Honors courses have a course cap of 25 students, and require an additional three learning outcomes (two required, one from a choice of four) as shown on the application form. After having determined how you wish to implement these additional requirements, you must receive the approval of your department chair and Dean Wong, before submitting your application to the honors program committee. Faculty members of the honors program committee vet the applications.
Process of creating Honors Courses
- Faculty interested in teaching an honors class must attend three training sessions of two hours each. After the completion of the training, the faculty member can create, develop and teach an Honors or Honors Enhanced course within his/her discipline. As part of the training, the faculty will developed an Honors course in his/her discipline, which will be reviewed by the Honors Training Instructor and approved as meeting all requirements. This certification allows faculty to develop additional Honors courses in the future.
- Faculty are encourage to discuss with their department chair/coordinator about the class they intend to teach as an Honors class. After such discussion, the faculty can contact the coordinator of the Honors Program (Joel Barker) to schedule training.
Assessment
Honors Courses must meet the following student learning outcomes (SLOs):
- Communicate clearly, knowledgeably, and effectively in written, spoken, visual, oral, and technological modes for a variety of purposes, with different audiences in various contexts, using appropriate formats and technologies.
- Conceive, plan and execute a high quality (multi) disciplinary research, creative, or applied project, using multiple modes and technologies, including qualitative methods and other modes of inquiry and research.
In addition, the course must meet at least one of the following SLOs:
- Use cross-disciplinary higher order thinking skills, select and organize credible evidence, and solve academic problems using discipline-specific strategies;
- Through independent learning and collaborative study, attain, use and develop knowledge in the arts, humanities, sciences and social sciences, with disciplinary specialization and the ability to integrate information across disciplines;
- Demonstrate an ability to engage in leadership, service, and cultural activities;
- Demonstrate an ability to give constructive criticism and accept feedback as part of the process of peer review.
