Growth Mindset: OU's Growth

I truly believe that college is a million light years ahead of high school when it comes to growth mindset and creating an environment that encourages learning. I can honestly say that I have developed more of a growth mindset here at OU (without even knowing it) than during any of my time in high school or middle school. For my tests, I almost always have something like a project or an essay that is graded rather than a standardized test with multiple choice answers. This in itself is a step in the right direction, because I actually learn to remember and not learn just to get the right answers on a test one time. My work can be interpreted and I can show what I know rather than what I do not know.

This being said, there are also areas of needed improvement. I find that during the lower division courses that are taught by mostly Masters level students that are only slightly older than me, they are still in the wrong mindset about school. The older professors tend to grade students based on their work but the younger ones still just want a test score that the big boss man requires. This means that the freshman and sophomores are still getting that fixed mindset education. It would be great if professors could be taught this information about growth mindset. I know many don't know about it, and I think it would help a lot to prevent incoming freshman from dropping out and deciding that they aren't meant for college.

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