What is an Honors Course?
September 2004
By Cheryl Achterberg, Ph.D.
Honors programs are found in the majority of four-year higher education institutions across the country,
as well as many community colleges. Many are new within the last 10 years. When teaching assignments
are made, neither department heads nor course instructors may know what is expected of an honors
course. The purpose of this article is to briefly describe the ideal structure, content, and pedagogy of an
honors course.
Honors courses are many things to many people, and given the variation of programs across the country,
as well as disciplines, differences should be expected. However, honors courses are emphatically not
acceleration classes (moving through the same material more rapidly) nor should they ever be “more of
the same” (20 problems instead of 10, etc.). Rather, honors courses are learning enrichments
characterized by different expectations of both faculty and students.
Structure
Most colleges agree that honors courses should generally be small and seminar-based with active
discussion. The majority of students should be honors students to ensure that the caliber of work,
discussion, questions, and debate holds to a higher standard. Honors students are defined differently by
institution, but relative to their peers, they should possess a stronger academic performance record, more
ambitious learning goals, and a large capacity for and eagerness to work. They also tend to be more selfdirected, challenging, and accelerated. Small classes allow these students to challenge each other under
the guidance of a disciplinary expert to achieve learning that would not be possible in a non-honors class.
Content
The purpose of an honors course is to show students how knowledge in the field is discovered,
developed, evaluated, argued, tested, compared, and applied. Honors students should learn what
research looks like in the field and understand the scholarship behind the discipline’s core principles.
Honors courses often are multidisciplinary and may also emphasize internationalization or diversity.
Typically reading of more depth than ordinary is required, along with original interpretation, writing and
research. Primary sources should be emphasized, and students should be made to confront these
sources in discussion and writing. Assignments should stress theory, analysis, and synthesis of
principles, studies, concepts, and applications. Original research, whether it be in the library, field,
laboratory, or on the internet, should be required in most disciplines, along with a culminating project that
is publicly shared and critiqued (see below).
Pedagogy or process
Needless to say, honors courses should use active and collaborative learning with considerable
exchange between the instructor and the students. Innovative or experimental teaching techniques
should be encouraged so long as the emphasis is on critical thinking. Students should express
themselves verbally, initiate questions, engage in intellectual debate, and be required to “write to learn”
(with opportunities for revision).
They may conduct interviews, keep journals, write term papers, work on advanced problem sets, produce
creative solutions to complex problems, or engage in service learning. Some type of culminating project
should also be required; students might design a product, produce a play, or engage in some other kind
of creative expression (depending on the discipline). Yet the honors seminar is not identical to a graduate
seminar. The honors students’ innate abilities may be as strong or stronger, but it should not be assumed
that honors students know their way around the field or its resources; the 18- or 20-year-old is also not as
experienced or developmentally mature as graduate students are expected to be.
For example, an honors course in calculus would contain more theory, ask students to derive formulas,
and apply formulas or problem-solving strategies in novel situations. An honors course in nutrition might
ask students to critically analyze the premises of the latest popular diet regimen, and an honors course in
English would have students read and react to the major critiques of a great novel, not just the novel or
summaries thereof.
A successful honors course is the result of a thriving, symbiotic relationship among the students and with
the course instructor. Structure or content alone won’t produce an honors outcome, nor will outstanding
teaching, nor the mere gathering of honors students. All four elements are necessary in a dynamic,
interactive environment that fosters intellectual risk-taking. Teaching an honors course is the highlight of
many faculty careers. With this background, I hope that you create many successful honors opportunities
in your own department or college.
Cheryl Achterberg is dean of Schreyer Honors College at Penn State University.