Honors Projects/Contracts Requirements

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In all Honors option credit courses a written contract specifying the project, its due dates, and its grading criteria must be completed and signed by both the faculty member and the Honors student. The original contract is turned in to the Honors Program Coordinator by the Friday of the 3rd week of classes (Feb. 6. 2004 for Spring ’04, Sept. 10, 2004 for Fall ’04, and Feb. 4, 2005 for Spring ‘05). Incomplete or unclear contracts will be returned to the student or the instructor for revisions and are due back within one week. Failure to turn the contract in on time will result in removal from the Honors Program. Faculty will receive a copy of the contract after the Honors Coordinator has approved it.

Once a project is chosen and the contract signed by all members, the student CANNOT be removed from the Honors section of the course and placed on the regular roster.

The following are the college’s requirements and recommendations for Honors projects. Use this list to assist you in filling out the Honors Contract each semester. These examples are not meant to restrict, confine, or dictate any specific project idea. Feel free to be creative.

A. PROJECT CONTENT
All Honors projects must have 3 main components: research, writing, and presentation. Research must include both primary sources, i.e. interviews, surveys, or other collection of data or information by the student, and secondary sources, i.e. books, magazines, internet, newspapers, or other readings of research conducted by someone other than the student.

B. PROJECT TYPES
In addition to the standard research paper and class presentation, (see item #6 below) there are a variety of project types. Although each type contains research, writing and presentation, they can provide different options for the student.

1. Honors Forum Speakers: The Honors Forum Lecture Series may offer a unique opportunity for Honors students to make connections between the current year’s theme and their Honors course. Students will be required to do background reading/research on each speaker, to attend each lecture, to write about the connections between class and the speakers, and to share these insights with the class in some form of presentation.

2. Service Learning: If Service Learning isn’t already part of the course, it can be a wonderful extended learning experience for Honors students. The Office of Student Life places the students, manages the necessary paperwork, and leads progress and reflection sessions. Service Learning projects enable students to learn about the course’s content in settings beyond the classroom walls. Such projects could include a journal, additional research into the agency or issue, and a class presentation.

3. Web-based projects: Students could research, write, find photos and images, and help build the web pages. This project may be a good fit for many classes, especially if the focus is on the content of the course presented through technology. Students may be assisted with web projects by members of the STARS technology crew who are located in the Teaching and Learning Center L237. See Tom Foster for more information on STARS.

4. Creative/Other: Allow for creative suggestions. Projects should be meaningful to the student and lead to extended learning in the chosen class. Projects from last year included a series of bulletin boards for elementary math education students, real-life problem solving experiences for math students, multi-media presentations for humanities students, and slide show presentation and expert guest speaker for anthropology students.

5. Experiential Learning: Honors projects may involve learning experiences outside the school setting, in the community, in a field trip or field research setting, etc. All such experiences must be coordinated through the Office of Student Life in order to process required liability paperwork.

6. Research: This project type involves primary and secondary research on an agreed upon topic related to course content and student interest. A recent project included an oral presentation accompanied with a Powerpoint presentation that incorporated primary research (interviews), secondary research (journals, articles, on-line data bases), and several hands-on objects.

C. TIME REQUIRED
The Honors Project should require a minimum of one hour per week (outside of class) for each three-credit class. The contract asks for a list of “update” due dates in addition to the final due date as a means for building in time for faculty and Honors students to touch base about the project throughout the process.

D. GRADING
The Honors Project should be worth approximately 20% of the total grade in class. The project points are added to the total points possible. For example, if the course is worth 500 points for the semester, the Honors project should be added to that point total. The point total for the Honors student would then become 625 = 500 (regular class points) + 125 (20% added for the Honors Project). Most faculty indicate that the failure to complete the project will result in the loss of a letter grade for the course.

Assessment of student work in Honors courses is the responsibility of the instructor of the course. Grading disputes should be handled within the appropriate academic division, not through the Honors Appeal Process. Faculty may wish to consult the Honors Coordinator in situations that may affect the continuation of an Honors scholarship.

Additional suggestions for projects:

• Project may be due any time in the semester. If left to the end of the semester, projects could be done at the last minute and fall short of expectations.
• Project suggestions may be a permanent product the instructor keeps and can use in future courses. See examples at the end of this handbook.
• Students may be required to share his/her experience/findings periodically throughout the semester.
• Honors students may work in groups if more than one is enrolled in the same course and section.
• Projects should go beyond the course material to make the experience extended vs. reinforced or repetitive learning.

Download Honors Contact Document
Honors Contract - Microsoft Word Doc
Honors Contract - PDF

Questions about project requirements should be addressed to the Honors Program Coordinator,
Jeanne Canham, Honors Program Coordinator
Office: E-129
Phone: 480-732-7082