Course Criteria

The notes that follow are suggestions you may find useful in designing and conducting your Honors course.

Capability of the students.

The basic premise is that native intellectual ability and a generally strong high school education equip Honors students with greater than average potential for academic achievement at the University. They are typically bright, motivated, and conscientious students, disposed to mutually supportive sociality. They learn quickly and are often capable of sophisticated levels of performance. Still, they are not exempt from the need to master fundamental ideas and skills. Do not hesitate to challenge them, but do not assume that the fundamentals are already intact.

Role of the teacher.

Those who teach Honors courses are acknowledged to be well prepared in the subject matter of the course; they "know their stuff." The real challenge in an Honors course is to further fan the passion for learning that students arrive with. In some cases this may require disquieting their preconceptions of their own abilities in order to help them to a more seasoned awareness of what it is to practice lifelong learning. Your creative capacity may be tested. It is important to provide imaginative ways for Honors students to respond to the subject matter. There are likely as many ways to achieve this as there are different teachers. Nonetheless, there are a few proven predictors of success. Group discussion should be included. Expect students to come prepared to share ideas gained through reading and other assignments. Also, hold them to a high standard. It is essential that the quality of Honors education not be compromised by teaching to the level of those who are only casually prepared.

Work load.

The minimum standard for student performance should be higher in an Honors course. Students can be assigned a greater volume and diversity of material, and you can reasonably require higher quality in your students' work. There is particular need for opportunities that allow them to develop writing and quantitative skills. Honors students should write frequently, and their writing should be subjected to rigorous evaluation, preferably of more than single drafts. Likewise, Honors students should have multiple opportunities to apply quantitative skills with appreciable rigor.

Creative work.

Most students come to the University perceiving themselves as consumers of, not as contributors to, the academic endeavor. Teachers of Honors courses should encourage original work and provide significant opportunities for involvement in innovative projects. The publication or other exhibition of the results of such projects is encouraged. Be aware of students' special needs. It is not unusual for Honors students to labor under the pressure of high expectations imposed by self, family and friends. Some may be particularly vulnerable to intimidation and unsureness. The teacher of such students has an important opportunity to help them develop self-confidence and poise. In addition, students need to be willing to expose their ignorance. They need to distinguish solid from superficial scholarship. They need to understand that reliance on jargon and glib talk about issues they really do not understand counts for very little.

Support from Honors.

The Honors office welcomes requests for financial support of Honors courses. Funds are typically applied to hiring teaching assistants and purchasing books and other materials related to the course. They may also be used to defray the travel costs of attendance at concerts, other performances, and other out-of-class socializing to the extent that such activities complement the academic objectives of the course. Simply fill out the Request for Honors Course Enhancement Form found in the links to the left and submit it to the Associate Dean of the Honors Program, 350C MSRB.

Faculty Development.

One of the assumptions of teaching in Honors is that you are committed to your content area and also to the process of teaching. One of the advantages of teaching in Honors is the possibility of having resources made available to assist you in enhancing the learning climate of your classrooms. It is possible, for example, to get a grant from Honors to develop a course the first time it is taught. Each time you propose to teach in Honors, you should submit materials documenting your teaching ability. (Video tapes, letters of reference from colleagues, and student-teacher evaluations would all be appropriate to accompany the completed proposal form.)

Grades.

The overall GPA in an Honors course is usually higher than that for corresponding non-Honors courses. However, an Honors student is not entitled to special treatment in grading if performance is disappointing.

Two issues may make grading difficult. First, since Honors courses are expected to require more work from students than corresponding non-Honors courses, there is an implication that a high grade will be harder to come by. It is critical that students not be penalized for having chosen courses that require significantly more work. Second, it is clear that "open" enrollment brings a broader cross-section of students. This means that you may very well have students in your Honors course with a C average elsewhere, as well as students with an A or high B average. It is important that students not be rewarded merely for taking an Honors course.

It is recognizably difficult to establish a norm for a class of students whose work is likely to outshine that of students in non-Honors general education classes and where the work loads differ appreciably as well. The real concern is that your grades reflect the quality of the work done by the students in the course. Honors courses should not have a grade curve imposed--even a truncated curve. Small differences among students that would not translate into grade differences in non-Honors courses should not be the basis for different grades in Honors courses. Put simply, grades in Honors courses ought to be distributed according to merit. If everyone deserves an A, give each an A; if no one deserves an A (or a C or a D), feel no compulsion to give one for the sake of "balance." There is one further consideration in grading. Most of the students who enroll in Honors courses are scholarship students at the University. Scholarship renewal now requires a cumulative GPA of 3.9. This can place the University's best students in an awkward dilemma: They have financial incentive to choose easy rather than challenging general education experiences. The policy also creates "grade grubbers," who make teaching less enjoyable than it ought to be. Please be conscious of this particular dilemma and, wherever you can, encourage students to think of Honors as uniquely contributive to their education, as ultimately serving their best interest. While they will be expected to work hard, their GPAs should not be placed in jeopardy simply because they choose the path less traveled.