Matthew's Honors FYE Blog: Week 4: Growth Mindset, Academic Basics, and Academic Integrity

Introduction

This week's topic is about Growth Mindset, Academic Basics, and Academic Integrity. In our FYE classes, we discussed In-Class Discussion, Free Speech , Growth Mindset Vs Fixed Mindset as well as the differences between plagiarism and cheating. These classes changed my perception and viewpoints about the topics being discussed.

Reflection

In our first FYE class for this week, we got a chance to recap and talk to each other about Free Speech and In-class Discussions because we didn't have any classes that week due to Hurricane Dorian which never physically affected the campus. One of the activities in this class was to first fill out a table on what you believe to be an effective and ineffective class discussion. I simply reiterated my viewpoints from Week 3's blog in regards to being concise, clear and respectful in order to achieve something, such as a common ground. Next, we had to write down an effective class discussion and an ineffective one. I chose the FYE class on time management and some of my highschool classes respectively. On the other side of the page, we were given a list of "12 essential communication skills that aren't taught in schools at All" (1) where we had to choose which applied to what you and your classmates would or would not use.

Afterwards, we paired off into assigned groups of two to discuss what we wrote down on our paper. The other person in my group was Enysa. We had a few common choices, but most of our answers were different. Despite this, we used some of the effective communication and class discussion skills from last week. As a result, we were both understanding of each other's choices whereby we could agree on why choose one of the skills.

After filling out the table and discussing it, the class talked about how to deal with students or professors who have different views which some may consider offensive or inappropriate. Some solutions were to directly confront it or visit the professor during office hours. Some of the members of my class also talked about how they were treated unfairly in high school by their teacher. Some of those instances were really shocking to know that some people were treated unfairly just because they're not a 'smart kid'. Out of all my classmates' contributions and responses, Emma's was the most interesting. Euphemistically speaking, her contributions were very garrulous, vocal and zealous , but they were really interesting and applicable to the class discussion. All in all, that class was a good recap of week 3's topic.

In our second FYE class for this week , we were given a table that we had to write down the example of a growth mindset and a fixed mindset. In general most of our answers were about giving up doing a certain task vs. trying to improve on it or change their way of thinking. I watched a short video (2) on neuroplasticity which further developed my understanding of how our brains work. What I found most interesting about it was that our brains simply reroute connections to generate new ways of thinking and storing memory. Because of our neuroplasticity, we mentally change over time such as our thought process or analytical skills, viewpoints and short and long-term memory. London Cab drivers take neuroplasticity to the extreme; they actually have to learn approximately all 25,000 streets and 20,000 attractions in London(3). They actually have a larger hippocampus in their brains. I also watched a video called "Growth Mindset Introduction: What it is. how it Works and Why it matters."(4) The video taught me that people with a fixed mindset are mediocre and complacent whilst "growth mindset is the foundation for learning". Furthermore there are four things to focus on with a growth mindset: effort, challenges, mistakes and feedback. Personally, I have a mix of both because my short and long-term goals change over time but I'm still scared to make mistakes or receive negative feedback about it.

Next our class went over the basics of academics of Georgia Southern such as learning the difference between a course dropping and a withdrawal as well as other academic terminology and student resources. This was extremely helpful because it helped us clear any misunderstandings or concerns. We were also assigned some apps to help us study more effectively. The one that stood out from the rest was Khan Academy(5). I had previously used this app when studying for the SAT exams last year. Khan Academy has a nice layout and tests which focus on your weaknesses. It has a myriad of videos to watch that covers a wide range of topics such as languages, humanities, business,maths and science.

Afterwards we discussed academic integrity and wrote down and shared some examples of plagiarism and cheating. Furthermore we discussed the harsh consequences of getting caught. I personally think that studying for the exam is miles easier than attempting to cheat without getting caught. We also talked about what to do when you see someone cheating. The rule on 'the streets' is "don't snitch" but in an academic context we could tell someone directly or leave an anonymous report. Plagiarism on the other hand, can be easily caught thanks to Turnitin. It's a really useful tool to see the originality and sources on submitted assignments by showing a percentile score.. I actually got scared and confused once when I saw 25% on one of my Composition I assignments ; I had copied and pasted the questions as well as included and extremely long quote from a book. It's also weird that it considers words such as 'the' , 'because' , 'and' , 'therefore' depending on those words' sequencing. When I was around 11, I used to think that plagiarism was simply copying someone else's work word for word. I would actually copy and paste then change the words with other synonyms. Over time, I learnt that plagiarism was more than just copying words ; it was copying other people's ideas without giving any credit or sources.

The final activity we did was discuss some case studies with the persons sitting next to you about hypothetical situations where students may have breached academic integrity. Most of the cases were straightforward while others were ambiguous as you needed more information to assess the situation with fairness.

Mr. Bean merely admiring the look of his classmate's fingers against backdrop of the white answer sheet (6)

In summary, I have learnt to change the way I think to positively affect how I react to challenges , mistakes and feedback. Furthermore I have grasped a better understanding of Academic Basics and Academic Integrity.