Institutional Learning Outcomes

Institutional learning outcomes describe the knowledge, skills, and aptitudes UNC envisions for all students.  Our institutional learning outcomes articulate qualities that all college-educated people should possess as well as the unique characteristics that define graduates of the University of Northern Colorado. Read UNC’s Institutional Learning Outcomes Contextual Statement.

Based on broad input from faculty, staff, alumni, and students, the University Assessment Council developed the following institutional learning outcomes:

• Mastering Foundational Skills
  1. Explain how knowledge is discovered or created.
  2. Apply critical thinking to analyze, integrate, and evaluate information.
  3. Apply ethical principles to evaluate and make decisions.
  4. Make informed decisions using numeric and scientific information.
  5. Express ideas through multiple media and modes of communication. 
• Strengthening Interactions with Others
  1. Develop the capacity to understand and interact effectively with others whose identities, beliefs, behaviors, and values differ from their own.
  2. Demonstrate teamwork skills that enable collaboration.
  3. Develop and sustain mutually beneficial relationships.
  4. Demonstrate the capacity to engage in civic, social and political responsibilities.
• Connecting Ideas and Experiences
  1. Apply multidisciplinary perspectives to gain new insights into issues and concepts.
  2. Describe issues from diverse cultural, socioeconomic, geographic, and global perspectives.
  3. Evaluate the social, economic, political, and environmental consequences of individual and group actions.
  4. Connect experiences in and out of the classroom.
• Developing Professional Competence
  1. Use the tools, terminology, and methods related to their program of study.
  2. Apply the standards and practices of their major or program of study.
• Engaging in Healthy Behaviors
  1. Describe factors that impact the health and wellness of individuals and their communities.
  2. Reflect critically on their own personal growth.
  3. Demonstrate practices that promote health and well-being.