Page 5 - International Journal of Process Educaiton (Special Issue)

International Journal of Process Education (February 2016, Volume 8 Issue 1)

25 Years of Process Education

Commemorating 25 Years of Scholarship in Process Education
and the 10th Anniversary of the Academy of Process Educators

Dan Apple1, Wade Ellis2, Denna Hintze3

Contributing Editors:

Steve Beyerlein, University of Idaho Jim Morgan, Charles Sturt University, Australia
Kathy Burke, SUNY Cortland Mark Schlesinger, University of Massachusetts, Boston

Wendy Duncan, California Health Sciences University Peter Smith, St. Mary’s College (Emeritus)
Betty Hurley, SUNY Empire State College Tris Utschig, Georgia Institute of Technology
Cy Leise, Bellevue University (Emeritus) Wendy Wenner, Grand Valley State University (Emeritus)

Abstract

Pacific Crest defined Process Education and worked to communicate the potential it offered for improving teaching and
learning. This effort, in tandem with the work of a community of professional practitioners, has advanced the scholarship
of Process Education, including the foundational concepts of learning to learn and self-growth, to the degree that they
have had a noteworthy impact on the culture and practices of higher education over the last 25 years. This article
provides a review and analysis of the body of Process Education scholarship and research, as well as a selective
overview of Process Education practices across different educational contexts. In addition, two different organizational
schema are offered to help the reader appreciate the key areas of Process Education and their interrelatedness.

Introduction effort (The Faculty Guidebook: 2003–2007), eventually
culminating in the Academy of Process Educators (2007
As of this writing, Process Education (PE) has been around to present). This group is not definitive; there are Process
for 25 years. If it were a person, we would expect to see it Educators who are not members of the Academy and,
making its own way in the world — standing on its own thanks to the “stickiness” of many of the ideas in Process
two feet, as it were — in contexts that no longer necessarily Education — that they have import, attraction, and utility
involve those who brought it into being. And so it is. The that are obvious to many educators — there are surely
life and growth of this philosophical approach to education individuals who could be termed “Process Educators” who
consists of various stages of growth, important milestones, may well have never heard the term Process Education.
and noteworthy contributions and achievements. And as it
has grown and evolved in clarity, organization and utility, What follows is the story of Process Education as seen,
its impact upon higher education has only increased. understood, and experienced by those in its community of
professional practice. We believe it provides convincing
Over the last 25 years more than 50,000 faculty, staff, evidence that the adoption of the values, principles, and
and administrators have been exposed to the principles practices of Process Education by educational leaders at
and practices of Process Education, largely through every level significantly enhances educational outcomes.
professional development and scholarly efforts. While We know that resources in higher education are always
there is no way to accurately tally those who have adopted constrained but it is our hope that this evidence will enable
even some of what Process Education offers, a diverse Process Educators to receive the support they deserve
community of serious practitioners has evolved over time. while facilitating their endeavors to share what Process
Educators have to offer their peers.
The genesis of this group began with a series of conferences
entitled Problem Solving Across the Curriculum (1990– The 25 years behind Process Education were busy ones;
1996) and the community grew between 1999 and 2002 and there was much innovation, many lessons learned, and a
became more coherent as a result of a major scholarship great many discoveries. The sheer magnitude of available

1 Pacific Crest
2 West Valley College (Emeritus)
3 Educational Consultant

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