Experiential and Service Learning through Local Data Projects

An increased focus on high-impact pedagogical practices at a small, residential, higher education institution led to a grant-funded project to gather and analyze multidimensional data on 10,155 residential foreclosures in central Illinois from 2006 to 2013. Student researchers applied skills gained through academic coursework to investigate a real-world issue in the local community and communicated their findings to a variety of stakeholders, including local governments, nonprofit organizations, banks, and social agencies. The direct assessment of 85 capstone-level research projects reveals that those with a community service focus displayed a stronger mastery by students of particular expected proficiencies relative to research projects with a traditional scholarly focus.