In 2025, the Faculty Senate at the University of Washington approved the adoption of a set of core elements of effective teaching into Section 24-32 of the UW Faculty Code. One these elements of effective teaching is “growth-oriented:”
Growth-oriented: Effective teaching creates opportunities for learners to learn through practice and provides feedback that helps them grow their knowledge and abilities.
Using a growth-oriented teaching approach can help students adopt a growth mindset in your course. Students with a growth mindset recognize that their abilities are not predetermined or fixed, but can be developed over time. By offering students opportunities for practice and direct feedback, you are helping them move from an attitude of “This is too hard; I can’t learn this,” to “This is hard, but I can learn it with practice and feedback.”
Promote a growth mindset in students
Growth-oriented teaching should help students understand that growth is not only possible, but expected—that ability is developed, not innate. There are a number of ways that you can foster a growth mindset culture in your class. Here is a simple statement you can include in your syllabus and re-articulate for students before major assignments and exams:
“Although the assignments and exams in this class are challenging, they are designed to help you grow your abilities. They are not a judgment of your intelligence or value as a person, but instead provide opportunities for me, as an instructor, and you as a learner, to identify your strengths and opportunities for growth. Growing your abilities happens not just through effort, but also by making use of course resources and reaching out for help.”
Help students learn through practice
In order to learn new concepts and skills, students need practice with them. Effective practice gives students opportunities for trial and error—as well as a chance to learn from mistakes.
However, students are less likely to take risks when practice opportunities are high-stakes (e.g., a large portion of their grade). Effective practice often takes the form of formative and low-stakes assessments.
Additionally, to be effective, practice should:
- Focus on a specific goal. Being explicit about the goal of the practice—what students should be able to learn/do as a result—helps them direct their efforts most effectively.
- Target an appropriate level of challenge. Practice opportunities that are too easy will feel like busy work, while those that are too challenging will be discouraging.
- Be sufficient in quantity and frequency. Requiring too many practice opportunities adds unhelpful stress. Then again, not offering enough (e.g., only one practice quiz between Day 1 and a Midterm) may be insufficient to help students apply what they have learned.
Provide growth-oriented feedback
Think back on your own educational experience – Did you ever get an assignment back that had no feedback, and wondered why you got the grade you received? Or had an assignment returned that was so marked up with comments that you felt overwhelmed and didn’t know where to begin?
For students to learn from practice, they need appropriate feedback. Practice without feedback gives students no information about how to correct mistakes or improve. At the same time, too much feedback can overwhelm and distract students from what to prioritize. It can also make students feel as though they’re incapable of doing the work.
Strategic, actionable, and timely feedback
When it comes to feedback, quality is more important than quantity. Effective feedback strategically focuses on concerns that directly relate to your learning goals, and is oriented toward actions students can take in a subsequent assignment. Ideally that subsequent assignment should occur soon after receiving the feedback so students can grow their abilities.
For example, rather than pointing out every single error in a student’s paper, you can focus feedback on key changes a student can make to improve e.g., the clarity of their argument (if this is a key learning goal for the paper). Then, create an opportunity for students to practice what they learned from your feedback in a revision or subsequent writing assignment.
Giving feedback on writing
For more guidance on providing helpful feedback on writing assignments, see Writing@UW’s page on providing regular and helpful feedback.