Teaching Honors Courses at UNCW: Faculty Opportunities
There are several opportunities to teach Honors courses at UNCW. All honors sections are limited to 20 students.
1) Many faculty have already adapted a BASIC STUDIES class so that it can be taught "at honors level". The honors course section will cover the typical content of the basic studies class, but will offer unique learning experiences, such as seminar format, extensive use of primary sources, more intensive laboratory work, or hands-on experience, etc. If a faculty member would like to propose an honors level basic studies course section, he or she may be eligible for a CTE Curriculum Development Stipend if this will involve substantial revision to the format of the traditional basic studies format. An honors section basic studies class meets basic studies requirements.
2) There are three types of Honors prefix SEMINARS- HON 110, HON 210, & HON 120.
HON 110 is a freshman seminar (3 hours credit) introducing the students to the university and what it means to be part of that community. The seminar explores the nature of knowledge. HON 110 is interdisciplinary and team taught. This class requires group work, individual projects, and service.
HON 210 is an interdisciplinary, usually team taught, sophomore level seminar (3 hours credit). The purpose is to investigate a special topic through a variety of disciplines. Current seminars are: Politics and Literature of Contempory Vietnam; Nature: Science & Literature; Controvery through Music; Art & Psychology; Issues in Coastal Management; The South in Art & Literature; Planning for the 21st Century: Thriving on Chaos; and Adulthood and Aging in Stories, Music & Film.
HON 120 is a 1 hour enrichment seminar. The purpose is to explore an area using a more "hands-on", direct experience approach. Current topics include: Health & Wellness; Developing a personal Wilderness Philosophy; Observing Animal Behavior; Animals & Society; Wilmington Culture; The Strange World of Quantum Mechanics; Hypermedia Technology; Consciousness, Time & the Near Death Experience; Photography; and Exploring the Coast in Art & Literature.
HON 110 is only offered Fall semester; HON 210 and HON 120 may be proposed for either Fall or Spring semesters. Both HON 110 and HON 210 meet basic studies requirements.
3) On occasion, we have offered honors level sections of existing upperlevel courses. This class retains the departmental prefix but is designated as an honors section. Again, this means that the teaching style is likely to be different from that used in the traditional section. All honors scholars enrolled in the class would be eligible for honors level credit for the class and this would be designated as such on the transcript.
4) Honors Contracts are another type of honors teaching experience. In this class, the professor and the honors scholar student make a contract (similar to a DIS proposal) to add honors level experience(s) to an ongoing course, so that the student does "honors level work" in the class (but only that student does the work and receives the honors credit). This may mean that the student engages in additional reading- such as primary sources- with additional or different types of papers for the class. For example, the student might add a critique/analysis to a general class paper. Or the student may learn a particular section of material well enough to make a special presentation to the class. The student must earn at least a B (3.0) to receive honors level credit for the course (designated as such on the transcript). Typically, 300 or 400 level classes are eligible for honors level contracts. This can be a very unique learning experience for your best majors and a way for them to explore a particular content area in depth.
5) Supervison of departmental honors (499) is another way to teach honors students. While only students formally admitted into the Honors Scholars Program are allowed to enroll in the courses descibed above, any UNCW student with a 3.2 overall and 74 hours can enroll in departmental honors. This is the student's introduction to scholarship in the major discipline area. The faculty member will mentor a student through the process of defining a question to research or explore in a scholarly way; the process of conducting the project; and the process of presenting the work in a form appropriate for scholarship in the discipline. Many faculty feel that this is one of the best ways that teaching and scholarship/research are combined. Students register for 499 as three 2-hr credits or two 3-hr credits. The 499 must be conducted over at least 2 semesters. One of the semesters may be a summer session, but not both.
Course Proposal Form. This form must be approved by the department chair(s) before returning to Honors.
