Developing a coherent Honors curriculum

A focused and coherent honors curriculum that sequentially arrays the crucial learning skills and outcomes provides many benefits: the honors students are more likely to be retained in the program because the learning community can extend over a number of years and classes, the focused sequence provides opportunities for introduction, practice, and mastery of specific skills (particularly research methods and interdisciplinary investigation), the assessment mechanics for the program can be streamlined for greater efficiency, and the faculty buy-in of the programs goals can become a central focus of the honors program's teaching effort. This session will investigate strategies for bringing honors sections of general education courses, honors-specific interdisciplinary seminar type courses, honors by contract courses, and honors independent studies courses (including capstones and theses) into maximum alignment. In addition, the session will show how coherent curricular design promotes coherent and doable assessment plans for honors programs and colleges.