Course Validation

Use this procedure for first-time approval of an Essential Studies course.

Essential Studies Validation Request Form

You can see the full survey and all questions here

Please keep in mind that you will not see most of these as the survey uses display logic and will only show you the questions relevant the choices you indicate for your course. 

Validation Process

1. Proposals to add a course to the ES program are initiated at the department level and should proceed only with the approval of the department chair. 

2. When finalized at the department, a validation request will need to be submitted. The request includes: 
   1. Identify the course to receive validation
   2. Identify type of course (Breadth of Knowledge, Special Emphasis, Capstone)
   3. Identify learning goal course is intended to meet (see UND ES Learning Goals)
   4. Course syllabus
   5. Describe how the course meets the criteria you have selected either for breadth of knowledge, special emphasis, or both as well as how the learning goal you have selected is assessed in the course.
3. Upon approval by the ES Committee, the validation request will appear on an upcoming agenda of the University Senate, at which final approval will occur.
4. If approved, the course becomes part of ES at the start of the next academic year.

Timeline

The deadline for submission of requests for the validation of ES courses is December 1 each year. The ES Committee's review period for such requests will be from the point of submission until the end of January. If approved by the ES Committee and University Senate, the validated course will appear in the course catalog, which is posted in March of the same academic year, in time for advisement for the spring registration period.

Requirements

To be part of the ES program, a course will focus on a student learning in at least one of the six ES learning goals:

1. Critical Inquiry and Analysis
2. Quantitative Reasoning
3. Written Communication
4. Oral Communication
5. Intercultural Knowledge & Skills
6. Information Literacy

It must also fit into one of the following:

• Breadth of Knowledge:
  • Communication
  • Social Science
  • Fine Arts
  • Humanities
  • Math, Science, & Technology
• Special Emphasis:
  • Advanced Communication
  • Quantitative Reasoning
  • Diversity of Human Experience
  • Analyzing Worldviews
  • Digital Information Literacy
• Capstone

Digital Information Literacy Requirements

To this end, the Essential Studies Program requires students to take a class with a special emphasis in “Digital Information Literacy.” The design of these courses needs to be informed by several key Information Literacy concepts, as articulated by the Association of College and Research Libraries:

1.  Authority is Constructed and Contextual
2. Information Creation as a Process
3. Information Has Value
4. Research as Inquiry
5. Scholarship as Conversation
6. Searching as Strategic Exploration.

At the same time, such classes will teach students specialized tools and practices for finding, evaluating, and using information—in a variety of digital formats or mediums—effectively, efficiently, safely, and ethically.

In addition, these classes should empower students to actively participate in information environments. Digital citizens need transferable, foundational skills that prepare us to work with and evaluate new technologies—like artificial intelligence—and to be ready for emerging and future technologies. To become digital citizens, students need opportunities to be active learners who practice the rhetorical skills that come with communicating, creating, and distributing their own research; they need to practice the metacognition that helps learners reflect on their own cognitive, ethical, and emotional growth in digital spaces; they need opportunities to participate in interactive environments as critical thinkers; they need responsible, epistemic strategies for evaluating the information and misinformation that we encounter, asking themselves how we know what we know; they need to become critical information consumers that can collect, interpret, and apply a range of data and information.

Classes in “Digital Information Literacy” will, therefore, strengthen student agency as they encourage the dispositions that learners need to participate actively and thoughtfully in digital information environments.