Teaching an Honors Course
Honors courses remain a foundational component of the University Honors Program, offering students an enriched and challenging academic experience at the University. Honors courses provide our most talented and high-achieving students an emphasized degree of rigor and faculty engagement than regular courses. They provide students with opportunities to develop their skills in problem-solving, critical reading, clear and persuasive writing, oral presentation, critical thinking, forming judgments based on evidence, and much more. Students frequently cite the small class size and enhanced engagement with faculty and Honors peers as their favorite aspects of such courses.
Just as these courses benefit students, they also give faculty a chance to teach and mentor Ohio State’s best and brightest. It is common for faculty to identify student researchers within an Honors course. Simultaneously, Honors students can engage further with the discipline that offers an Honors course, which may lead to a new academic interest for the student.
Proposing an Honors Course
Faculty interested in developing a new Honors course, or revising an existing one, should refer to the guidelines below when considering various aspects of the class and course syllabus. Honors courses enrich the academic experience, provide a rigorous study in a discipline, and foster a greater level of faculty engagement than in non-Honors courses at the University.
Questions to consider in the initial stages of course development include:
- What content and assignments best meet a course's desired academic outcomes?
- Are enough students interested in this topic to create an entire course? On average an Honors course consists of 15-25 students.
- Will my chair and department support offering this small class section?
- Can the learning objectives of the course be modified to reflect the rigor and challenge of an Honors course?
- How will this course be taught (i.e., Honors course, embedded course, in-person course, synchronous online course, or hybrid course)?
Staff in the University Honors Program are also happy to meet with faculty to guide this process. Once the course syllabus is developed, the faculty will propose the course using the online curricular approval process (curriculum.osu.edu). In most cases, a designated person in the department submits these. Once the course is in the system, it will go through all the approval bodies within the course’s department and college.