Month: August 2022

Websites for Friday’s meeting 26.08.2022 – Miranda

The three websites that are within the Websites for 26.08.2022, above, are enclosed and provided a lively form for discussion last Friday.

Starting with the first discussion on students coming back to universities by Peter Hurley from the Mitchell Institute at Victoria University published on February 14, 2022, it was noted that they are coming back, but nowhere near the numbers which were pre-pandemic. Some interesting statistics were also provided and I asked people to provide the latest information and statistics. He also says that “following the 2011 Knight Review, many international students have been able to apply for a post-study visa. This lets them work in Australia for between one and five years after finishing their course” and that “competitor countries are also using post-study work rights to attract a bigger share of international enrolments”. This was especially important since many international students work in the low-paid industries such as cleaning, bar attendants,  waiters, and aged and disabled carers. Elaine, provided some information and statistics, and referred to the information sent by Monique previously, in the previous week or two.

The next article, was from the Punjab in India and was published on June 2 in 2021, was on the students who were able to obtain a visa easily, due to their academic grades which were high and were in the fields that were needed here in Australia – that is, doctors. That article was more a inside look into those kinds of students.

The third article, was from Andrew Norton, from the Australian National University and was published on February 11 2022, which provided a lot of information and statistics and also some graphs to demonstrate what he was saying. It was a more complex look into the situation here in Australia, and the changes that are taking place. He was saying that students were coming back to Australia to study, and that, because of the changes to the immigration by the government, students were now able to work 40 or more hours per week, which was very encouraging for Indian and Nepalese students. However, not as inviting for Chinese students, whose numbers were far lower.  He also looked at job losses within the various universities, and he also says that “the long COVID of university employment will not clear for some time”.

Overall, the articles created quite a bit of discussion regarding this situation of the post-COVID 19 and what is being changed due to it and the various changes that have occurred because of it and the different variants of COVID that have resulted from the original. Most of the people in the room participated in the discussion, and Elaine and Seham had quite a lot to say about the situation, as did some of the others. It is notable that Monique was not present at the meeting, due to her being on annual leave.

Ted Talk: https://youtu.be/pN34FNbOKXc

What makes athletes, entrepreneurs, and some of the most successful people in the world successful?

The answer is – Mindset. Particularly, a growth mindset.

“The key to success is not simply effort, focus or resilience, rather these are by-products of having a growth mindset”. – Eduardo Briceno

Often success is associated with the belief that you need to have intelligence or talent to be successful and perform well at something. Some people believe that they have ingrained certain abilities, and that poor performance reflects an inability to succeed. This is known as a fixed mindset (FM). Contrastingly, there are those whom when faced with setbacks or challenges embrace these as an opportunistic moment for personal growth and further development of their skills and abilities. These thinkers are considered to possess a growth mindset (GM). American chess prodigy Josh Waitzkin asserted; “The moment we believe that success is determined by an ingrained level of ability, we will be brittle in the face of adversity”. In other words, if we believe that we are limited by our current inabilities to perform well in certain areas than we limit ourselves from opportunistic growth and are less resilient to setbacks.

This week’s L&G discussion focused on understanding these two mindset types, and how they can affect performance. In his TED Talk, Eduardo Briceno spoke of the power of belief, and how a growth mindset helped Waitzkin learn to successfully compete with the world’s best performing chess competitors and use it as a formula to achieve continued success in his life.

Eduardo explains that those with a (FM) see effort as a bad thing that only people with low capabilities need. When they are met with failure or setbacks, they conclude they are incapable of achieving successful outcomes and this results in low motivation and withdrawal. This is perpetuated by their concern that they will be judged by others. In contrast, those with a (GM) focus more on learning and see effort as a smart approach to grow and develop one’s skills. They view setbacks and failure as a part of personal growth and choose to learn from these experiences, often finding a way forward and overcoming their limitations.

Dweck & Mueller (1998) divided children into two groups and assigned each with a set of puzzles. They found that children who received a fixed mindset praise (FMP) which associated the child’s skill with being smart resulted in poorer performance and lower confidence in ability than those children receiving a growth mindset praise (GMP) which focused on their efforts. This is because the (FMP) portrays intelligence and abilities as fixed qualities, whereas the (GMP) focused on the efforts and process. The researchers also found that when introducing children with the choice between selecting a harder puzzle and an easier puzzle, the (FMP) children picked the easier puzzle over the challenging puzzle, whereas the (GMP) children opted for the harder puzzle. Finally, when allowing children, the opportunity to score their individual performance, the (FMP) children lied over 3 times more about their performance.

This study showcases as a good example of student mindset and performance and its results yield similar experiences to the mindsets of current international students that attend study support and counselling support services. Our experience of helping these students is challenged when students are stuck in a fixed mindset and fall into patterns of avoidance, demotivation and procrastination, whereas students exhibiting a growth mindset tend to progress with their personal development and academic skills.

Eduardo Briceno shares 3 tips people can follow to increase a growth mindset and become successful.

1. Recognise that the brain is malleable and is capable of change.
2. Learn about deliberate practice and how to develop your abilities.
3. Listen to your fixed mindset voice, and when you hear it, talk back with a growth mindset voice. (i.e. – If you hear you can’t, add YET to the end of that sentence)

L&G group reflective discussion: The discussion on Fixed mindsets vs growth mindsets was fruitful and instigated many in the group to share their own personal experiences of success stories with students. An interesting point shared by Peter was the notion that a fixed mindset is not always a negative thing as people following diets need to have a strict fixed mindset to stay disciplined and achieve their goals. However, the crux is: If we are to realise our potential, we must start thinking differently, and realising that we are not chained or limited to our current capabilities. Having a growth mindset allows us to do this.