Cultivating a Growth Mindset in Higher Education: Implications for Module and Assessment Design

Abstract

American psychologist Carol Dweck famously posited that one’s intelligence or learning abilities are not fixed aspects of individuals; rather, these are highly malleable and can be developed through persistence, effort, amongst other things. Christening her foundational work as the ‘growth mindset’, Dweck’s theory has profoundly influenced the field of educational psychology and shaped the development of educational policies within and outside the United States. While much of the research on the growth mindset has focused on K-12 education, its implications for higher education remain underexplored. In this reflection essay, I introduce the central tenets of Dweck’s important work, describe its benefits, and show how these principles can be integrated into higher education module and assessment design. I also aim to discuss criticisms of Dweck’s work that are found in the literature and sketch several ways of circumventing these difficulties.