This newsletter covers what happened in July and will give you a heads up on what to look for in August and the months following.

In this issue:

One idea. One act. One movement. Over the past several days, I have been reflecting on leadership and the power of one in this time of complex change. Leadership can reside in multiple places in an organization or a community. As we evolve and understand the values that we carry, we also understand the importance of living in a community. The African concept of Ubuntu is expressed as “I am because we are.” It aptly states how we live in relationship with others. One person within his or her sphere can change how the world sees its people, how it addresses community needs, and how it builds greater opportunities for everyone. In helping South Africa reckon with its history of apartheid, Archbishop Desmond Tutu drew on the concept of Ubuntu in leading the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. One person can start a movement. One idea can spark a change. One action can reveal the bond that exists within all of us. And one action can be the brave and risky move that exhibits the values that support a civil, just, and growing society. “I am because we are.” Let us remember that each of us can make changes that benefit all of us. It is with the spirit of giving that we embrace our core values and seek to lead in making the transformative changes that are essential for all to live richly rewarding lives. May you find your leadership nexus and embody the “Power of One.”

Recent Board Meetings

Remember, you can find out the Board’s current work by checking the Academy Board Meeting Agendas and Minutes posted on the Academy members’ page:

June 2020 minutes (approved)        July 2020 minutes (not yet approved)

Summary of July Board meeting work:

In July, the Board

• Discussed the possible processes for the creation of a strong conflict of interest policy

• Approved a set of priority goals and objectives for inclusion in the operational plan for 2020-21

• Received Annual Plan Assessment Reports from Director of Assessment

• Endorsed development of an article for the Chronicles of Higher Education that centers around how the tenets of Process Education can address the current challenges and inequities

• Supported a discussion series exploring systematic racism at all levels

The Next Board Meeting:  August 12, 2020 (10:30 am Eastern)

All Academy members are welcome to participate. You will be able to find the agenda for the meeting as well as the needed information to attend through Zoom on the Academy Member site.

As a Process Educator, you hold the belief that every person can grow, and take ownership of reaching the quality of life they desire.  And that means that YOU can grow and reach the quality of life that YOU desire. The Self-Growth Community is your home and support for growth and self-growth for the next year and is a great way to be involved in the Academy’s developmental community!

This year’s focus will be the 15 Impediments to Self-Growth, and we’ll explore one in each hour-long session.  The community will hold synchronous meetings on the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of each month, beginning August 19.  Two sessions will be held for each meeting: 2/3/4/5 pm Pac/Mtn/Cen/East and 4:30/5:30/6:30/7:30 Pac/Mtn/Cen/East. (Continuing members – note that the later time is one hour earlier than last year!) Ingrid Ulbrich and Dan Apple will co-facilitate this year’s community.

In response to what we’ve learned over the last year and discussions during the Conference, this year Community participants can join at one of two levels: Growers and Self-Growers.  Growers seek to improve their performances, with coaching to support extrinsic challenges to make that happen. They will work with a self-grower coach 2-4 times per month, as the pair decides. Self-Growers take ownership of driving the intrinsic motivation to guide their own growth, coach a Grower, and work with Dan Apple as their self-growth coach.

For more information about the Self-Growth Community, or to get your questions answered, contact Ingrid Ulbrich.  To sign up for the community, complete the form at https://forms.gle/QdE94Wu7EEsshK7Q6.

When our PE Academy Colleagues gathered for the conference June 25-27, 2020, most of us did not know exactly what to expect from our first full online conference experience. The Academy had experience adding an online string to past conferences, but the planning team was nervous about how the conference would proceed under these new circumstances. We were aware that the presenters had concerns about how their presentations would be received. And the participants were concerned about how valuable the experience was going to be for them. In late February, after thoughtful discussion and reflection about the facts at hand, the Academy Board unanimously supported the decision to move to an online conference. As we turn our eyes toward the future and advising the Board about recruiting a team to plan the 2021 conference, the planning team has been reviewing the experience. We are happy to report that, after a review of the conference assessment comments, the results were positive and supportive of the efforts of the conference planner/designers/presenters. Many thanks to our Assessment Director Mary Moore for her concise report of the data collected.

Strengths mentioned included:

• The design of the overall schedule and the ease of use of the technology

• The pre-conference technical preparation and support

• The timeliness of the topics shared

• The sense of community and active participation of members

• The final focus on Storytelling as a device to carry out the Academy’s plans and actions in the future

Areas for Improvement centered around the ideas of:

• Additional mentoring opportunities

• Enhanced team interactions

• Reordering the sequencing of Academy related subjects

• Offering more sessions focused on PE practices used by faculty

Insights focused on three areas:

• The creativity and careful planning for this new conference environment

• The sense of community and the active participation of members

• The final focus on Storytelling as a device to carry out the Academy’s plans and actions in the future

Thank you to everyone who participated in the conference in any way. 

It was truly a collaborative effort featuring the skills of many. As you can imagine, creating such an experience requires the dedicated work of many members of this organization. As designed, the conference requires members to take responsibility for somewhere between 15 and 30 roles. Some conference planning has been discussed, but of course the biggest unknowns are related to  the current Pandemic crises and its impact on our institutions, students, and colleagues. At this time, we do not have a commitment to a particular location nor host institution, but the committee is recommending to the board the following dates, June 24, 25, 26, 2021 and theme "Experiencing Growth in Times of Change.”

As we turn to 2021, the planning team wants to encourage all of you to consider volunteering to accept a role in designing and planning for the 2021 PE Academy Conference. Since we cannot predict the location or format for next years’ conference, we are asking you, our members if would you be willing to take a role on the conference planning committee for 2021? If you would like to do so, please contact one of the members of the 2020 PE Conference Planning & Support Team listed below.

Dan Apple, Patrick Barlow, Steven Beyerlein, Peter Smith, George Dombi, Denna Hintze, Joann Horton, Betty Hurley, Kim Kilgore, Arlene King-Berry, Libby Mahaffey, Mary Moore, Will Ofstad, Ingrid UIbrich, Tris Utschig, Matthew Watts, as well as other members of the Board of Directors and the Academy.

Marie Baehr: Secretary
Betty Hurd: Member at Large
Cynthia Woodbridge: Member-at-Large
LaShunda Calvert: Member-at-Large
Matt Watts: Treasurer

We also offer our sincere thanks and deep appreciation to the following members for the roles they've filled until recently:

Peter Smith, Dan Litynski, Will Ofstad, Cynthia Woodbridge, & Thomas Nelson

The Academy Board is looking for members who are willing to lend a hand by volunteering in the following roles:

Marketing Chair
Membership Chair
Information Director

PLEASE let us know if you can offer some of your time and energy to help lead our organization!

While the following from the Editorial Board links to each individual article, the complete new volume is available
through the IJPE home page!

From the Editorial Board

Welcome to the eleventh volume of the International Journal of Process Education. In this issue, we present an exciting collection of collaborative research efforts from many Process Educators. Their collaborative efforts have yielded research that is mainly clustered around the themes of performance and learning, particularly Learning to Learn. Additionally, many of the authors explore methodologies and systems to explain these themes.

In our first article, Barriers to Implementing a Successful Learning to Learn Experience, Apple, Donald, Nelson, Ulbrich, and Woodbridge highlight the most challenging barriers for facilitators, the reasons why the barriers exist, and provide some clarity about addressing the issues in order to break down each barrier. The authors provide approaches, tools, and techniques to reduce these barriers into issues such that faculty and facilitators can more easily implement a learning to learn experience at their institution.

Continuing with research regarding Learning to Learn, Apple, Leasure, Nelson, Ulbrich, and Woodbridge share How the Learning to Learn Experiences Model the Seven Universal and Perennial Principles of Student Learning and Persistence. The authors explain how the components of the learning to learn experience align with each of the seven universal principles conducive to student learning and persistence and how this, in turn, provides a research-based explanation for the impact each component has on student success.

Olawale, Spicklemire, Sanchez, Ricco, Talaga, and Herzog examine the mindset for learning in their article, Developing the Entrepreneurial Mindset in STEM Students: Integrating Experiential Entrepreneurship into Engineering Design. The authors provide an overview of an approach incorporating necessary elements to develop the entrepreneurial mindset defined as the set of attitudes, skills, and behaviors needed by students to succeed academically, personally, and professionally. It is the ability to see opportunities, marshal resources, and create value, which are of high demand in both for-profit and not-for-profit organizations.

In their article, Applying the Framework for Identifying Quality Characteristics from a Process Education Perspective, El-Sayed, Apple, and Beyerlein apply a method for identifying quality characteristics derived from the world of product development to higher education through the lens of Process Education. The lens of Process Education involves the application of a template that includes three main sets of characteristics (form, function, and fit), each of which are subdivided into supporting characteristics. The use of the template is illustrated through three case studies that include facilitating learning to learn in a college course, managing enrollment in a higher education institution, and producing career-ready college graduates.

Closing the College Readiness Gap: Tools for Preparing Students for College Success is our fifth article. In this research, King-Berry, Ellis, and Apple help secondary and post-secondary educators establish educational goals for students in high school and in their first year of college. Two profiles (Profile of an Incoming High School Graduate with Typical Readiness Gaps and Profile of a Successful First-Year College Student) are used for establishing the educational goals. Two rubrics (Holistic Rubric for Assessing Learner Performance Level and Analytic Rubric for Assessing Learner Performance Level) are used to measure the levels of performance with respect to the profiles to determine the degree of goal achievement.

Jain, Apple, Ellis, Leise, and Leasure explain a six-stage Self-Growth Methodology in their article, Bringing Self-Growth Theory to Practice Using the Self-Growth Methodology. They delineate the individual steps within each of these methodology stages. Further, they describe the alignment of these steps and stages with both growth and self-growth skills from the Classification of Learning Skills.

Apple, Beyerlein, Ellis and Utschig share the development of a seven-stage system in their article, A System for Learning by Performance (LxP). The authors explore each stage of the system by describing how performers learn through a performance by meeting specific outcomes. Additionally, they discuss how assessment from an observer (e.g., a mentor or facilitator) assists with growth and development through assessment feedback.

Our final article continues the examination of performance with Nelson, Apple, Ellis, Leasure, and King-Berry discussing a means of performance improvement in their article, Performance Descriptions: A Major Tool for Performance Development. The authors offer steps toward determining what exactly constitutes a performance and what constitutes a performance description. They introduce a new methodology for writing performance descriptions and include several models of the methodology’s use in developing performance descriptions.

It is our hope that you will enjoy reading the contributions to our newest issue as much as we enjoyed working with the authors to bring the research to fruition. We look forward to receiving your feedback as well as your future research contributions.

Sincerely,

Kathleen Burke

Chief Editor, International Journal of Process Education

IJPE submissions (drafts, papers, final versions) MUST be submitted through the IJPE submission form, available from the IJPE home page: www.ijpe.online.

Do NOT email your paper to Kathy Burke, Chief Editor.

If your paper is not submitted through the form, it will simply be deleted. No exceptions will be made. We must preserve a record of submissions and all authors must agree to the journal's submission conditions (by using the form and checking the required boxes). Thank you!

Save Your Tuesday Evenings!

Here are a few of the topics we are working on for you:

 •  Stories of growth – The transformative power of PE institutes and L2L Camps Growth Stories

 • Making research in PE manageable - using the IRB process to your advantage

 •  Qualitative Data Analysis for Educational Research

 •  How to Systematically Improve Performance: the Performance Development Methodology

 •   It is all about what you do - writing performance criteria to guide learning experiences

We are pleased to now feature blog content from Richard Stone... Thanks, Rick! You're welcome to visit his blog as well and fill out the contact form on his site if you'd like to subscribe to his weekly blog.

Once we see a pattern in things, it becomes virtually impossible for us to see an alternate story given the same building blocks or facts. We get locked in and can’t escape the gravitational pull of our earlier assumptions, no matter how apparent the alternate patterns are, or how blatantly the facts are staring us in the face. While future blogs will focus on the liberating structures of stories, today we’re centering on the many ways stories can obscure our vision in some very pernicious ways.

In a seminal study from the 1940s, Abraham Luchins discovered once we see a pattern or a solution, we become predisposed to continue reverting to that solution even if there are better, more efficient or effective solutions begging to be seen.[i] Dubbing this the Einstellung effect, he used a classic math problem to test this phenomenon by asking his subjects to imagine three jugs, each with a different capacity: 3, 21, and 127 units of water.

The challenge given to the subjects was to measure out exactly 100 units of water pouring water from jug to jug. They could fill and empty each of the jugs as frequently as they liked with the proviso when they did, they had to fill the jug all the way to the top. Have you figured it out yet?

By filling the largest container with 127 units of water first, then pouring the water into the 21-unit jug, you’d be left with 106 units in your large jug. Simply filling the 3-unit jug and pouring off the water twice thereby reducing the larger jug’s contents by 6 units, you’d be left with 100 units of water in the largest jug. It’s a relatively simple solution, don’t you agree.

Luchins then gave his subjects some other math problems involving the jugs, all best solved with the subtraction method they used in the above problem. Then he gave them a new problem, jugs measuring 3, 23, and 49 units respectively with the objective of measuring out 20 units of water. How would you solve it? As in the previous problem, you can empty the jugs as often as you like, but they must each be filled to the brim before you empty them. Don’t read further until you have worked out the solution.

If you’re like his subjects, you may have used the same method you used in the first problem. Perhaps you would have filled the larger 49-unit jug then emptied it into the 23-unit jug, leaving you 26 units in the larger container. Then you could fill the 3-unit jug twice and arrive at the 20 units. But there’s actually a much simpler solution staring you in the face. Why not just fill up the 23-unit jug, then fill up the 3-unit jug from this one, and voila, you have 20 units. What Luchins discovered with repeated experiments is once people get accustomed to solving a problem with a tried and true method, they stop seeing other possibilities, even if they’re simpler, better, timesaving, and perhaps more elegant.  

Since this early discovery, the Einstellung effect has been replicated in a host of other conditions. For example, what happens when we’re particularly stressed and given problems like those above? Luchins found with elementary school students they became even more rigid in their decision-making process and even less likely than subjects in the original study to see the one-step solution to arrive at 20 units.[ii]

It would appear our rigidity in problem solving and seeing new patterns is also affected by age. Verity Ross[iii] had two experimental groups, one with a mean of 37.8 years old, the other with a mean of 60.8 years old. He controlled for differences in intelligence, education, and occupation. In almost every test, the middle-aged group showed greater flexibility in thinking and problem solving, not becoming inured to seeing things just one way, lending credence to the saying you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.

More recently, Merim Bilalić and Peter McLeod[iv] have looked more closely at this phenomenon with chess players. Not surprising, it would appear when players become accustomed to seeing a strategic maneuver to corner the opponent’s king, known in the chess world as the “smothered mate move,” when given a new set of circumstances where there is a speedier approach requiring fewer moves, they can’t see it. It turns out this classic move colors the vision of possibilities for typical players, whereas chess masters are more adept at seeing alternate routes to checkmate. Bilalić and McLeod even set up an eye-tracking apparatus to follow what the players specifically looked at on the board. It led them to conclude the Einstellung effect creates a sort of tunnel vision—literally.

How are the stories you regularly tell yourself creating this kind of tunnel vision? How are these stories preventing you from seeing a fresher, more insightful perspective? Or, perhaps, an alternate viewpoint held by someone different from you? To what degree has your world view and the stories you’re living in been hijacked by the Einstellung Effect, profoundly limiting your moves on the chessboard of your life?

[i] Luchins, Abraham S. (1942). “Mechanization in problem solving: The effect of Einstellung”. Psychological Monographs. 54 (6): i–95.

[ii] Luchins, Abraham S.; Luchins, Edith Hirsch (1959). Rigidity of behavior: a variational approach to the effect of Einstellung. University of Oregon Books.

[iii] Ross, V. M. (1952). “A comparison of the effect of Einstellung in different age groups”. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, McGill University.

[iv] “Why Good Thoughts Block Better Ones,” Scientific American. The Science Behind the Debates, 2019.

Academy of Process Educators
www.processeducation.org