University of North Dakota College Portrait

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Students
Find out more about the characteristics of students who attend UND.
Admissions
See how many students applied, accepted, and enrolled at UND. Learn more about students’ high school preparation and test scores.
College Costs & Financial Aid
Learn about costs to attend UND and how much financial aid is typically awarded.
College Cost Estimator
Estimate your cost to attend UND in a few simple steps.
Classes and Campus Life
Learn more about professors, where students live, and campus safety at UND.
Student Experiences
Discover ways to be actively involved in your education at UND – inside and outside the classroom.
Majors, Graduation and Next Steps
See which majors are most popular at UND and what recent graduates plan to do after earning their bachelor's degree.
Student Success & Progress
Discover how many students who start at UND finish their bachelor's degree and how long it takes.
Student Learning Outcomes
Figure out what learning gains to expect in critical thinking, writing, and other important subjects at UND.

Student Learning at University of North Dakota

All colleges and universities use multiple approaches to measure student learning. Many of these are specific to particular disciplines, many are coordinated with accrediting agencies, and many are based on outcomes after students have graduated.

Faculty at UND are interested in understanding how well students are learning. In order to answer questions about learning, faculty collect assessment information through the Essential Studies (general education) program, within each major, and across the institution. Some information about learning is collected from students within the first and second year of college, although much more is collected shortly before graduation, at a time when it is possible to determine how thoroughly students have met programmatic and institutional learning goals. Information collected directly from students is supplemented by information from supervisors, employers, and alumni. Commonly used assessment tools include student work products like tests, papers, projects, and laboratory exercises. Other tools used for assessments include surveys, interviews, and skills demonstrations. The information collected is reviewed by faculty to aid them in making decisions that may improve learning of future students.

Learning Assessment Examples

Pilot Project to Measure Core Learning Outcomes

Colleges and universities participating in the College Portrait measure the typical improvement in students' abilities to think, reason, and write using one of three tests. This is part of a pilot project to better understand and compare what students learn between their freshman and senior years at different colleges and universities.

2009 - 10 Results from the Collegiate Learning Assessment

The Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA) measures critical thinking, analytic reasoning, problem solving, and written communication using a performance task and an analytic writing task. The scores from the tasks are reported separately below.

Test Administration Process

Test Information

Performance Task Results for First-time, Full-time Students

The increase in learning on the performance task is at or near what would be expected at an institution testing students of similar academic abilities.

Freshman Score: 1191
Senior Score: 1222
CLA score range: 400 to no maximum score.

Average EEA scores for tested students
Freshman Score: 1150
Senior Score: 1124

Analytic Writing Task Results for First-time, Full-time Students

The increase in learning on the analytic writing task is at or near what would be expected at an institution testing students of similar academic abilities.

Freshman Score: 1248
Senior Score: 1316
CLA score range: 400 to no maximum score.