IDH 4903 - Honors Program Course Contract

Turn any upper division course into an Honors Course!

How the honors contract works:

• Within the first three class days of the semester, student and professor agree on how to structure the contract and jointly complete the 
• The student emails it to the Honors Program Director for approval.
• If approved, the student is added to a section of IDH 4903.
• Professor submits the final grade for the student for the honors section to the Honors office.

What an honors contract should and should not be:

• It should enhance the quality of the learning experience in the course, rather than simply increasing the quantity of work.  In most cases, a higher quality experience will require more time and effort, so Honors students will indeed be working harder.
• It should hone the student’s critical thinking, writing, and presentation skills in addition to enhancing their grasp of the subject.
• It should enhance interaction between the student and the professor.
• It should not be burdensome to the professor in terms of time or resources.

Some ideas for contracts that have worked well:

• A student participates in lab meetings and/or research with a professor and grad students on the course topic.
• The student attends and summarizes seminars on campus related to the course topic.
• The student does an independent reading on the topic with guidance from the professor, and then presents analysis (either oral or written, to the professor or class).
• Student helps professor develop lecture(s), lab exercise(s), or multimedia on the course topic.
• Student designs test questions for each module
• Student helps with web design, publication writing/revision, or other extension-related activities on the course topic.