Academic mindsets is a term used to describe the beliefs that learners have about themselves, their intelligence, and their abilities. These mindsets influence a learner’s motivation and perseverance, which in turn influences their study habits and overall academic performance. A positive academic mindset is described in four statements:
- “I belong to this community”
- “My ability and competence grow with my effort”
- “I can succeed at this”
- “This work has value for me”
Learning Circles support academic mindsets by combining group activities with course content. These activities will help learners develop a learning community, set and achieve attainable goals, develop new learning strategies, connect the work to their goals, and reflect and improve upon the Learning Circle model. Many learners have told us that the development of these skills is equally or even more powerful than learning new content from the online course material.
