Using Service Learning to Promote Community Financial Health

Service Learning is a pedagogy that integrates curriculum objectives with learning outcomes while producing mutually beneficial opportunities for advancing communities. While the impact is well recognized, there is a perception that a steep learning curve exists both for the students and faculty. To help ease the time commitments of Faculty engaged in this activity we present a model and apply a tool, the AT-EASE GPS, to a service learning project. The GPS analogy reflects the use of the tool to understand the current environment in which individuals and their community co-exist and to help both constituents find a path to become comfortable (or AT-EASE). The tool's effectiveness in identifying a guide for implementing a service learning project is assessed by student course enrollment, course evaluation and community feedback. Based on our experience, we recommend a six-phase sequential description of the AT-EASE process: Accessing, Trying, Exploring, Applying, Seeking, and Embedding. The framework presented here is integrated into an online undergraduate-level course required of finance majors