|
|
General Information About Honors Courses
Characteristics of Honors Courses (adapted from Southern Regional Honors Council)
- Limited class size. Classes should be limited in size to 25 students or fewer, ideally to fewer than 20. In some cases, Honors students enroll in the regular lecture class but register for a separate Honors discussion section.
- Active learning and student participation. Honors classes typically involve much more student discussion and student-faculty interaction. The model approximates a graduate seminar for undergraduates.
- Group work. Honors students are playful learners and enjoy collaboration with peers. Providing opportunities for students to work together on projects when clear objectives are provided will lead to excellent work.
- Engagement with primary sources. Exposing students to scholarly work in the field in the form of professional journal articles or the equivalent, rather than relying entirely on secondary texts, is desirable.
- Writing. Honors classes are likely to involve more writing and critical analysis of material than would be expected in non-honors courses.
- Enrichment rather than extra work. Honors courses should not require more work than non-Honors classes. Because Honors students master material more rapidly presentation of material can be more fast-paced. Subject matter may be explored more thoroughly and at a higher level of academic rigor.
- Realistic grading. Grades should be assigned based on the instructor’s perception of content and skills mastery. Given the rigorous criteria for admission to Honors, students in Honors courses are likely to perform at high levels academically. Grade curving within a class of honors students is not appropriate.
- Involvement. This may include field experiences, exposure to sophisticated research equipment, or more “hands-on instruction.” Honors classes ideally stimulate and reinforce students’ intellectual excitement and engagement.
- Interdisciplinary work. Honors work may draw from a wide range of disciplines while concentrating on material within the professor’s own area of specialization. The result may be to give students a broad and integrated perspective on human knowledge.
- Instruction by faculty with doctorates or terminal degrees. Generally speaking, Honors classes should be taught by individuals with doctorates or terminal degrees in their fields and should not be instructed by graduate teaching assistants. The exception may be Honors discussion sections, which may be offered by a graduate student under close supervision of the teaching faculty member. Ideally, faculty teaching honors classes should have track records of successful classroom instruction.
back to top
Types of Honors Courses
- General Honors Classes. At UConn, a General Honors class refers to a specially-designated Honors course or section of a University course. Most Honors courses have low enrollment – often 20-25 students as opposed to the 200+ enrollment possible in typical lecture courses.
- Discussion Sections. Honors students attend the regular lecture but enroll in a specially designed discussion section. Honors discussion sections are sometimes taught by the faculty member who delivers the lectures. Sometimes the sections are taught by advanced graduate students. If graduate students teach the discussion sections, it is expected that they are closely supervised by the teaching faculty member.
- Honors Core Curriculum. These are specially designed, interdisciplinary, general education classes intended for first and second year Honors students.
- Conversions of Non-Honors classes. An Honors conversion is an agreement between the student and instructor of a non-Honors class so that students may receive honors credit while taking a non-Honors course. Students are graded for the work they do in the non-honors portion of the class. Honors credit is earned when the instructor verifies that the student has completed the agreed-upon work (and earns a B- or above). Forms for conversions may be downloaded from the Honors website or picked up at the Honors Office in Room 419 of the CUE building.
- Honors Enhancement/ Group conversion. An Honors enhancement is essentially a conversion done by a group of students. The faculty member arranges course enrichment experiences for a group of Honors students. The conversion form is completed by the faculty member and a list of all students involved in the group conversion is appended. Students are graded for the work they do in the non-honors portion of the class. Honors credit is earned when the instructor verifies that the students have completed the agreed-upon work (and earns a B- or above).
back to top
Listing a course as Honors
- With the exception of Honors INTD courses, the Honors Program does not schedule Honors courses. Scheduling of all other Honors courses is done through individual departments, schools and colleges.
- Before a new Honors course is scheduled, departments are requested to verify that the content and pedagogy of the course are compatible with the Characteristics of Honors Courses, as approved by the Honors Board of Associate Directors.
- To list a course as an Honors course, the departmental scheduler must contact the Registrar’s office to ensure that the course is listed in PeopleSoft with an “Honors reserve capacity” and “Honors grading basis.”
- Prior to the registration period, the Honors Program compiles listings of all courses coded as Honors for the following semester. To ensure that a class is included in the Honors Course List, departments should ensure that the course has been coded appropriately by the Registrar’s Office by March 1st (for fall semester) and November 1st (for spring semester).
- If a course is added to the schedule after these dates, the department should notify Patricia Szarek (patricia.szarek@uconn.edu) in the Honors office directly.
- Each semester the Registrar’s office will ask departments to review their course offerings. Departmental schedulers should verify that courses intended to be offered as Honors are appropriately coded.
back to top
|
|
|
