Many older adults who lose their jobs face challenges in finding new employment due to fundamental limitations in their technology skills. While training could give them the skills they need, older workers often have less access to training programs than younger workers. This study examined the feasibility of using an e-learning training program…

Poverty simulations can be effective experiential learning tools for educating community members about the impact of poverty on families. The project described here includes survey results from three simulations with community leaders and teachers. This project illustrated how such workshops can help Extension professionals extend their reach and…

In April 2008, the Wisconsin Erie School District attempted and failed to pass a school bond referendum to renovate its high school. In November 2008, again the school district did not pass a referendum. Interestingly, in the 2009-2010 school year, the district was successful in passing a bond referendum. Although the original bond measure called…

In this case study, I explain how community-based research can be an effective means of engaging graduate students in an applied practicum that challenges them to apply their knowledge of statistics, psychometrics, and research design in addressing important social problems. Students in our industrial/organizational psychology master's program use…

In this article, Ira Harkavy points to the beliefs that education and schooling significantly determine the character of a society, and that higher education has broad societal impacts, including helping to shape the rest of the schooling system. It is this core idea that unites the work of Benjamin Franklin and Ernest Boyer and serves as the…

In modern, knowledge-based societies, universities play an increasingly important role in achieving economic growth and social progress. Their traditional roles and missions are being broadened as to accommodate activities that facilitate engagement with various stakeholder groups. Universities do not want to be regarded as isolated and separated…

Many scholars have recognized the important value that civic-engagement activities can have, not only on student learning, but also on the development of civic agency, which involves the capacity of individuals acting alone or in groups to enact positive change. From a political science point of view, the development of civic agency among college…

This article draws upon findings from the New Relations between Local Authorities (LAs) and Schools project to identify ideological and value-based differences between the models of service to schools adopted within four case study LAs. While each of the LAs has developed a privatized model of service, there are subtle differences between the…

A growing body of school improvement research suggests that engaging all members of the school community, including community members and leaders, provides an essential foundation to successful school improvement efforts. School climate surveys to date tend to recognize student, parent/guardian, and school personnel voice but not the voice of…

While greater focus has been placed on understanding the nature of campus-community partnerships, a lack of research exists addressing the complexities of collaboration through theory development and the analysis of partnership management from a multilevel perspective. Drawing from Parent and Harvey's (2009) management model for sport and physical…

Small schools and their communities contribute to an important, though threatened, knowledge base. The threat adheres in underlying technologies (conceptual and material) that propel the capitalistic world towards the rationalization of all aspects of human activity. In education, this appears in the consolidation of small schools and ever larger…

This essay explores the autoethnographic possibilities of critical service-learning research and the emerging realities of a community-centered womanist methodological response. Drawing from Alice Walker's definition of "womanist" as a commitment to "survival and wholeness of entire people, male 'and' female," the author argues…

Drawing on literature in the field and the author's own research, this paper argues that civic engagement is critical to the success of students and universities and should be enacted at all levels of educational policy and practices. Yet, it must be facilitated in a way that ensures that equity, justice, and an appreciation of diverse value…

Universities' increasing applications of science and technology to address a wide array of societal problems may serve to thwart democratic engagement strategies. For emerging technologies, such challenges are particularly salient, as knowledge is incomplete and application and impact are uncertain or contested. Insights from science and…

Because researchers know so much more about the brain and development than they did when the 20th-century U.S. education system was designed, this knowledge can now be used to design a system in which all individuals are able to take advantage of high-quality opportunities for transformative learning and development. This playbook suggests a set…