October 31, 2024 – Bottineau, ND – Dakota College at Bottineau (DCB) recently completed the Higher Learning Commission Academy (HLC) to provide personalized support and strategies to improve student outcomes.

The HLC Assessment Academy is a four-year intentional program where institutions pick a specific, assessment-related project to focus on while receiving guidance from HLC institution mentors and scholars.  DCB’s project centered around piloting co-curricular assessment.  Pilot groups included the Student Nurse Organization (SNO), Student Senate, Phi Theta Kappa, Leaderjacks, and men’s hockey.

The DCB Assessment Academy team was led by Dr. Linda Burbidge who was quickly joined by Professor Tracy Chisholm as a co-leader.  Other team members included Dr. Lexi Kvasnicka-Gates, Travis Rybchinski, Laura Halvorson, and Misty Lindgren.  During the final Academy Roundtable, the team presented a poster project highlighting the work accomplished during the four-year Academy. Dr. Kvasnicka-Gates was selected by the team to represent DCB in a panel discussion. Professor Chisholm shared “Our project on assessment of cocurricular activities on campus is important to us because we feel our students take away a lot of skills from engaging in the community”.

DCB is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC). HLC is the largest regional accreditor in the United States of degree-granting institutions of higher education. Continued accreditation is important as it assures students that the college can award federal financial aid. Accreditation also serves an important role in facilitating the transfer of college coursework from one institution to another, as it informs receiving institutions that the college has met a set of standards that help ensure a quality education.

Dakota College is proud to provide a quality education while striving for student success in academics and professional careers. Dr. Linda Burbidge noted “Measurement of that success allows us to gauge the impact these activities have on their education and belonging on campus. We have been very fortunate to have a motivated, task-oriented team working on this project over the last four years. We appreciate everything they have done and continue to do to make this a sustainable effort on campus.”