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Student input on civic engagement efforts

INDIANA UNIVERSITY–PURDUE UNIVERSITY INDIANAPOLIS

STUDENTS LEARN STUDENTS VOTE CODESIGNER PROJECT

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How I got to this topic

SECTION 1

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IUPUI current civic engagement efforts

  • Social media
  • Email newsletters
  • Flyers
  • Tabling
  • Events
  • Canvas module and reminder
  • In class presentations

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Before creating more resources, understand:

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  1. Are current efforts to reach students effective?
  2. Which efforts are most effective?
  3. What barriers keep eligible students from voting?
  4. What barriers keep any student from participating in democracy?
  5. What ideas do students have about motivating students to participate in our democracy?

INDIANA UNIVERSITY–PURDUE UNIVERSITY INDIANAPOLIS

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Research

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  1. Mass email communication is not an effective means to increase voter registration, but combined with reminder texts can result in small increases.
  2. Personalized and face-to-face approaches are more effective.
  3. Festivals can increase voter turnout.

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Source: What we know about how to mobilize college students to vote – Bennion and Nickerson, 2018

INDIANA UNIVERSITY–PURDUE UNIVERSITY INDIANAPOLIS

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Research

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  1. Right Question Institute’s ‘Why Vote?’ Tool: https://rightquestion.org/voter-engagement/ and https://rightquestion.org/resources/youth-voter-tool/
  2. Identify services and government-funded programs that are important to them.
  3. Draw the connection between those services/programs and decisions elected officials make.
  4. Name why they would want to vote and have a say in who’s making decisions on their behalf.
  5. Ask questions about the process of registering and voting.

INDIANA UNIVERSITY–PURDUE UNIVERSITY INDIANAPOLIS

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INDIANA UNIVERSITY–PURDUE UNIVERSITY INDIANAPOLIS

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Resources

SECTION 2

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45-minute focus groups

  1. With Maddie’s help, I developed an outline for a focus group activity
  2. Set the context
  3. Identify barriers to voting and participating in democracy
  4. Use RQI worksheet as example
  5. Ideation of engagement opportunities

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INDIANA UNIVERSITY–PURDUE UNIVERSITY INDIANAPOLIS

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15-20 minute brainstorm

  • Originally planned for a 45 minute session, I was offered a 15-20 minute slot on the agenda.
  • Condensed the content into a two-page handout.

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Survey version

  • The 15-20 minute opportunity was cancelled.
  • Near the end of the term so ran out of opportunities to connect with students.
  • Turned it into a Qualtrics survey and offered rewards for completion.

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Plans to use these tools

  • Find opportunities to revise somewhat so it appropriate for incoming students and use it during summer bridge and/or first-year seminars.
  • Get on the agenda for student groups and organizations to get feedback.

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Questions?

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Jennifer Boehm

Assistant Vice Chancellor

IUPUI Office of Community Engagement

jrboehm@iupui.edu

IUPUI