation for research and practice. New York: Guilford Press. ​Growth Mindset Quiz Adapted From McGuire, S. Y. (2015). Teach Students How to Learn: Strategies you can Incorporate into any Course to Improve Student Metacognition, Study Skills and Motivation. Sterling, VA. Stylus. McGuire, S. Y. (2018). Teach Yourself How to Learn: Strategies you can use to Ace any Course at any Level. Sterling, VA. Stylus.