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Retirement income beliefs and financial advice seeking behaviors
No full textThis investigation identifies and validates a series of salient behavioral finance and psychological constructs that influence retirement income planning. We show how these scales relate to each other as well as retirement income concerns and investment behaviors. We also describe how four invest- ment personas can be linked with the Advisor Usefulness and Retirement Income Self-Efficacy scales to successfully identify preferred financial implementation methods. This can assist individu- als in more readily recognizing their relative strengths and weaknesses when implementing a retire- ment income strategy, and financial professionals can present advice in a manner that addresses a client’s concerns and preferred implementation
Testing Impacts of Goal-Oriented Outreach With the Girl Scouts: Can a Single Activity Change Attitudes Toward Insects?
Get PDFMost people meet insects with fear and disgust, even though few insects pose health risks; in fact, many are beneficial and their absence would adversely affect human life. Such misunderstandings lead to insect conservation being important but unpopular. We addressed these concerns as part of a broader effort to establish an ongoing outreach partnership between graduate students at the University of Kansas and the Girl Scouts of Northeast Kansas/Northwest Missouri. To explore ways to advocate for insect conservation, we held an insect-collecting activity at a Girl Scout summer camp and surveyed changes in attitudes toward insects. This activity positively changed reactions to insect encounters and increased confidence in identifying harmful insects but did not strongly reduce fears or increase curiosity toward insects. Beyond these proximate results, this project highlights the potential of Girl Scout troops as targets for informal science education that can benefit both academics and the broader community
STEM Outreach: Are We Making a Difference? A Case Study Evaluating the Science and Engineering Challenge Program
Get PDFScience, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) outreach programs aim to increase participation in STEM fields. However, the impact of these programs is rarely measured due to inherent difficulties in conducting long-term evaluations. This article presents a decadal evaluation of the Science and Engineering Challenge (SEC), an Australian STEM outreach program. From 2006 to 2015, 5,210 high school and 2,445 first-year university students were surveyed to assess whether the SEC influenced their decision to pursue STEM studies. Of the high school physics students, 51.9% reported that the SEC influenced their decision to study physics. A smaller yet significant impact was reported by chemistry (35.2%) and mathematics (32.0%) students. Further, 30.9% of university students indicated that the SEC influenced their decision to pursue a STEM degree. These findings demonstrate that long-term evaluation of outreach program effects is achievable and that outreach programs can indeed have a demonstrable impact on student career choices
Medical Students as Mentors of Latinx Youth: A Model for Increasing Cultural Competence and Community Engagement in Medical Schools
Get PDFThe rapid growth of the U.S. Latinx population has led to an increased need for community organizations and academic institutions to develop partnerships focused on addressing gaps in health maintenance and education of Latinx individuals. Medical schools also have a responsibility to educate future physicians in delivering culturally sensitive care through community-oriented learning experiences. This case study approach outlines the logistics of establishing a youth mentoring program between a medical school and a Latinx community and demonstrates the benefits to the institution, medical students, and the population served. We also discuss the challenges arising from this partnership and present early program evaluation data showing consistent mentor satisfaction reported over time. This description of the development of this program provides a framework for creating similar initiatives in medical education to address known disparities in health and well-being of Latinx individuals and other minority populations
Increasing Learning While Serving the Community: Student Engagement as the Key to Learning in a Basic Public Speaking Course
Get PDFDespite the significant amount of research published regarding the effect of service-learning on attitudinal measures such as empathy and civic engagement, little is known about how service-learning influences direct student learning outcomes. This pilot study employed a repeated measures, quasi-experimental design with a comparison group to compare cognitive and behavioral learning outcomes of students in two courses: a service-learning public speaking course (n = 84) and a traditionally taught public speaking course (n = 92). No significant differences were revealed between service-learning and non-service-learning students on measures of cognitive learning. However, service-learning student groups significantly outperformed their non-service-learning counterparts on measures of behavioral learning (application/performance of a skill). The article concludes by addressing issues uncovered in this pilot project and offering suggestions for additional research
Utilizing Disruption as an Opportunity: A Comparative Case Study on the Impact of COVID-19 on Community Engagement Partnership Formation
Get PDFThis article will focus on the implications and creative possibility catalyzed by the COVID-19 pandemic and reinvigorated racial justice movement on infrastructure that seeks to build transformational community-engaged teaching and research partnerships. Pulling from existing literature around critical service-learning and the wisdom of scholars from the Black, Indigenous, Person of Color (BIPOC) community, it will discuss the ways in which these lasting changes will propel both our institution’s structures for responsible community engagement forward, as well as inform the field’s focus on antiracist community engagement
"Plan for the Worst, Hope for the Best, but Realistically, Expect a Combination of Both": Lessons and Best Practices Emerging from Community-Engaged Teaching During a Health Crisis
Get PDFThis article outlines a framework that I implemented when delivering a community-engaged course during the earlier days of COVID-19. I argue that this framework\u27s guiding principles—centering the community-partners\u27 needs, assessing and remaining flexible to students\u27 circumstances, and cautiously mapping and selectively making use of existing institutional resources to deliver the course—allowed me to provide a community-engaged course despite challenges posed by pandemic restrictions. At the same time, I ensured that the intersectional feminist and critical ethos of the class was not compromised or that the commitment to the community partners\u27 sustainability was cast aside. Additionally, I share two detailed exemplars of community-based learning projects highlighting the possibilities, challenges, and limitations when applying this framework. I close this piece with several points of departure to stimulate future conversations among educators, researchers, and practitioners on the role of community-based service-learning during times of societal crisis
Critical, Interdisciplinary, and Collaborative Approaches to Virtual Community-Engaged Learning During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Social Unrest in the Twin Cities
Get PDFA women’s university in Minnesota responding to the COVID-19 pandemic and social unrest in the Twin Cities provides a setting to explore ways in which critical, interdisciplinary, and collaborative campus approaches to virtual community-engaged courses and research bring focus to student learning and broaden the scope of collective university impact on urgent and emerging community issues. Three campus community engagement initiatives focusing on racial housing segregation, voting rights, and incarcerated women show the interplay and cumulative impact of curricular, cocurricular, and campuswide responses to systemic injustice. Drawing on interviews with faculty members, student evaluations, and community partner reflections, the author reflects on what can be learned from the adaptations represented in these three community-engaged initiatives during a time of crisis with critical and collective community and campus response