As human beings, our beliefs and thought processes are influenced by our surroundings. We tend to subconsciously resolve our mindsets to accept what is understood as truth through our family, friends, community, education, and media influences. There is incredible power in understanding our own mindsets, training ourselves to realign truth against the misconceptions that we carry and believe. This idea focuses on seeking and discovering innovative solutions for empowering humans to be able to monitor and understand their own mindsets to help them to flourish in their environment or career. Innovations in this area could help break barriers for underrepresented groups in, for example, white male dominated careers, bring unconventional research to traditional pathways, and guide individuals to optimize their ability to thrive.
We propose harnessing social-media to provide self-mentoring tools that guide individuals through a process in which they better understand and articulate for themselves their state of mind. When humans seek to flourish in their environment they often look to external influences and follow the lead of others who are in the apparent circumstances they desire for themselves. In academics the "influencers" are advisors or counselors, who may not understand or relate to an individual. For a student, these instruments would clarify their state of mind and provide them the ability to develop their own successful path towards their career goals.
Key challenges that we will need to overcome for the success of this project include external biases, for example societal acceptance of a departure from traditional pathways and roles (gender, race). In addition, individuals may have difficulty internally accepting their abilities based on those biases. Individuals may find it difficult to find and navigate the right pathway toward their profession or accepting environments. Challenges from an infrastructure standpoint include marketing the instrument, having local technical support, and disseminating the tool as a resource. We are confident that we can overcome these potential roadblocks.
Seeking innovative practices and developing instruments for self-assessment, it's expected that individuals will begin to discern and identify misconceptions that correlate to negative outcomes in their own mind. Several outcomes are expected due to this empowering behavior to include:
-Less dependence on external affirmation (i.e. peers, advisors, counselors) from culture normality's, traditional pathways, artificial expectations and focusing on internal mind frames to thrive to find fulfillment.
-An increased representation of underrepresented populations in lacking careers or environments.
-Enhance understanding of facets that impact one's' state of mind in their particular environment (work, school, home, leisure).
-Acceptance of one's mindset with an ability to follow up with needed development
Indicators of success will be recruitment and retention of individuals from underrepresented groups in careers. For example, in Higher Education a best practice is to track student retention and graduation rates. These statistics can affect reputation and be mandated by accreditation boards. The rates are usually determined for an incoming class or cohorts of students, based on major, ethnicity, and other demographic indicators. The impact of a self mentoring instrument that will help students thrive in their current environment, and its efficacy with various student cohorts, will be indicated by changes in the recruitment, retention and graduation rates.
To solve grand challenges of today, our world needs to embrace having a diverse set of thinkers and perspectives. However, literature shows how our mindsets can motivate us to persist or quit. Constructive external influences show promising results, but may not leave a lasting impact, unless one believes the positive messaging. For one to flourish, they must understand their own state of mind and understand where negativity and misconceptions lie. It has also been found that by "enhancing one's self-awareness, an individual's performance is directly influenced in a positive direction" (Panganiban 2017, McCarthy and Garavan 1999).
Our society, especially younger generations, heavily depend on social media platforms for immediate feedback. These platforms can serve as a means to distribute instruments for individuals to assess their state of mind in various career environments
(academics, industry) and at various phases of their careers.
Program management would include:
Dr. Tim Topoleski, Professor of Mechanical Engineering at University of Maryland Baltimore County.
Dr. Charles Eggleton, Professor of Mechanical Engineering at University of Maryland Baltimore County
Dr. Matthew Ohland - Professor in Engineering Education and Associate Head of Engineering Education at Purdue University
Dr. Jamie Gurganus, Associate Director of Engineering Education Initiatives, Director of Center for Integrated Research, Teaching and Learning, Faculty in Mechanical Engineering University of Maryland Baltimore County
DOI (link included if no DOI exist)
10.1108/03090599910302613
10.1016/j.pec.2010.06.037.
https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ815370.pdf
https://www.psychometrics.com/mbtiblog/practitioners-corner/importance-self-awareness/
These research ideas were submitted in response to Templeton World Charity Foundation’s global call for Grand Challenges in Human Flourishing, which ran from September through November 2020.
Opinions expressed on this page, or any media linked to it, do not necessarily reflect the views of Templeton World Charity Foundation, Inc. Templeton World Charity Foundation, Inc. does not control the content of external links.
