Essential Studies Assessment

1. 1. Office of Institutional Effectiveness and Accreditation

   

2. 2. Essential Studies Assessment

   

3. 3. Overview

   

4. 4. UND Essential Studies

   Essential Studies (ES) courses must focus on one of the six ES learning goals and also be defined as either a Breadth of Knowledge, Special Emphasis, or Capstone Course.

   ES Goals: https://und.edu/academics/essential-studies/goals.html

   

5. 5. ES Course Validation

   For validation or revalidation, visit the Essential Studies assessment website to access the required form. Be sure to initiate a first-time proposal in your department and gain chair approval before completing the form.

   

6. 6. Course Validation Request Form

   Course Validation Request Form: https://und.edu/academics/essential-studies/validation.html

   

7. 7. ES Validation Process

   After submission of the validation request form, the ES Committee reviews it. If approved, they redirect to the University Senate, and if approved, data collection begins the following academic year.

   

8. 8. ES Assessment Cycle

   

9. 9. Understanding the Rubric - Syllabus Language

   Syllabus language to share with students/include in syllabi: https://und.edu/academics/essential-studies/essential-studies-syllabus-language.html

   

10. 10. Understanding the Rubric - How to Use

    All goals use the same scoring and categories, but the rubric criteria are different for each goal.

    

11. 11. Understanding the Rubric - Example

    Find the rubrics for each ES learning goal here: https://und.edu/academics/essential-studies/assessment.html

    

12. 12. Understanding the Rubric - Example

    The most important thing to remember is that students who meet expectations of the course, even if high performing, should be scored based on the intentions of the course. For example, MATH 103 is not a capstone course, so high performing students should (most likely) be scored at the benchmark level, as MATH 103 intends to teach basics of college algebra.

    

13. 13. Reporting ES Data

    

14. 14. Faculty Support

    Visit the Essential Studies website or the Office of Institutional Effectiveness & Accreditation websites for support with ES assessment.

    Essential Studies:

    https://und.edu/academics/essential-studies/assessment.html​

    und.essentialstudies@und.edu

    Office of Institutional Effectiveness & Accreditation:

    https://und.edu/academics/provost/assessment-accreditation/index.html ​

    assessment@und.edu ​