An Integrative Approach to Using Student Investment Clubs and Student Investment Funds in the Finance Curriculum (pp. 211-221) DOWNLOAD FULL-TEXT ARTICLE
Brian Grinder, Dan W. Cooper, Michael Britt

ABSTRACT
The educational advantages of student investment clubs and student investment funds have been well documented. This paper suggests ways to integrate them into the finance curriculum and examines the benefits of integrating both funds and clubs into an instructional framework that provides important out-of-class experience to potential finance students, allows for the practical application of finance theory, and gives alumni an opportunity to remain involved with their alma mater. A discussion of how research in student learning styles can help instructors maximize the benefits of club and fund activity is also included.

Undergraduate Research: The Senior Thesis in Finance (pp. 223-234) DOWNLOAD FULL-TEXT ARTICLE
Ellie Fogarty, Herbert Mayo

ABSTRACT
An undergraduate senior thesis offers the individual student an opportunity to pursue a topic of special interest or in greater depth than available in a traditional course. This paper describes the Senior Thesis in Finance required of all finance majors enrolled in The College of New Jersey, specifies the objectives of the thesis, and offers the results on an assessment survey of alumni, who completed the senior thesis.

Student Learning Style and Educational Outcomes: Evidence from a Family Financial Management Course (pp. 235-251) DOWNLOAD FULL-TEXT ARTICLE
Jonathan Fox, Suzanne Bartholomae

ABSTRACT
The academic performance of 419 undergraduate students in an individual financial management class was evaluated in light of their learning style, demographic background, academic history and time allocation. Academic history and time use variables proved to be the only significant predictors of grades in the course. Student learning style, as measured by Kolb's Learning Style Inventory, was not a strong predictor of success in this financial management class, and it appears that no single type of learner best grasps financial management concepts. The implications of these finding lead to a discussion of instructional methods.

Does Education Affect How Well Students Forecast the Market? (pp. 253-260) DOWNLOAD FULL-TEXT ARTICLE
John C. Alexander Jr., Robert B. McElreath

ABSTRACT
This study examines the results of a student stock market forecasting project used in our basic and advanced investments classes. Students fail to outperform a random walk model over the entire period, but do perform well in some subperiods. Students receiving an above average grade in the basic investments class provide more accurate forecasts than all other groups of students. Further, poorer performing students tend to be more pessimistic in their expectations of the market. The results suggest that education improves the forecasting ability of students.

An Integrated Model for Financial Planning (pp. 261-268) DOWNLOAD FULL-TEXT ARTICLE
Natalie Chieffe, Ganas K. Rakes

ABSTRACT
Financial planning is a broad subject that requires an integrating overview, The Model for Financial Planning incorporates the time and the expected nature of financial events. The categories of the model include 1) money management issues that the individual faces as short-term expected events, 2) issues of meeting unexpected financial events through an emergency fund and insurance, 3) investing to reach the individual's intermediate and long-term goals, 4) transference planning and other long-term issues whose time frame is unknown. The model has applications for "do it yourself' investors, financial planners, and students. The framework successfully integrates the broad range of topics typically covered in financial planning and personal finance courses.

Cash Flow: A Quick and Easy Way to Learn Personal Finance
(pp. 269-282) DOWNLOAD FULL-TEXT ARTICLE
Ronald R. Crabb

ABSTRACT
A cash flow spreadsheet methodology simplifies solving a number of common personal finance problems. At schools where a basic finance course is not a prerequisite for the personal financial planning course, this methodology makes learning personal finance skills and concepts quick and easy. It reinforces time value of money mathematics when students have had a prerequisite finance course. Creating the cash flow spreadsheets, editing them for errors, and testing the finished spreadsheets for logical consistency imprints in minds of most students the skills and concepts you are trying to teach.

Effective Teaching and Use of the Constant Growth Dividend Discount Model
(pp. 283-291) DOWNLOAD FULL-TEXT ARTICLE
Thomas H. Payne, J. Howard Finch

ABSTRACT
The appropriate application of the constant growth dividend discount model (DDM) requires an understanding of the fundamental nature of the model and its parameters. It is important that students not only be able to mechanically "plug and chug" the formula, but that they also understand the model's assumptions, inputs, sensitivity to error and practical limitations. This paper demonstrates that the valuation measure derived from using the DDM is very sensitive to the relationship between the required return on investment (Kg) and the assumed growth rate (g) in earnings and dividends. Examples show that the valuation error increases at an increasing rate when the values of K. and g converge in the formula. Classroom experience has indicated that students believe and strive to compute a single "correct" valuation of the share price. They should realize that the goal of valuation analysis is to estimate a reasonable range for the intrinsic value of a share price, rather than a single point estimate as often implied by end-of-chapter and exam-type problems using the DDM.

Learning By Doing: Offering a University Practicum in Personal Financial Planning (pp. 293-303) DOWNLOAD FULL-TEXT ARTICLE
Thomas H. Eyssell

ABSTRACT
Given the importance of interpersonal relationships in the financial planning process, it is surprising that relatively few registered financial planning programs explicitly provide students the opportunity to meet with real clients on a one-to-one basis. This paper describes the structure of a financial planning practicum developed for the purpose of providing such experience to future financial planners. It is hoped that this information will encourage others to consider offering experiential learning opportunities to those seeking positions in the financial services industry.

The Internet in the Personal Finance Course (p. 305-317) DOWNLOAD FULL-TEXT ARTICLE
Walt Woerheide

ABSTRACT
A revolution is occurring as textbook authors struggle with how to effectively incorporate the Internet into the personal finance textbooks and Course. This paper considers three questions associated with this revolution. What is the current degree of Internet integration? Where might we be headed with this new technology? Will this integration make for a better Course? The current degree of Internet integration is reported in Tables 1 and 2. An argument is made that we may be headed to an eventual elimination of the textbook, as we know it. There is some preliminary evidence that this will make for a better educational experience.

Applications of WWW Technology in Teaching Finance (p.319-328) DOWNLOAD FULL-TEXT ARTICLE
Stuart Michelson

ABSTRACT
In this article we discuss the need for a personal Web page in finance education, some of the ways Web pages can be used to benefit students, and present a survey of Web page use. We follow with a discussion of how to create and modify a Web page using commonly available computer programs. This information allows faculty the ability to provide valuable and timely information and materials for students.