Guidelines for Honors Courses at NJIT

Guidelines for NJIT Honors Courses

To ensure that Honors courses continue to meet the highest standards, the Albert Dorman Honors College sets forth these Guidelines for Honors Courses.

These Guidelines have been endorsed by the Honors Student Council and by the University Undergraduate Curriculum Review Committee on April 30,2007.

1. The hallmark of an Honors course is excellence in teaching and learning.

2. Honors courses should challenge and enlighten students to their maximum potential.

3. Honors courses should go beyond standard courses in both depth and breadth.  These qualities can be achieved in many ways, for example through:

   1. Additional coverage of topics

   2. Additional applications of knowledge and methods to real-life examples

   3. Research projects and laboratory projects

   4. Increased use of primary source materials

   5. Interdisciplinary perspectives

   6. Interactive and participatory activities, including

      1. independent efforts (individually or in small groups) that result in papers or projects;

      2. interactive methods such as discussion, debate, oral reports, and in-class problem-solving; or

      3. opportunities for students to determine the direction of the course.

4. Honors courses often enhance their students’ skills in areas beyond the subject matter, for example:

   1. By developing communication and leadership skills through group work and presentations.

   2. By developing critical thinking, e.g. by in-depth class discussions and writing assignments stressing critical analysis.

   3. By exploring the methods through which knowledge is attained in the field.

5. Class size should be appropriate for the attainment of the above objectives.

6. In an Honors course, students should be given grades comparable to those they would receive for the same level of achievement in a non-Honors course. Honors credit is awarded only if a student earns at least a B in the course.