WELCOME and THANK YOU for reading! This newsletter covers what happened in August and will give you a heads up on what to look for the months following.

In this issue (please note the links below will only work when viewing this newsletter in a browser):

Upcoming Events

This organizational Board Meeting will determine the day/time for the monthly meetings through the autumn.

All board members and directors are welcome!
September 4 at 6:30 – 8:00 pm Eastern.

Zoom information is available on the Member’s site

“With all the diversity in the world, people of different religious groups, color, race, education, development, and maturity, there is one thing in common among all of us. One thing that ties each one of us to every other one, we are all moving into the future, at the same speed, simultaneously on this journey.” - Anonymous

I am excited to share that the Academy of Process Educators Board has unanimously approved a change to our name!

Your Board supports the belief that as a collective group, our members have a responsibility to move in sync with the world. As a result, beginning this Fall, the Academy will work through a process to become known as the International Academy of Process Educators. While the Board has approved this change, the process will require a series of external legal and internal steps which will take some time to complete. The entire current membership will have an opportunity to vote on the name change at the next annual business meeting. After this vote we can complete the process. More on that later!

Our decision highlights the critical fact that learning institutions, educators, students, scholars and colleagues around the globe have recognized the critical need to advance student achievement. More than a name change, it is an opportunity for the Process Education community to engage with their like-minded counterparts across the globe.

Among the multiple considerations that led to this change, include:

1. Opportunity for increased diversity, inclusiveness, and membership representing a phenomenal range of expertise and ideas.
2. Opportunity to exchange scholarship at the global level for enrichment of mutual perspectives, theories, discoveries, approaches, instructional experiences, proficiencies and focus.
3. Opportunity for sustained participation, collaboration, and dissemination of scholarship through publications, professional development seminars, annual conferences, and similar other events.
4. Opportunity to explore mutual interests through networking, workshops, sponsorships, exchange programs, and similar other efforts within and beyond the United States.

Teaching and learning are not confined to one particular language,  location, or culture. To grow our capabilities to benefit all learners, we seek to expand our global mission by actively engaging the expertise and experience of our colleagues around the globe. As with all significant  change, projects such as this name change and other elements of the expansion of the Academy will take time and effort. Let us move into the future with one shared focus: embracing the Academies’ efforts in this change and join in the Process.

Share your reactions, thoughts, desire to be involved, and concerns you have about the Name Change on the Academy Forum on the Members website.

Denna (Communications Director) and Knut Are (Webmaster) are coordinating work on the new look. We're pleased to share a peek at the logo you'll see as we move forward.

It’s now time to focus on the 15^th edition of the IJPE with deadlines approaching! While we accept submissions all year round, the deadline to submit your research for publication in the 2025 edition of the IJPE is upon us. Before submitting your research, the Editorial Board wants you to be aware of the IJPE Use of AI policy.

IJPE Policy on Use of AI

While recognizing the power in the assistance of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools in research activity, the International Journal of Process Education (IJPE) believes that this tool cannot replace human creativity and cognitive thought in published writing.

The IJPE policy on the use of AI in research publications is as follows:

• When a generative artificial intelligence (AI) model is used in the drafting of a manuscript, the use of AI must be cited and disclosed in the methods section of the paper. This disclosure must specify how, when, and to what extent AI was used.
• The author(s) must parenthetically cite all generative AI content in text and in the reference section. (See Style Guide)
• The author(s) are required to complete the Disclosure of Use of AI and upload the full output of the AI as supplemental material.
• The author(s) must accept and comply with the statement from the Committee on Publication Ethics.

Committee on Publication Ethics

Authors who use AI tools in the writing of a manuscript, production of images or graphical elements of the paper, or in the collection and analysis of data, must be transparent in disclosing in the Materials and Methods (or similar section) of the paper how the AI tool was used and which tool was used. Authors are fully responsible for the content of their manuscript, even those parts produced by an AI tool, and are thus liable for any breach of publication ethics.

The IJPE website includes this policy as well as the Style Guide that will assist in formatting your submission and the submission portal to submit your research! If you have any questions feel free to ask any of the Editorial Board members.

3 books I love:

• Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space  by Carl Sagan
  Inspired by a photo taken by the Apollo 17 crew on December 7, 1972, Sagan’s book includes several of his reflections, and optimism that perhaps someday humans will have access to new worlds and civilizations. The reason I like it (and would love to read it again) is that I am a space and universe enthusiast, and this book prompted my exploration of multiple other phenomenal works including Stephen Hawking’s on the alternate universes and God.
  
  
• Parallel Worlds: A Journey Through Creation, Higher Dimensions, and the Future of the Cosmos by Michio Kaku
  This book on potential existence of multiverses with no beginning or end is a true mindboggling teaser. Thanks to the ancient Indian scriptures however, hearing about multiverses was a routine aspect of my growing-up years, something I dismissed as mythical tales in spite of scores of true believers all around. Yet, watching the Milky Way in its full glory on inky summer nights with my father’s explanations of the constellations remains truly intriguing. With subsequent scientific evidence of our universe unfolding in the National Geographic’s pages in full color, Kaku’s multiverse and string theory suppositions raise fascinating possibilities, even if unproven.
  
  
• The 360° Leader  by John C. Maxwell
  A ‘must read’ rage around the time I switched from an enduring career in public service to academe, this book turned out to be a timely source offering clarity on multiple facets concerning one’s position and responsibilities within the professional hierarchy. As alternatives to the traditional top-down and bottom-up management strategies, this book offers practical tips on leadership including lateral, up or down assessment within any organizational hierarchy. For my newly-appointed position as the assistant to the provost, it helped facilitate my professional responsibilities in a somewhat different system of hierarchy than the prior familiar ones at the local, state and federal governments.
  

The best class I ever took and why: 
An undergraduate class in human geography. Two reasons: first, my professor’s personable style that served well in my own professional journey. An easy-going professional, she was never demanding yet each of us worked hard to please her with utmost academic diligence. I now understand why. It was her conciliatory approach combined with skills in elemental human psychology of establishing a personal bond with students. As examples, occasionally, she would honor our request to dismiss the class in favour of an impromptu picnic by the lake; or, share one of her personal stories of overcoming life’s challenges. Recognizing the value of those simple anecdotes, I sometimes model variations of her approaches to engage my students. Second, as an insatiable reader from childhood, I used to dream about traveling the world to learn about, and understand different cultures up close. The class in human geography decidedly helped intensify that desire with some degree of satisfaction. 

The class I’d most want to teach if I could choose: A generic, student-led (dis)course focusing common sense and life/job skills, but without the pressures of academic requirements for students to earn a grade, only the credit. The reason is that given the diverse backgrounds, life stories, challenges, trials and achievements, most students add an incredible variety of richness with real-life experiences. Regrettably, their potential contributions often get marginalized by other pressing priorities. On the other hand, staying informed of the younger generations’ dynamics is critically important for every parent, advisor, teacher, mentor, and educator.

One piece of advice I’d give to a teacher about to begin teaching: Given my belief that one should not engage in a professional career as a teacher, clergy, or physician unless a calling, my simple advice is, “Teach, as you wish your own child should be taught.” This unassuming sentence entails an amazing, holistic array of considerations and skills for the teacher and learners alike. Some of the capabilities include: accuracy, curiosity, development, details, diligence, empathy, empowerment, equity, fairness, flexibility, growth, intuition, knowledge, mentoring, metacognition, mind-set, modelling, nurturing, patience, reflection, reward, responsibility, responsiveness, self-discipline, tough-love, trust, quality, vision, and, in the language of Process Education philosophy, assessment of the self and the learners’ performance-related strengths, improvements, and insights for continual improvement.

Mentoring skills are some of the most challenging learning skills to develop. In this ongoing collaborative professional development series, participants engage directly in development of new performance measures consisting of a description, list of dimensions, and a 5-level holistic rubric for each mentoring skill. Participants will analyze how mentoring skills are used, learn how a holistic rubric is constructed, contribute to the content of the rubric, and develop deep personal meaning around using the mentoring skills being developed by connecting them to personal contexts where mentoring is important, such as with colleagues or in our own classrooms. See the attached examples as models for what is being developed.

On Wednesdays from 3:00-4:30pm Eastern time, join Academy members Tris Utschig, Kathy Burke, Steve, Beyerlein, and Ingrid Ulbrich who are leading a collaborative effort to develop measures for each of the 38 mentoring skills in the Classification of Learning Skills. Please reach out to tutschig@kennesaw.edu with any questions you may have and/or receive the zoom link for these sessions.

Performance Measures (pdf):

• Developing Action Plans
• Encouraging Ownership
• Raising Expectations

Dear members,

As webmaster, I think it is time to give our website http://processeducation.org a facelift. We live in an age of smartphones and the Academy website should not exclude those who use their phones as their primary resource. This is a project that will take some time and I need your input.

As an academy member and user of the web page, can you please take just a minute or two and complete this very short form? It is anonymous and asks only 3 questions:

• A change or addition that you would like to see
• How that change/addition will benefit you and others
• How public/private you think some of the information on the Academy website should be

(I think that for privacy reasons the photos and bios on the About Us page should only be on the Member site. The documents about running the Academy aren't something that the public needs to see and I believe they should also be on the Member site only.)

Treasurers Report – Matthew Watts

• Update
• Fiscal year starts in October, ends in September. Issue treasurer’s report each quarter

Board Composition – Patrick

• Introduce Yuqin Hu & Grace Onodipe, and George Dombi (1 year Replacement for Christopher Sweeney)
• Welcome New Director Project Manager, Durel Crosby

Meeting date and time for fall semester – Steve Spicklemire 

• Monthly Board Meetings based on Survey
• Agreed on First Wednesday night of each month

Name change to "International Academy of Process Educators" – Chaya

• Discussion and approval of name change

Introduce Newsletter Board Member Article Concept – Patrick

• Discussion including "Why not videos?"

  (The DRAFT minutes from the August Meeting are available HERE.)  

Including (BUT NOT LIMITED TO)
workshops you'd like to attend!