This document discusses building student agency and learning mindsets among academically at-risk students. It introduces the Bounce Back program, an online student success toolkit designed to develop student agency, learning readiness, and resilience. Bounce Back is based on research from cognitive psychology and neuroscience on growth mindsets, learning strategies, and building student confidence and motivation. It incorporates gamification elements to engage students in developing skills like asking for help and using learning resources to promote success.

1. Building Student Agency
and Learning Mindsets
Among Academically-at-Risk Students

2. 2016/17 Bounce Back Team
Krislynn McKinlay Jessica Robertson
With acknowledgement to the many other people who have supported, helped develop, and promoted the program.
David Nguyen Catharine Ozols Paul Kemp

3. Learning Outcomes
Participants in this workshop will investigate ways to:
• build student agency, learning readiness, and resilience
• influence students' learning & growth mindsets
• promote evidenced-based learning strategies & routines
• build students' willingness to ask for help & access learning
resources
• use educational technology and gamification to engage students
and promote student success

4. Bounce Back (Student Success Toolkit)
• Continuous intake, online student success toolkit designed to
build student agency, learning readiness, and resilience among
academically-at-risk students*
• Built on key cognitive and educational psychology and
neurosciences research and proven learning strategies
• Incorporates gamification, reward elements, and supplementary
face-to-face workshop activities
*Promote with Advice, Probation, Compulsory Withdrawal, Early Alert

6. Student Agency
The capacity and propensity to
take purposeful initiative and
intentional action
Adequate cognitive functioning
and knowledge base
Physiological needs
Learning Readiness

7. Principles of Productive Gamification
1. Conceptual challenges
2. Productive failure
3. Careful calibration
4. Boost persistence*
*emphasis
5. Build confidence*
6. Enhance intrinsic motivation*
7. Accessibility*
8. Deeper learning*
http://www.gettingsmart.com/2014/02/8-
principles-productive-gamification/

11. The Research

13. Dweck (1988) and Learning Mindsets
Growth Mindset, Belonging, Relevance and Meaning

14. Growth Mindset
What is it?
Do you have one?
Have you thought about: Why? Needs? Can it change?

16. Growth Mindset
• 30 years of research
• Adaptive belief that intelligence
can be developed
• We get smarter through:
• hard work
• the use of effective strategies, and
• help from others when needed

17. Why Growth Mindsets are so Important
• What is a Growth Mindset
• How Growth Mindset Leads to Higher Achievement
• Mindsets Can Change

18. Growth Mindset

20. Learning Strategies and Habits
Practice Testing, Spaced Repetition, Interleaving + Habits/Routines

21. Learning Strategies
Improving Student Learning With Effective Learning Techniques:
Researchers analyzed more than 700 research studies and identified
the ten most common study strategies used by students.
What did they find out?
Actually, some of the most popular study strategies used by students
don’t help as much as you’d think.

22. 10 Most Common Strategies
Work with your group to:
- Review study strategies and
definitions
- Predict the effectiveness
(efficacy)
- Sort the strategies from most
to least effective

24. Work Smarter … and Harder:
1. Retrieval Practice or Practice
Testing
2. Spaced Repetition or Distributed
Practice
3. Interleaving

25. Practice Testing
• New concept for most students
• Boosts long term memory
• Helps students make better
decisions about what to study
• Faculty play important role with:
• Informing
• Applying
• Modelling

26. Retrieval Practice/Practice Testing

27. Massed practice: many students study like this
Better
Best
False
sense of
mastery
SpacedRepetitionor
DistributedPractice

28. How Spaced Repetition Works.
Forgetting Curve
Learning Curve

29. Interleaving
Practice is broken up into a number of short sessions - over a
longer period of time

31. Illusions of Competence / Zipper Effect
• Familiarity vs Deep Learning
• Summarization
• Highlighting
• Keyword Mnemonic
• Imagery use
• Rereading

35. • 4 small group workshops
• Multiple offerings
• Very personalized
• Faculty led
• Student Success Mentor
• Awards
Fall 2014
• Growth mindset focus
• Hybrid model with
continuous enrolment
• 15 hours – CCR + Awards
• Spawned a family of other
interventions
Evolution • Fully online or hybrid
• Gamification
• Levels / Badges /
Incentives
• Increased flexibility
• Increased peer support
Winter /
Summer 2017

36. 16
70
47
34
105
31
116
16
51
25
17
45
11
45
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
Fall 2014 Winter
2015
Summer
2015
Fall 2015 Winter
2016
Fall 2016 Winter
2017
Summer
2017 (in
progress)
Bounce Back Overview
Enrolled Participated Linear (Enrolled)

37. • 51 minutes and 19 seconds is the average time spent on content*
*Skewed left since a lot of students have not done much content on Bounce Back, Might be inaccurate if
people idle after visiting a page
47
34
29
10
3
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
Total Initial Survey Visited 1st
Content
Earned at least
1 badge
Earned 12
Summer 2017
# of students

38. Growth Mindset Reflection
I have learned quite a bit about a growth mindset. I never knew that an individual could have both a fixed
and a growth mindset. It was important for myself that I understood that challenges are always a learning
experience and that mistakes are something to be happy about. Prior to learning about the different
ways of thinking, I would always get discouraged about making a mistake, as I was always looking at how
someone else did their work. Now, in a school setting, by learning to use my growth mindset, I can learn
to overcome the fear of making a lot of mistakes, and take on challenges with a smile because I know
that whatever the outcome may be, I will take it as a chance to grow.
Lastly, a growth mindset would be beneficial in a work environment because I would have to learn new
skills that I may not have known were there. Also, if I was falling behind in work (May it be with school or
a career), criticism and feedback from professors and employers are very beneficial. Criticism and
feedback are a major part of growing as it is a way to increase skills or change the old habits into
something better. Overall, I would say that it is better to be in a growth mindset instead of a fixed as
there are more positive learning outcomes.

39. Learning Strategies Reflections
• I learned about the three learning strategies, retrieval practice,
spaced repetition and interleaving learning. I will implement the
spaced repetition one for my studies in the future
• I explored ways to help me study and retain more information by
retrieval practice, spacing and interleaving. Effective way of
studying is to test oneself by answering questions will strengthen
memory. Active learning makes us more likely to recall information
we are learning.

40. Key College Resources Reflections
• I learned about the math support, writing center, peer tutors, the blog from one of the
student advisers, etc. I find that it is good to know that these are in existence at the college
because some students may want to ask how to write an essay properly or for the solution
to that one tricky math question. All of these support resources are the key to any students
success.
As for myself, I believe that I would end up using the peer tutors for any accounting
difficulties as I have trust in these selected professional students. I also know that if I had any
questions, I would find the program coordinator because they have been in the working
force longer than any of the peer tutors and other students. These resources are what make
the school connected and allows students that struggle to get services for free. I do plan on
using one of these resources in the upcoming semesters.
• What I've learned is that you are not alone. There is always someone there to help you
wether that be with school or with personal problems you are having, they want to see you
succeed and achieve the goals. So when you need help just ask for it, I know it’s harder said
than done especially for me because I'm always afraid that I'm being judged, but you just
have to get over it and slowly you will see the abundance of help the college has to offer.

41. Moving Forward
For overall student success, but especially in 1st Semester:
 Teaching students how to learn is as important as
teaching them content
 Coaching students to adopt new strategies can be
done without sacrificing too much class time

42. Moving Forward
• Transition to College Intervention
• Embed in a 1st semester course
• Faculty PD
• Rapid Prototyping / Testing
• Belonging
• Growth Mindset
• Learning Strategies / Habits
• Asking for Help

43. Growth Mindset
• 30 years of research
• Adaptive belief that intelligence
can be developed
• We get smarter through:
• hard work
• the use of effective strategies, and
• help from others when needed

45. Wrap Up
• Questions?
• One key takeaway?