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

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

We need your nominations for both ELECTED and APPOINTED Academy members!

Next Board Meeting

April 2

7:30 - 9:00 pm Eastern

23:30 - 01:00 UTC

This is our regular monthly board meeting

All board members and directors are welcome!

Zoom information is available on the Member’s site

Attacks on education at state and federal levels are at an all-time high creating fear, anger and chaos across the entire educational landscape. The negative impacts on individuals and institutions are just beginning to come clear. Societal impacts are even murkier but will be felt far into the future. The impact on our Academy is even more murky but one thing is certain, stress levels for students, faculty, and our profession will rise. 

On our web site we state that “Process Educators trust and respect students and are willing to shift control of their learning to them. These educators want to see growth in others and strive to foster their own self-growth. They can handle change and are willing to innovate and experiment.”

These deeply held beliefs stand in conflict with long practiced behaviors, placing the learning facilitator at the center of educational experience. Our conference theme “Applying Process Education to support students and faculty under stress” has embraced this new reality, seeking to explore how educators and students can work to mitigate these stressors.  Talented members of the Academy have come forward to offer innovative ideas for faculty and student development that embowers students to chart their own learning.

With only 12 weeks before our Annual Conference, I encourage you to make plans to attend.  The planning committee has prepared an engaging and meaningful program for participants. Conference highlights are announced elsewhere in this Newsletter. Please take time complete your registration and lodging arrangements so you can take advantage of this opportunity.

The 2025 Process Education Conference is packed with engaging breakout sessions focused on growth, innovation, and resilience in education. Here is a quick look at some of the exciting topics that will be covered:

Advancing Wellness & Self-Care

• Building Burnout Breakers  This hands-on workshop tackles burnout in higher education by focusing on environmental change strategies rather than self-care, using LEGO® Serious Play® and environmental sludge auditing to help participants identify workplace stressors, set priorities, and implement scalable solutions. (Presented by Thomas Dickson, Ohio Department of Higher Education)

• Building Inner Strength: Fostering Resilience, Self-Trust, and Authenticity During a Self-Growth Journey  Explore 13 key characteristics for building inner strength, using PE methodologies and the Self-Growth Coach GPT to foster resilience, enhance emotional regulation, and support personal and professional growth. (Presented by Wade Ellis, West Valley College; Dan Apple, Pacific Crest)

Innovating with AI & Process Education Tools

• Designing & Training a PE GPT from Scratch  This hands-on session guides attendees in building and refining a PE GPT, integrating Process Education methodologies. (Presented by Daniel K. Apple, Pacific Crest; Wade Ellis, West Valley College)

• Generating Research Hypotheses  This session guides practitioners in designing empirical research studies to validate Process Education interventions, explore new assessment variables, and develop innovative research hypotheses that strengthen the PE Framework. (Presented by Chaya R. Jain, Virginia State University; Cy Leise, Bellevue University; Steve Beyerlein, University of Idaho)

Student Learning & Engagement

• Developing Transferable Learning Practices  This workshop explores how student voice and choice in active learning can enhance empowerment and performance. Presenters will introduce 5-7 best practices, guide participants in developing student-centered activities, and provide a framework for integrating these strategies into their own courses. (Presented by Josh Morrison; Carin Neitzel, Shawn Hurst - University of Indianapolis)

• Drawing Knowledge Out vs. Stuffing It In  This session engages participants in real-time observation and practice of a questioning technique, using a role-play reading exercise from The Grey Wolf. Attendees will analyze, journal, and discuss how to apply this method in their teaching. (Presented by Wm. Patrick Barlow, Madison College)

Mentorship & Growth Strategies

• Putting Performance Measures for Mentoring Skills Into Practice  This workshop builds on last year’s session with updated mentoring performance measures, focusing on designing assessments, providing growth feedback, and being nonjudgmental. Through case scenario role-play and skill application, participants will refine their mentoring abilities and leave with a practical toolkit for lifelong learning and mentorship. (Presented by Tris Utschig, Kennesaw State University; Kathy Burke, SUNY Cortland; Steve Beyerlein, University of Idaho; and Ingrid Ulbrich, Achieving Academic Success)

• Introduction to a Model for Generating Growth Objectives   This session explores the 4-anchor model of Self-Growth, guiding participants in setting Growth Objectives by addressing mindset, consciousness, and motivation. Teams will apply the model, generate insights using the Insight Generator GPT, and evaluate its effectiveness in Self-Growth action planning. (Presented by Cy Leise, Bellevue University; Dan Apple, Pacific Crest)

Collaboration & Cross-Cultural Learning

• Building Bridges: A Cross-Cultural Approach to Collaborative Learning  This interactive workshop equips educators with cross-cultural collaboration strategies to create inclusive learning environments. Through reflective practices, role-playing, and collaborative planning, participants will identify communication barriers and develop actionable solutions for promoting equity and learner-centered communication. (Presented by Tynnetta Muhammad, University of Indianapolis; Shilpa Thakur, University of Indianapolis)

These sessions provide practical strategies, hands-on learning, and innovative tools to help you grow and make a greater impact. Register today and be part of the conversation!

At this year’s Conference the Hall of Innovation (HOI) will be shared throughout the Conference as 100% Virtual (On-Line session). The HOI will be curated by George Dombi. This change will prevent the audio confusion experienced by online conference goers last year. Links to the HOI posters will be clearly identified on the Conference Support Site and available 24/7 to all attendees.

The online posters will be submitted along with an abstract using the online submission form. A peer review selection process will determine which submissions will be selected for sharing. Once the online poster has been accepted, the author(s) will submit a power point presentation including an audio file to George Dombi who will serve as the “Coach" for helping to assemble the parts into the .mp4 format.

Submissions will be selected by a peer review selection process as in past years. Authors of these submissions will be notified of their acceptance.

HOI presentations should:

• Focus on a concrete learning concept, tool, or innovation focused on improving student learning and success and/or the current theme of the conference.
  
  
• Include, first, a clear title slide with the presenter(s) name(s), affiliation(s)
  
  
• Then, include a series of 6-8 slides with appropriate text and images to share the author(s)'s main concepts.
  
  
• Next, include one or two conclusion slide(s) reiterating the main ideas.
  
  
• Finally, include a slide thanking the viewers for their participation in this year's PE Conference and contain appropriate author(s) contact information for follow up.
  
  
• The presenter should create and submit a video of the presentation including the slides with audio in a .mp4 format. You can record yourself presenting your slides on Zoom and save as a .mp4 file. I can help you if you like.
  
  
• Links to each HOI presentations will be incorporated in the Conference Support Site in an appropriate manner.
  
  
• Currently, we are thinking of including previous online HOI posters from the PE Conferences in 2023 and 2024. If the original authors of a poster from one of these earlier Conferences does not want it displayed this year, 2025, please let me know and I will remove it from the Conference Support Site.

This year’s PE Conference is hosted by the University of Indianapolis (UIndy) Tuesday, June 3 through Thursday, June 5.

Registration is open NOW with sweet discounts for UIndy faculty/staff, Students, and Emeritus faculty, as well as groups of 3 or more from the same institution. We’ll be using the same hotel as last year (Comfort Inn South I-65) and the croup code to receive the special conference daily rate is available on the Location/Lodging page

Upcoming Professional Development Opportunities

If you’ve joined our community in the past year or two—maybe through our annual conference—but haven’t yet had the chance to dive into other offerings, this upcoming round of professional development is for you.

We’re bringing back some of our most practical, accessible sessions, focusing on core principles for improving learning and performance without getting too immersed in PE-specific language through session such as PE in a Nutshell and hands-on workshops on learning activity design and writing performance criteria—both designed to support your work without all the jargon. These are great entry points if you’re still getting a feel for our shared practices.

We’re also launching a new series exploring AI tools for teaching and assessment, with an emphasis on engagement with AI tools to support learning. Want to design better learning activities, give stronger feedback, or sharpen your own assessment skills? We’ll demo tools that can help—and talk honestly about where they help, where they don’t, and how to keep the focus on learning.

Finally, if you have expertise in these areas, we invite you to contribute. Reach out to our PD director, Tris Utschig (tutschig@kennesaw.edu) to inquire about opportunities to co-facilitate, serve in supporting roles, help shape the design of these sessions, or just to share what types of sessions would give you the most value.

Look for announcements of these events coming your way soon.

Let us know what you've been up to! Presentations, publications, grants, and cool experiences...it's all welcome.

Conference Presentations:

• In April 2024, Academy members Chaya Jain (Virginia State University) and Steve Beyerlein (University of Idaho) presented a research paper at Virginia Social Science Association’s (VSSA) 97th Annual Conference; titled, Enhancing Learner Success: Supplementing Bloom’s Taxonomy Using Process Education Theory’s Social Domain. The paper was invited for publication in Spring 2025 volume of Virginia Social Science Journal (VSSJ).  
  
  
• Also, in April 2024, Chaya Jain, Jerry Crawford (both from Virginia State University) and Steve Beyerlein (University of Idaho) authored a research workshop for presentation at the 84th Annual Conference of the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA) in Milwaukee, Michigan. The paper titled, Enhancing Public-Service Performance: An Innovational Link to Bloom's Taxonomy, was aimed to demonstrate the universal applicability of PE's social domain's skill-set to  help increase public service performance. In December 2024,the VSU Academy of Faculty Enrichment; under the sponsorship of Provost Research Symposium, Invited Chaya and Jerry to share the same workshop with peers.

Grants Approved and Funded:

• Josh Morrison and Craig Seidelson of UIndy received internal grant funding for their project, Expanding Achieving Academic Success in 2025-26. This project involves making the academic learning to learn course mandatory for School of Business undergraduate students in academic probationary status, including program assessment to determine the impact of the course on student academic outcomes and retention. The results of the work will inform UIndy's implementation of the learning to learn course for additional student populations.
  
  
• Matthew Watts, Academy Treasurer, was recently awarded a grant for Advancing Equity: OER Integration in Statistics and Calculus Education. The grant provide $25,000 to a team of Math faculty at Red Rocks Community College in Lakewood Colorado. The funds will be used to design course materials for these classes with zero cost to students while maintaining standards for accessibility and DEI. Work begins on the grant in June of 2025. If you are interested in learning more about Open Educational Resources (OER) or course design using Process Education principles, feel free to reach out to matthew.watts@rrcc.edu.

Publications:

• Steve Spicklemire at University of Indianapolis - R.B. Annis School of Engineering in the 5th edition of Matter & Interactions. “His work integrates Python-based interactive figures and simulations, to enhance students' understanding of physics through computational modeling. These new features, available in WileyPLUS and the Wiley Reader, allow students to explore physical systems dynamically and develop their own simulations throughout the semester." Learn more: https://lnkd.in/gyfNNZVq

Experiences:

Summary of March 5 Board Meeting

. . .

Directors’ and Committee-Chairs’ Report

Conference Planning Team Update (Josh Morrison)

• • Generally looking good. Shaping up to be a great meeting

Nomination and Elections Chair Report (Chaya Jain)

• • Need more nominees

Old Business

Panopto AI Video Tool

• • George can export to .mp4 format to host on academy server.

New Business/Announcements

Newsletter Articles due March 20

• • Denna will provide something regarding nominations
  • Consider submitting accomplishments you’re willing to share
  • Steve will set it up a google group and post something for the newsletter

Professional Development

Activities for Spring 2025 (Tris Utschig)

• • PE Basics, Workshop or two with Dan presenting on AI
  • Other workshops are being considered
  • We can use the conference to solicit PD needs

Announcements

By Matthew Watts: Why not have a component at the conference where folks learn about the PE resources, PD opportunities. Also maybe a HoI poster?

The DRAFT minutes from the MARCH Board Meeting are available HERE.

Let us know:

• What have you achieved (WHO and WHAT)
• Suggest someone for an open board position (give us a NAME and POSITION)
• Request a workshop (please let us know the TOPIC, WHY you would find it valuable/useful, and CONTACT information so we can follow up with you)
• Pretty much anything else!