What is an Honors Course?
Honors courses provide students with an enriching and engaging experience that articulates with some or all Honors Program Learning Outcomes. What differentiates an honors course is the level of engagement with the subject matter that emphasizes exploration, discovery, and critical thinking as opposed to factual learning. Enrichment might include supplementary units, in-depth units, specialized units, supplementary texts, primary texts, interdisciplinary approaches, etc.
Courses are qualitatively more demanding than other courses with more ambitious assignments but are not required to be quantitatively more exacting. Assignments might include research papers, oral presentations, group and individual projects, hand-on experiments, etc. Honors sections favor assessment of learning objectives that involve writing, problem-solving, and experimenting rather than objective testing, such as multiple-choice tests.
In honors courses students take greater responsibility for their individual learning based on their own insights and creative abilities. Instructors and departments have a great deal of leeway in determining what is considered to be "honors" within their own disciplines.
If you wish to convert a regular course into an Honors course, there is an expressed process for doing so. Please contact us at honors@ucmerced.edu for additional information.
Honors Program Learning Outcomes
PLO 1 - As a result of participation in the program students will be able to produce research and/or creative products using methods appropriate to their chosen field of study. Graduates will be able identify problems/topics, generate questions, design appropriate methods, execute a plan, and synthesize results.
PLO 2 - Students will demonstrate advanced critical thinking skills by combining knowledge and analytical tools from more than one discipline to evaluate and synthesize information.
PLO 3 - Students will demonstrate exceptional communication skills that explore and convey complex ideas. This includes use of written, visual, oral or other modes of communication intended for various audiences and forums.
PLO 4 - Students will exhibit perspective taking and self-awareness that includes the capacity to deal with ambiguity, to respectfully exchange ideas, and to understand and appreciate diverse outlooks, cultures, histories, and worldviews.
PLO 5 - Students will successfully collaborate within and across diverse communities and leverage their academic expertise to benefit society. This skill set will include the capacity to create inclusive teams and experiences, engage with ethical dimensions of leadership, and embrace opportunities to be change agents for positive social impact.
