Program

Since the early 1990’s, the central role in teaching and learning of a challenging assessment culture with active learning was already clear and widely used by Process Educators. Next came the realization that learning was more than a process (i.e., the Learning Process Methodology) which was exemplified in Foundations of Learning. This expanded during the early 2000’s research into the idea that learning is performance with unlimited growth potential. Then in late 2000’s, with the increasing number, size, and impact of the implemented Learning to Learn Camps, a philosophical change occurred where learning skills shifted from a knowledge-producing focus to the development of learning skills as performance-based with unlimited growth potential usable across all life performance areas. The 2010’s started to produce a new understanding that growth could be realized more effectively by individuals if they became more skilled at facilitating their own growth. The book Learning to Learn: Becoming a Self-grower was this evolution of integrating learning with self-growth and the relationship between the two. The use of this curriculum with academically dismissed students and the many research projects around these experiences opened the door to even a greater transformation of Process Education itself and the implications for our society.

Process Education is a living system for excellence in teaching, learning, and personal and group development. It is a system because it's not a set of isolated practices, rather, it is a system of integrated approaches within a framework of practice. It is living because its framework adapts and integrates research findings, and is in the care of the PE Scholars. As we face unprecedented challenges in education from shifting demographics, changing labor markets, shift to online as a necessity, and impacts from technology, it is an explicit PE Framework that will guide our innovations and make it easier for our community to participate. We will discuss the PE Framework (also a living system), how it best could define a step-wise process for research-driven innovation, what learning pathways it needs for the development of scholars, and to review the plans that we've made for supporting the growth of our PE Scholarship. Whether you are an aspiring or more seasoned researcher, come help us shape the framework and our approach

The Academy’s Self-Growth Community is a home for strengthening each member’s learning, growth, and self-growth process throughout the year, through learning, coaching, and assessment around the Self-Growth Methodology, performance, self-assessment, and quality of life. As a place for joint support in, and learning about, self-growth, the SGC’s learning environment creates a foundation for the evolution of growth and self-growth. In this way, the SGC is a key component in the transformation of the Academy into a growth culture. That culture will be strengthened by people playing two key roles: performance mentor and life coach. The new discoveries continuously generated through SGC discussions are strengthening our knowledge and practice, and the development of further scholarship. The SGC in 2020-2021 will help all members continue their growth!

A Special Invitation… The Academy’s Self-Growth Community is a home for strengthening each member’s learning, growth, and self-growth process throughout the year, through learning, coaching, and assessment around the Self-Growth Methodology, performance, self-assessment, and quality of life.

The Self-Growth Community (SGC) is a place for joint support in, and learning about, self-growth. Self-growth development is easier in a community than alone! In the SGC, we all keep learning, keep thinking, keep practicing, and keep discovering, and we re-examine our practices to improve them and make them more meaningful for ourselves. After making a commitment to be a self-grower, life situations arise that challenge the steadfastness of self-growth. The SGC is another opportunity to work with the great people in the Academy, and to get to expand our professional connections to know and share our growth journeys with them.

The learning environment in the SGC creates a foundation for the evolution of growth and self-growth. In the Community, learning is the selected performance area to increase opportunities for growth and self-growth. Participation in the SGC deepens learning about growth and self-growth. Areas of exploration this year included the Self-Growth Methodology (see the new IJPE), performance and performance mentoring, life coaching, and quality of life. But the real focus is developing learning skills, growth skills, and mentoring skills. The 40 learning skills identified as Growth Skills are used to strengthen learning skills, and the 37 learning skills identified as Mentoring Skills strengthen growth skills, by mentoring others or oneself. Several activities explored the connections between these skills and how to strengthen their development. We seek to create a create a Quality Self-Growth Environment in the SGC, as an upgrade from the Quality Learning Environment. This is an area the mentors will be studying during the Self-Growth Institute taking place immediately before this conference. Through Community learning activities, participants are invited to reflect on their whole life, encompassing their Academy, work, and personal roles.

The SGC is a key component in the transformation of the Academy into a growth culture. The Academy’s key values are Community, Growth, Diversity, and Performance. The SGC is a safe, quality environment for learning, exploring, and being open and vulnerable. In the SGC, growth principles and practices are embedded in all activities. It invites all members to participate, and values the multiple perspectives brought by people at different stages of their growth and life journeys. And it challenges each person to step out of their comfort zone and seek growth in all areas. Participation in the SGC elevates mindfulness of growth and self-growth so that it stays at the forefront for all aspects of our lives. The assessment tools offered are designed to support growth, self-growth, and continuous performance development, and improve performance productivity (i.e., efficiency) to create the time for using the assessment system.

Self-growth, and a community of self-growers, need to employ two key roles: performance mentor and life coach. (See Ingrid’s reflection in the May 2020 Academy Newsletter for more on these roles.) Each member of the SGC has a life coach, a resource outside of the community meeting time, who can also play the role of performance mentor. We’ll be working more this year on helping those folks recognize when each role is most appropriate to play with their mentee/client, and how to elevate growth experiences into self-growth experiences for them.

The new discoveries continuously generated through SGC discussions are strengthening our knowledge and practice, and the development of further scholarship. The discovery process is a fun and energizing aspect of the SGC, and creates opportunities for anyone to adopt an area of interest and run with it. The research of discoveries generates new ideas and strategies that are applied within the Community, and to further develop future self-growth experiences such as the Self-Growth Institute and updated strategies for Learning to Learn. The list of ideas and questions is larger than can be answered by the current Community members, so there is ample opportunity for researchers to get involved in exploring areas that catch their interest.

The SGC in 2020-2021 will help all members continue their growth! We welcome all Academy members to participate in continuing to learn, to grow, and to develop self-growth!

An important outcome of this session is to help participants: 1) understand what is Learning to Learn and how it relates to growth capability; 2) what role the facilitator plays in increasing growth capability; and 3) how growth experiences can be turned into self-growth experiences (targeting the 12 components of self-growth capability versus the 14 components of growth capability).

Synthesizing almost three decades of Process Education (PE) research and discoveries involving on self-growth, this presentation includes a holistic synopsis of its multiple facets. It includes the outcomes of the Learning-to-Learn (L2L) Camps and college recovery courses and practitioners’ assessment of 40 growth learning skills from the 2019 Classification of Learning Skills. In addition to sharing the key concepts of self-growth methodology, this discussion focuses salient PE resources for a discerning participant to continue his/her quest that obligates a lifelong pursuit. In particular, the presentation distinguishes the holistic dimensions of self-growth methodology. It begins with identification of the ten components of motivation followed by three fundamental characteristics of a self-grower; the dynamic of self-growth explaining the six influences of performance, and six conceptual stages of self-growth methodology and corresponding learning and mentoring skills. Further, it highlights how the 40 abbreviated learning skills are not only complemented by PE’s 36 mentoring skills, but also necessitate sustained guidance such as life coaching. The aim of this presentation is two-fold: to help elevate anyone’s quest for self-growth irrespective of age, profession and gender; and share resources to help continue the pursuit.

Applying the concepts of self-growth and achieving desired quality of life could be made relatively straightforward by identifying desired performances in one’s life and systematically targeting them for improvement. For continuous success in realizing these targeted performances and aspired quality of life, the set of needed characteristics and enablers for these performances must be identified. Subsequently, the proper process of planning, development, measurement, and refinement to achieve these characteristics and enablers could be pursued. Conversely, without the clear understanding and appropriate skills for identifying the correct characteristics and enablers, the planning, development, measurement, and improvement efforts may not be successful. The steps for identifying performance and quality characteristics, criteria, and targets will be presented along with a comprehensive framework. Several self-growth examples will then be discussed to demonstrate and facilitate the identification, specification, development, measurement, and improvement of targeted performances and quality of life.