Habits of Mind:

Designing Courses for Student Success

Edited by Julia M. Gossard & Chris Babits

Although content knowledge remains at the heart of college teaching and learning, instructors have started to recognize that we must also provide twenty-first-century college students with transferable skills to prepare them for their futures (Vazquez, 2020; Hazard, 2012; Ritchhart, 2015; Venezia & Jaeger, 2013). In order to “grow their capacity as efficacious thinkers to navigate and thrive in the face of unprecedent change,” students should learn important skills and strategies throughout their educational careers (Costa, Kallick, and Zmuda, 2022). Utah State University instructors are particularly adept at providing these competencies and skills in introductory, mid, advanced, and even career-preparation courses. Habits of Mind: Designing Courses for Student Success brings together transformative Utah State University instructors to highlight their experiences in developing “Habits of Mind” assignments and frameworks in their courses, ensuring student success along the way.

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Table of Contents

Chapter Authors PDF Link
Dedication | Contributors
Introduction Julia M. Gossard and Chris Babits PDF Chapter
SECTION I: STARTING
Chapter 1: Using Habits of Mind to Reduce DFWI Rates in a Gateway History Course Chris Babits PDF Chapter
Chapter 2: Preparing Students with Habits of Mind for the First Day of Class Jennifer Grewe PDF Chapter
Chapter 3: Improving the general education experience through equitable and inclusive pedagogical practices Cree Taylor PDF Chapter
Chapter 4: With Sustainability in Mind: Twelve Habits of Mind for a Successful Learning Experience in the Second-Language Classroom and Beyond Doris McGonagill PDF Chapter
Chapter 5: Structure for Success: Incorporating Habits of Mind into Online Courses Missy Kofoed PDF Chapter
SECTION II: REFLECTING
Chapter 6: #DigitalPowerups: Creating safe and brave spaces in online discussions to support student choice and voice Leonard Henderson, Travis Thurston, Mehmet Soyer, Gonca Soyer, and Josie Tollefson PDF Chapter
Chapter 7: Learning Beyond Content: Using Weekly Reflection to Promote Student Confidence and Lifelong Learning Nichelle Frank PDF Chapter
Chapter 8: Making Asynchronous Online Discussions Meaningful: An Introduction to The Pioneer Method with Robust Scaffolding Matthew D. LaPlante PDF Chapter
Chapter 9: “I’m just not good at history”: Fostering a Growth Mindset with Habits of Mind Julia M. Gossard PDF Chapter
Chapter 10: Mindful Teaching, Leadership, and Reflection Practices Jessie Koltz PDF Chapter
Chapter 11: Hindsight is 20/20: The role of reflection in learning Jenifer Evers PDF Chapter
SECTION III: GROWING
Chapter 12: Weaving purposeful worlds of discovery: Merging CliftonStrengths® with Habits of Mind for low income, first-generation students Kimberly Hiatt, Kelsey Bushman, Heather Lyman, and Sarah Gosney PDF Chapter
Chapter 13: Habits of Mind Courses for College Success: Empowering Students to Plan and Read Melanie Chambers and Sharon Lyman PDF Chapter
Chapter 14: How Instructors Can Help Students Embrace a Growth Mindset: The Importance of Applying Theory to Practice Antje R. H. Graul and Ayse Sapci PDF Chapter
Chapter 15: Leap and the Net Will Appear: Risk-taking and Creative Flexibility in the Face of the Unknown Raymond Veon PDF Chapter
Chapter 16: If at First You Don’t Succeed: Promoting a Growth Mindset by Quelling Student Fear of Failure Jason Twede PDF Chapter
Chapter 17: TikTok is not peer reviewed: Modifying assignments to nurture Habits of Mind Rachel Robison-Greene PDF Chapter
SECTION IV: MOORING
Chapter 18: “An Amazing Change in Mindset”: Student Psychosocial Development and Social Science Research Methods Sarah Tulane and Travis Thurston PDF Chapter
Chapter 19: “I see research questions everywhere”: Developing Metacognitive Skills in an English-Major Research Methods Course Joyce Kinkead, John Draeger, and Jill K. Singer PDF Chapter
Chapter 20: Service-learning and community-engaged projects for international and domestic students Ekaterina Arshavskaya PDF Chapter
Chapter 21: Searching as learning: A scaffolded approach to the research paper assignment Karin deJonge-Kannan PDF Chapter
Chapter 22: Developing Classroom Management Skills: Leveraging Habits of Mind in Pre-Service Teacher Education Rachel K. Turner PDF Chapter
Afterword Julia M. Gossard and Chris Babits PDF Chapter

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Recommended APA Citation

Gossard, J. & Babits, C. (Eds.) (2023). Habits of mind: Designing courses for student success. Utah State University.

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About Empower Teaching Open-Access Series

The Empower Teaching Open-Access Book Series features a variety of peer-reviewed books focused broadly on the multi-disciplinary work of teaching in higher education. Books in the series align with the mission of the Center for Empowering Teaching Excellence (ETE) to bolster the culture of teaching excellence for students, staff, faculty and administrators. The books in this series share insightful and innovative perspectives on teaching and learning, and through a partnership with USU Libraries the books are offered in an online and open-access format to amplify the voices of authors and contributors in the series.

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