The Academy of Process Educators is a registered non-profit corporation.

Annual Winter Meeting The annual Academy of Process Educators winter meeting was held in Atlanta, GA on Jan 6-7, 2012 with seven participants. As a number of us stated, this year’s meeting was both highly productive and highly enjoyable! The first day of the meeting began over lunch and was reserved for collaborative review of six scholarly projects related to process education.  The purpose of this review was to help Academy members move their scholarship forward. Projects varied in status from exploratory and to nearly complete, and they included items for upcoming conference sessions as well as for the International Journal of Process Education.  Significant progress was made in all six cases! After the reviews were complete, the group enjoyed a social outing in downtown Atlanta at Max Lager’s brew pub. Good food and good cheer were abundant. The second day of the meeting began with an SII of the review process from the first day. This was followed by an update on the status of Pacific Crest along with discussion of how to capitalize on potential synergies between the Academy and Pacific Crest. The last part of the meeting consisted of a review of the Academy’s strategic plan (with an eye towards increasing value for our members) and drafting plans for creating local sections which can foster our community growth even more effectively then centralized Academy activities alone!  The changes to the strategic plan and the local section governing conventions will be presented at the Process Education Conference 2012 this summer. 2011 Process Education Conference A Great Success   The 2011 Process Education Conference, "Facilitating Transformational Learning," was held at Kirkwood Community College, June 22 through 24. The event attracted over 65 attendees from across the country. The conference began with a fun and interactive session in a computer lab where small teams explored different aspects of the electronic Faculty Guidebook and formulated plans for using this resource in future course design, course delivery, and professional development. Networking and delectable appetizers prepared by the culinary arts students at Kirkwood followed in the Hall of Innovation where presenters shared insights about more than a dozen posters that featured best practices as well as products of ongoing research. The opening evening concluded with a thoughtful discussion of best practices found in Ken Bain's book What the Best College Teachers Do and their relation to the principles of Process Education.  The collaborative nature of the conference continued through Thursday and Friday. Our keynoter, Dr. Wendy Newstetter, led the group through two fascinating and highly engaging workshops on learning theory and its implications for teaching students to fearlessly attack complex, real-world problems. Special session master of ceremonies, Victor Harms, combined forces with Kirkwood Faculty Fellows to portray past, present, and future dioramas of institutional transformation at Kirkwood Community College. For observers and participants alike, this generated rich insights about the origin of the current situation, the challenges/opportunities of the present, and likely outcomes if process owners and stakeholders are successful in joining forces in an 'ecological' manner.  Breakout workshop and paper dialogue sessions continued our tradition of strong facilitator preparation and deep audience engagement. Sessions included designing and delivering learning to learn camps, systemic change in mathematics instruction, using classrooms for Process Education research, design of faculty- and staff-centered professional development programs, teaching STEM problem solving, using virtual reality technology to promote school-college partnerships, promoting skill in reflective thinking, and peer coaching for better teaching/learning. Social interaction, always a priority at PE conferences, was also robust. Nearly everyone shared lunch together each day. At the Cedar Rapids Art Museum participants learned about Grant Wood's artistic journey as well as distinctive features of his works, many of which were on display. The evening concluded with a lively studio session in which a local art educator guided the group in creating an assortment of distinctive sculptures made from common craft items. Attendees returned home with renewed confidence in their creative abilities as well as unique souvenirs, many of which are still on display in faculty offices. The total effect of the presentations, sessions, and networking that occurred in 2011 was inspiring and energizing for all. A variety of plans were hatched for curriculum exchange, grant writing, and collaboration on future articles for the International Journal of Process Education. The complete proceedings (including documentation from the conference notebook and session notes recorded during the conference) can be found at (http://www.processeducation.org/peconf/index.htm) Expanding Academy Activities & Mentoring at Local Campuses The Academy of Process Educators is a close community with lots of support available among our members for those who would like it. Springing from this year's conference in June, two new ways to get involved with process education through mentoring are now available. The first is through the formation of relationships geared towards publishing your work in process education. The second is by taking advantage of local expertise and forming PE Academy Chapters through the purchase of institutional memberships. A total of seven projects involving process education were discussed at the conference session "Publishing Your Process Education Efforts". Topics ranged from using new media in the process education classroom, to problem solving and service learning projects, to working with faculty to help them embrace the many changes on one's journey as a process education practitioner. At this session, experienced PE practitioners who have previously published in the Faculty Guidebook, IJPE and elsewhere paired up with session participants according to areas of common interest. These groups then agreed to begin communication this fall. The goal of these relationships is to help PE practitioners document and share their work publicly on the web, at the next PE conference, in IJPE, or through other venues appropriate to the nature and status of the work.  Several schools have purchased institutional memberships this year and have the opportunity to hold Local Chapter activities that can leverage the resources and people in the full Academy when needed. These institutional memberships provide the many benefits of the Academy for up to 50 people for only $250. Congratulations to Hinds Community College which was the first institution to commit to such a membership, and Empire State as the first to complete their transaction and provide their list of members!  Sessions to share information and provide community support for process education efforts are planned for Hinds this year, and several activities are planned at Empire State. The St. Louis College of Pharmacy and Kirkwood Community College have also committed to purchasing institutional memberships and we look forward to working with them.  Finally, the Academy Forum proved to be a great resource in planning for the conference, facilitating work on papers for the IJPE, and for airing other ideas about process education. Please do share your ideas on the Academy Forum and you can easily connect with potential mentors or collaborators there.   Institutional Academy Membership News The Academy closed out 2011 with four institutional members, practically doubling our membership base and adding enough to our coffers to more than pay our mid-winter meeting lodging and food expenses. Hinds Community College, Kirkwood Community College, Empire State College, and St. Louis College of Pharmacy are now institutional members. For the low fee of $250 per year, this status allows each school to designate up to 50 additional Academy members, with almost all the benefits of individual members. If the member institution does not have a site license from Pacific Crest for the Faculty Guidebook, only 15 members can have access to the electronic version of that document, although additional licenses can be purchased from the Academy Store for $20 per year. To become an institutional member, visit the Academy Store via the link from our website: http://www.processeducation.org or contact the treasurer at psmith1036@gmail.com. We are encouraging the four institutional members as well as other schools to start a local Academy chapter. More on these chapters in the next newsletter! New Content in the International Journal of Process Education The International Journal of Process Education released our third edition in June. This edition focused on continuous improvement, which is prevalent in the principles which guide our work. The authors of the manuscripts provided insights into how continuous improvement processes scale from individual self-development, to groups and programs, to foundational changes underway in higher education. They also modeled a variety of forms of collaboration by working in multi-disciplinary teams across different organizational types. To date, we have received very positive feedback about the quality of the journal this year. Thank you! The Editorial Board members and I hope that you will enjoy reading the contributions to our newest issue (available electronically HERE) and encourage you to send us any ideas or suggestions that you may have. Jacqueline El-Sayed, Chief Editor Accessing Your Academy Benefits Go to www.processeducation.org and click on "Members" in the left-hand menu. Type in this year's member username and password. Once there you will have access to the following resources: Electronic Faculty Guidebook - free to members and easy to use International Journal of Process Education - see our update above Academy Directory - find mentors and/or collaborators, and meet the board Learning Objects - interactive tools for deepening understanding of key PE topics Pacific Crest Home - check out what is happening Academy Forum - post ideas and interact within our community Minutes and Newsletters - stay on top of what's happening in the Academy PC Resources - additional key Process Education resources from Pacific Crest To use the Academy Forum: Once in the Members area, just click the Academy Forum icon. Once there, click “Register.” You will need to fill out a VERY short registration form. Please give your full name when asked for it so we can maintain a general policy of transparency. Once you’ve filled out the form, you will receive an e-mail prompting you to complete your registration. Please do so. About the Forum: There can be multiple Topics within each forum and you can contribute within any of these topics under the various threads. You can also subscribe to topics to receive automatic emails when contributions are made to that topic. You can upload files of 2MB or less on threads/topics/forums. A Chat Room that is available that you may want to check out when you see others on the forum. A Calendar comes with the Forum - look for udpates here as we begin to use the calendar feature this year. Membership (A Reminder) Remember: If you did not attend the PE Conference 2011 and have not paid your membership dues for the year, your membership has expired. To renew your membership, simply click to visit the Academy Store.