Gifted Education Commons^™

Honors In Practice, Volume 19, 2023

Honors in Practice Online Archive

In This Issue:

Dedication to Kathleen B. King

Editor’s Introduction • Ada Long

2022 Presidential Address: The NCHC’s Inclusive Mission • Christina M. McIntyre

NCHC Article Reprinted from Inside Higher Ed: Can Honors Education Reach More Students? • Richard Badenhausen and James Buss

Essays:

Promoting Holistic Wellness in Honors Students through Peer Coaching • Leah Horton, Aaron Conrad, and Patricia J. Smith

Empowering Student Leadership amid Transition: Student-Centered Revision of First-Year Honors Peer Mentoring • Jacob R. Schlange and Tamy Burnett

Relational Peer Review Practices in the Honors Research Methods Classroom: Toward a Scaffolded and Multidisciplinary Model • Holly Riley …

Science And Science Fiction In An Interdisciplinary First-Year Experience Honors Course, John D. Carrell, Robert G. Weiner

Honors in Practice Online Archive

Engineering and pop-culturist instructors team-teach a first-year experience course exploring science through the lenses of history, literature, film, television, and sequential art. Authors present science fiction discourses as unique for synthesizing fields in the humanities and STEM, and they present curricular and co-curricular design strategies for harnessing its potential in the honors classroom. Course objectives and outcomes are presented, with authors noting specific challenges in implementation and emendation. Adaptability and compatibility figure prominently in the successful delivery of the course. A review of literature relating to interdisciplinary education and team-teaching in honors is included.

The Teaching Postdoc: What Four Early Career Scholars Learned From An Honors College, Rachel S. Gross, Kylla Benes, Lauren Collins, Holly Riley

Honors in Practice Online Archive

Authors examine the impact of honors education on four early career scholars who each spent two years in a postdoctoral position (2017–2023), highlighting how initial in-depth exposure to honors curricula and culture positively influences professional identity and teaching practice. Fellowships in a Teaching, Research, and Mentoring (TRM) Program offer nascent scholars from a range of disciplines the opportunity to work with students, extend curricular offerings, and launch career trajectories in a variety of ways. Accounts of these experiences should encourage honors program administrators to look to the ranks of early career scholars as desirable instructors.

A Pedagogical Methodology For Developing And Delivering An Honors Senior Seminar, Carolyn Matheus, Rietta Steffen

Honors in Practice Online Archive

Curricula in honors programs often include a blend of specialized courses and seminars, undergraduate research experiences, and a culminating senior seminar. Authors present a pedagogical approach for developing and delivering an honors senior seminar that can be adapted for delivery in person, online using a learning management system, or in hybrid format. Students evaluate, integrate, and thoughtfully discuss an array of constructs such as happiness, the meaning of life, passion and purpose, values, motivation, community, self-awareness, mentors, diversity, perseverance, leadership, and gratitude through a series of guided readings, videos, lectures, class activities, and assignments. A detailed overview of the rationale …

The Justice Challenge: Honors Endeavors Innovative Pedagogies Through The Grand Challenge Scholars Program, Jonathan D. Kotinek, Rebecca C. Bott-Knutson, Leigh E. Fine, Joy L. Hart, William Ziegler, Paul Knox, Timothy Nichols, Susan Sumner, Heidi Appel, Mark C. Andersen, Mary Bryk, Andrea Radasanu, Joseph Cassady, Keith Garbutt

Honors in Practice Online Archive

Honors practitioners from fourteen colleges and programs across the country at land-grant, public, and minority-serving institutions partner with agricultural experts to secure a United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Higher Education Challenge grant focused on the themes of food justice, climate justice, and sustainable agriculture. Authors describe the program’s origin, objectives, and curricular outgrowths, highlighting its efficacy for empowering students in areas of systems thinking, career readiness, leadership in the service of addressing social needs, and learning through civic engagement.

Cultivating Scholarly Dialogue On And Off The Small College Campus: First-Year Honors Assignments As Collaborative Presentation Opportunities, Kristianne Kalata

Honors in Practice Online Archive

First-year students benefit from a Research Roundtable assignment that promotes multidisciplinary research, builds community, and cultivates scholarly conversation in local and national settings.

Promoting Holistic Wellness In Honors Students Through Peer Coaching, Leah Horton, Aaron Conrad, Patricia J. Smith

Honors in Practice Online Archive

While the conversation in honors about the mental health of students has persisted for over two decades, authors identify a marked increase in the need for student mental health support since the first Generation Z students entered college in 2015. A review of literature in honors indicates upticks in discourse relating to mental health (tn = 66) since 2004, and content analysis shows peaks in publication for 2018 and 2021 (n ≠ 11, respectively). This study describes a peer coaching program that focuses on the holistic wellness and support of honors students. Authors observe a decrease in Behavioral Intervention Team …

Empowering Student Leadership Amid Transition: Student-Centered Revision Of First-Year Honors Peer Mentoring, Jacob R. Schlange, Tamy Burnett

Honors in Practice Online Archive

Precipitated by a surge in enrollment, authors describe the three-phase revision (2017–2021) of a first-year peer mentoring program in honors. Grounded in student input and leadership, large-scale programmatic changes involve curriculum expansion, student leadership development, and co-curricular experiential support. Program objectives, implementation, and outcomes are described.

Relational Peer Review Practices In The Honors Research Methods Classroom: Toward A Scaffolded And Multidisciplinary Model, Holly Riley, Brenna Spurling

Honors in Practice Online Archive

Peer review exercises are an essential part of many educational pedagogy models and have been shown to successfully provide undergraduate students with requisite active learning and critical reflection skills. Teaching the peer review process in an interdisciplinary honors research methods course, however, presents its own set of challenges. As students are exposed to new processes of editorial review, they are also tasked with evaluating material across subjects and discipline areas, making subjective components of editing more difficult. Authors describe a scaffolded model of peer review piloted in an interdisciplinary, upper-level honors research methods and ethics course and provide qualitative analyses …

Environmental Justice Memoir Assignment, Seth T. Reno

Honors in Practice Online Archive

An environmental justice memoir assignment creates a reflective and research-based piece of writing for sophomore-level honors students to consider issues of race, class, and access in their communities.

President’S Address: The Nchc’S Inclusive Mission, Christina Mcintyre

Honors in Practice Online Archive

NCHC president describes and demonstrates the organization’s mission “to support and enhance the community of educational institutions, professionals, and students who participate in collegiate honors education around the world.” Organizational inclusivity, volunteer service, and collaborative achievement are acknowledged and encouraged.

Beer As Text: Brewing As An Interdisciplinary Experiential Learning Endeavour, J. T. Ford, Steve Garrison

Honors in Practice Online Archive

An honors course explores brewing and its connection to human society. History of brewing, science of beer, and practical lectures on beer styles, brewing equipment, and careers in beer production are featured.

Editor's Introduction [Volume19], Ada Long

Honors in Practice Online Archive

In her presidential speech at the 2022 annual conference of the National Collegiate Honors Council, Christina M. McIntryre set the tone for this volume of Honors in Practice. Titled “The NCHC’s Inclusive Mission,” the speech cites an honors alumnus who contributed to the Forum on “The Value of Honors to its Graduates” (JCHC 23.1, spring/summer 2022). McInyre summarizes Quimby Wechter’s essay (145–47) by noting his appreciation of “the value of engaging in course material through meaningful experiential learning; of becoming a part of a community of scholars that is nurturing, not competitive; of classmates focused on challenging each other and …

Can Honors Education Reach More Students?, Richard Badenhausen, James Buss

Honors in Practice Online Archive

In light of some outdated public perceptions of honors education, authors consider the advantages of orienting toward honors programs and practices, maintaining that much of what goes on in the community of honors can be useful, insightful, and easily adapted to meet broader learning objectives and advance university goals. Demonstrating the advantages of working across academic and nonacademic units at their home institutions, authors show how honors offers culturally responsive approaches to advising, community building through peer mentoring, inclusive approaches to admissions, and innovative curricula to meet finely tuned national standards. More opportunities for scholarly exchange (national conferences and print …

Pedagogy Of Engagement, Innovation, And Reflection: Hackathons In Honors Education, Joy L. Hart, Rebecca C. Bott-Knutson, Heidi Appel, Jonathan Kotinek, Paul Knox, William Ziegler

Honors in Practice Online Archive

Honors practitioners from across the country help students confront pressing social problems and develop innovative solutions to issues related to food security. Authors present a cross-institutional hackathon as a flexible framework for teaching multidisciplinary teamwork, innovative and critical thinking, and an appreciation for diverse perspectives. Providing an engaging, relaxed atmosphere and concentrated time for the application and integration of knowledge, hackathons offer honors educators a pedagogical approach that is both transdisciplinary and transformative.

A Creative Midterm Alternative: The Horror Author Poster Session, Annmarie Guzy

Honors in Practice Online Archive

A midterm assignment affords honors students from all disciplines the opportunity for creative expression. Poster subjects cover a range of writers in the genre of horror, and the event showcases students’ artistic abilities while promoting interdisciplinary socialization and a sense of community in honors. A sample list of authors and examples of document design are included.

Studying Abroad At Home? A Virtual International Experience, María Luz García, Sarah Shafi, Camryn Smith, Valentyna Stadnik

Honors in Practice Online Archive

During the period of remote learning caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, honors programs were forced to innovate new digital possibilities for fulfilling the objectives of an honors education. Learning experiences offered during study abroad programs were among the most difficult to provide in a virtual format. The honors program at Eastern Michigan University has developed the Virtual International Experience (VIE) in response to this need. Even as the 2022–2023 academic year marked a transition back to traditional in-person classes, the VIE offers unique tools for learning skills of cultural analysis and cross-cultural communication, particularly as these occur in remote contexts, …

A Mindfulness-Based Honors Education, Annie Lampman

Honors in Practice Online Archive

Developing a mindfulness-based curriculum with a focus on emotional and social intelligence enhances the honors learning experience. Multidisciplinary coursework includes workshops, guest speakers, community engagement, service learning, global learning, and traditional discourses exploring current research and age-old philosophies on living a rich and engaged life.

Front Cover, Masthead, Contents, Call For Submissions, Dedication For Kathleen B. King

Honors in Practice Online Archive

No abstract provided.

About The Authors, About The Nchc Monograph Series, Nchc Monographs & Journals, Publications Order Form, Back Cover

Honors in Practice Online Archive

No abstract provided.

Using Photovoice: Honors Students Explore Youth Vaping, Kandi L. Walker, Joy L. Hart, Alison C. Mcleish

Honors in Practice Online Archive

A photovoice project provides students the opportunity to convey observations and experiences via photographs, share perspectives on these photographs, and critically reflect across photographs from the class. Additionally, students have opportunities to share the work with others.

Creating Experiential Opportunities In Honors With Diminishing Resources, Colin M. Walker, Michael P. Savoie

Honors in Practice Online Archive

Authors consider practical implications of America’s Great Resignation for institutions of higher learning and present a Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) designed around innovative practice in experiential learning. Models and activities relating to Place as Text pedagogy are described; the process of automating oversight is discussed; and activity objectives, milestones, and deliverables are presented.

Simple Is Revealing: Experiencing Public Transportation Illuminates A City, Lucy Morrison

Honors in Practice Online Archive

Author describes how a simple experiential learning assignment can provide an eye-opening, community-building, and integrative learning experience for honors students.

A Sense Of Belonging, Suketu P. Bhavsar

Honors in Practice Online Archive

National Collegiate Honors Council President delivers his address at the NCHC’s 2021 conference, describing that, despite the privileges he has chosen and enjoyed, expressions of otherness have led to feelings of estrangement. Considering the question of how to face this challenge in honors, the author emphasizes the imperative of creating a sense of belonging for every student.

About The Authors, Etc., National Collegiate Honors Council

Honors in Practice Online Archive

About the authors

About the NCHC Monograph Series

NCHC Monographs & Journals

NCHC Publications Order Form

In This Issue

Serving Through Transcribing: Preserving History While Building Community, Julie Centofanti, Mollie Hartup

Honors in Practice Online Archive

Community is a foundational element in honors education. During the global pandemic, students reimagined ways to connect in order to build community and serve one another. Authors describe a virtual collaboration in transcription, where honors students gathered to participate in digital transcribe-a-thons. These informal groupings evolved into a transcribing club that met three times a week (collectively logging more than 1,600 hours) and transcribed over 16,000 historical documents. A study of participating transcribers reveals enhanced historical knowledge, skill building, and opportunities for relationships with students of varying interests and backgrounds despite edicts for social distancing. While a common feature of …

Using Issues In Honors Education To Teach Argumentation, Annmarie Guzy

Honors in Practice Online Archive

Topics and resources from honors education are used to teach argumentation in writing composition. The author discusses efficacies for increasing student awareness of, and reflection on, issues in honors education while engaging first-year students in honors issues that directly affect their lives.

In my first-year honors composition course, I frequently use materials and topics from honors education, ranging from National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC) publications to local campus honors issues, to demonstrate rhetorical analysis and argumentative genres. Rather than using a composition reader, I pair textbook chapters with relevant websites and selected essays from Journal of the National Collegiate Honors …

Building Community During Covid-19 And Beyond: How A Community Garden Strengthened An Honors Community, Steve Garrison

Honors in Practice Online Archive

Amid social distancing restrictions, community gardening becomes a focal point of one honors program. While providing fresh produce to the campus food pantry, this student-run initiative generates a new setting for experiential and service learning.

With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, honors programs across the U.S. struggled to maintain community as higher education moved largely to a virtual setting. Although this shift produced numerous innovations in creative programming, real social interaction greatly diminished. For young adults, social interaction is especially crucial to intellectual and social development, and with community as a key pillar of honors education, compensating for this …

Using Algorithmic Imaginaries And Uncanny Pedagogy To Facilitate Interdisciplinary Research And Digital Scholarship, Philip L. Frana

Honors in Practice Online Archive

An interdisciplinary honors course titled “Minds, Machines, and Meaning” incorporates the notion of the algorithmic imaginary, which explains how people make use of algorithms to create new information infrastructures and communities and how these algorithms shape us in turn. Describing a culminating writing assignment in speculative research, the author explains how this course facilitates interdisciplinary research while fostering student and faculty growth, and he reflects on the possibility of its future variation, the uncanny valley of algorithmic anti-humanism.

Constitution Day: An Opportunity For Honors Colleges To Promote Civic Engagement, Richard J. Hardy, Paul A. Schlag, Keith Boeckelman

Honors in Practice Online Archive

The United States Constitution is the bedrock upon which government and society rest, yet its precepts remain generally unfamiliar to contemporary college students. Considering the extent of its impact and the misinformation regarding its purpose, content, efficacy, and limits, the authors provide suggestions for civic learning based on this seminal document. While all American educational institutions receiving federal funding must celebrate the U.S. Constitution each year on or near September 17th, research suggests that comprehensive and integrative instruction is scarce. Citing a lack of formal Constitution Day programming among honors colleges, the authors present a multi-modal framework for honors students …