Teaching Honors
Honors Courses
Honors courses can be distinguished from regular courses in the expectations and abilities of the students, the role and involvement of the faculty, and the nature of the courses themselves. There are many approaches to developing and teaching honors courses; however, an underlying principle is that honors courses should be qualitatively different than non-honors courses. In other words, honors courses should be more challenging not by simply assigning more work, but by a different type of treatment of the subject. Honors courses are generally discussion-based classes that emphasize writing, problem-solving, critical and creative thinking, and a certain amount of intellectual risk-taking.
The National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC) has identified common practices in honors education that may be useful to you as you develop your honors course (see below).
UNHP 1100: The Honors Forum
Honors Forum (UNHP 1100) is a one-credit hour course that is required of all entering freshmen in their first semester at the University of Memphis. Recent Honors Forums have addressed issues such as “Approaches to Art in Memphis,” “The Supreme Court: What It Is and What It Does,” “A Brief Introduction to Behavioral Genetics,” and “Civil Society: Community Leadership and Service.” The variety of topics offered reflects the different issues that are important to an honors education- service, leadership, and diversity, to name a few- and exemplifies the program’s commitment to an interdisciplinary approach to thinking and learning.
Teach Honors
If you are interested in teaching an Honors course, please contact Dr. Melinda Jones, Director of the Honors College at mljones6@memphis.edu.