This past week in a curriculum development course I was facilitating I was reminded of a huge responsibility I have as a professor; and that we all have as members of humanity.
As is normally the case when I show my class a Youtube video on Carol Dwecks Mindset the ensuing discussion was lively, passionate and sobering. In Mindset: The New Psychology of Success
Unfortunately this too often is not the mindset that we see in most of our learners. One seasoned and insightful instructor taking my course pointed out that too many of his learners believe they are entitled to an “A”, believe that challenges are only for those who lack ability, are not willing to learn from feedback and are threatened by the success of others. He rightfully pointed that many of these types of learners would be quite upset with having to deal with this idea of the growth mindset because they been feed a consistent diet of fixed mindset thinking. This type of thinking could shake their world.
He was right…this type of thinking has the potential to change the learner. Change often puts people on the defensive or even makes them angry. Even if we just reach one learner at a time in our classrooms, the ripple effect from this change will eventually change that learner’s world. It is possible to change the world one learner at a time.
So is this yet another responsibility placed upon college and university professors, teachers and instructors? When you consider that anywhere from 70 – 90% of learning is informal and happens outside of the classroom (see Jay Cross post Where did the the 80% come from) the responsibility to impact the learners around us is societal. We are all learners. Whether they are our children, family, friends, co-workers our staff or colleagues we all have learners in our sphere of influence.
Are you changing the world one learner at a time?
