Gifted Education Commons^™

Honours In Australia: Globally Recognised Preparation For A Career In Research (Or Elsewhere), Deirdre Barron, Margaret Zeegers

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

In this essay we consider the unique position of honours within undergraduate programs in Australian universities and the consequent implications for constructing pathways to research. A tension arises in academic disciplines that see honours as a fourth-year skilling program focused on the workplace when, at the institutional level, honours is positioned as the prerequisite for entry to a PhD. What emerges are competing pressures for advanced vocational training and preliminary research training for doctoral research. The tension is exacerbated by the need for universities to generate research cohorts in order to attract the funding that such cohorts bring to a …

The Reflective Professional Honours Programme Of The Dutch Saxion Universities, Trijntje Van Dijk

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

The Reflective Professional Honours Programme of the Saxion Universities of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands centers on a profile of what graduates of the program should have accomplished in addition to their regular bachelor’s degree program. The development team for our programme first investigated what the profile should be, interviewing roughly three hundred business representatives to discover what they considered an excellent honours student profile. All the interview information was transformed into a concept profile. An Honours Council evaluated the concept, and the project team adapted it. Then the steering committee evaluated and approved it after further adaption. Finally the …

“Honours” In The United Kingdom: More Than A Difference Of Spelling In Honors Education, Margaret Lamb

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

The first edition of Jane Walmsley’s book Brit-Think, Ameri-Think: A Transatlantic Survival Guide came out in 1986. I noticed the book because she was a familiar name, a TV broadcaster, American by birth (like me), married to a Brit (like me), and had lived in England for two decades (I was well into my first decade in England). I recognized from my own experience many of the examples (often hilarious) cited by the author.

Honors In The Master’S: A New Perspective?, Stan Van Ginkel, Pierre Van Eijl, Albert Pilot, John Zubizarreta

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

In Europe, there is a growing interest in honors education, not only in the bachelor’s but also in the master’s degree. The Dutch government, for instance, is actively promoting excellence in both bachelor’s and master’s degrees through honors programs (Siriusteam). Most Dutch universities have honors programs at the bachelor’s level or are developing them. Some universities have also recently introduced honors into their master’s programs, stimulated by recent publications (van Eijl, Wolfensberger & Pilot). Because honors master’s programs are a new phenomenon in higher education and are still exceptional in the United States of America, we have undertaken a research …

Team-Based Learning In Honors Science Education: The Benefit Of Complex Writing Assignments, Fred Wiegant, Johannas Boonstra, Anton Peeters, Karin Scager

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

Cooperative learning and team-based learning have been widely recognized as beneficial strategies to improve all levels of education, including higher education. The benefits have been widely researched and are now well-established (Johnson et al.; Michaelsen, Bauman Knight, et al.; Michaelsen & Sweet; Slavin; Springer et al.). The studies have indicated a positive relationship between cooperative learning and student effort, achievement, persistence, and motivation. Just forming groups, however, does not automatically lead to better learning and motivation; cooperation flourishes only under appropriate conditions (Fink; Gillies; Parmelee et al.). This potential for cooperation and learning is maximal when groups are structured in …

An American Honors Program In The Arab Gulf, Byrad Yyelland

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

The first Western honors program to be established in the Arab Gulf is offered in Doha, Qatar, on a small satellite campus of an American university. Doha is the capital city of Qatar, a sovereign Arab state physically located on a small peninsula bordering Saudi Arabia in the south and jutting into the Persian Gulf. With a population of only 1.7 million, roughly 11 % of whom are Qatar nationals (according to the 2010 Qatar Census), Qatar “ranks as the world’s richest country per capita,” due primarily to wise investment and control of “the third largest reserves of natural gas …

On Training Excellent Students In China And The United States, Ikuo Kitagaki, Donglin Li

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

In many countries, the training of researchers who will be internationally competitive has become a primary objective, leading to extensive discussion of the curricula, educational content, and methods that may ensure a high level of student achievement. In this global climate, only the most excellent students have the potential to engage successfully in international competition and become leading-edge researchers in the world-wide marketplace of research. Thus, any country seeking to be internationally competitive must consider ways to further raise the level of excellent students.

Looping Up Professional Reflection In Honours Programmes, Trigntje Van Dijk

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

Within the Saxion Universities in the Netherlands, a profile of the “Reflective Professional” comprises a number of competencies that the honours programmes are designed to develop and support. The process of developing these competencies involves three loops of learning, characterized by three sets of reflective questions so that, as a whole, they loop up professional reflection. The goal is to inspire students and their coaches to consider the phases of learning with conscious awareness and focus.

Qualities Honours Students Look For In Faculty And Courses, Revisited, Marca V.C. Wolfensberger, G Johan Offringa

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

In the eight years since the original version of this study was published, a lot has changed in the Dutch honours landscape. Stimulated by governmental measures, many new honours programmes were—and are being— developed, not only within academic universities but now also in more than half of the universities of applied sciences (UAS) (Wolfensberger, Jong & Drayer). Honours programmes, which we define as programmes that are specifically developed to offer educational opportunities that are more challenging and demanding than regular programmes, are recognized as one of the primary means to evoke excellence in talented students. They are meant for the …

Establishing A Latin American University Honors Program: The Case Of Campus Monterrey, Tecnológico De Monterrey, Mexico, Mohammad Ayub Khan, Ruben Morales-Menendez

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

The university honors program of Campus Monterrey, Tecnológico de Monterrey, evolved from the international degree program that was first offered in the spring semester of 2002. Originally six programs were offered in the School of Business and School of Engineering: • BA Business Administration • BA Financial Management • BA Finance and Accounting • BA Marketing • BA International Business • BS Industrial and Systems Engineering Once introduced, the international degree program received such a good response from the student community that, in the following semesters, the number of programs available in an international version increased from six to eleven …

Nchc Publication Order Form

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

Purchases may be made by calling (402) 472-9150, emailing [email protected], visiting our website , or mailing a check or money order payable to: NCHC • University of Nebraska–Lincoln • 1100 Neihardt Residence Center • 540 N. 16th Street • Lincoln, NE 68588-0627.

Honors In Chile: New Engagements In The Higher Education System, Juan Carlos Skewes, Carlos Alberto Cioce Sampaio, Frederick J. Conway

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

Honors programs are rare in Latin America, and in Chile they were unknown before 2003. At the Universidad Austral de Chile, an interdisciplinary group of scholars linked to environmental studies put forward a pilot project for implementing a new experience in higher education. Challenged by an educational environment where (i) apathy and mediocrity have taken over the classrooms, (ii) monodisciplinary training rules the university campus, and (iii) authoritarian teaching persists, this has been an experiment in new ways of approaching the classroom. Stimulated by experiences in the USA, a project proposal was written, finding support in the Chilean Secretary of …

Building A Vibrant Honors Community Among Commuter Students, Stan Van Ginkel, Pierre Van Eijl, Albert Pilot, John Zubizarreta

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

Research has shown that honors programs often provide active networks of students that contribute to the development of the students’ talents (De Boer & van Eijl; van Eijl, Pilot & Wolfensberger). These contact networks are also described as “learning communities” (Wilson et al.) and “honors communities” (van Eijl, Pilot & Wolfensberger). Such communities foster productive interaction among students, teachers, and other professionals during their affiliation with the program and beyond. As a result of such connections, students discover new learning opportunities and gain experience in organizational and leadership skills. In honors programs, in particular, these contacts are an essential component …

Laboratories For Educational Innovation: Honors Programs In The Netherlands, Marca V.C. Wolfensberger, Pierre Van Eijl, Albert Pilot

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

In Dutch universities, honors programs are a fast growing development. The first such programs started in 1993. Twenty years later a large number of programs are implemented at nearly all research universities and also at many universities of applied sciences in the Netherlands. Recent data have revealed significant diversity in the types and structures of honors programs, many of which have functioned as laboratories of educational innovation within university- wide curricula and had positive spin-off effects on the regular curriculum and also on the transfer of talented students from secondary into higher education. Especially in the last decade, these spin-offs …

Journal Of The National Collegiate Honors Council

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

CONTENTS

Call for Papers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Submission Guidelines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Dedication to Marca …

Editor's Introduction

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

This issue of JNCHC begins by focusing with a wide-angle lens on the panorama of honors programs that stretch across the globe from Chile to China and from Qatar to Australia. The focus then shifts to a close-up shot of honors in one European country, the Netherlands, which has produced multiple programs and an abundance of research about them. This issue on “Honors Around the Globe” also provides insight into the history of honors, with its origins in the British educational system, its importation into the United States less than a century ago, and its exportation within the last couple …

Selecting For Honors Programs: A Matter Of Motivational Awareness, Ron Weerheijm, Jeske Weerheijm

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

The honors programs at the Universities of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands were almost all initiated around 2008 and thus so far have yielded few data about outcomes, but we have a broad consensus that the honors programs should provide a better-than-average professional for the workplace and should give students a chance to perform to the best of their abilities. With this shared mission, we have had an ongoing discussion during our recruitment process about what criteria to use in the selection process. In January of 2012, there was an online discussion on the NCHC listserv about the role of …

A Mixed Methods Study Of How The Transition Process Impacts The Autonomy Of Pre-Service Secondary Mathematics Teachers, Linda Kasal Fusco

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This mixed methods study sought to identify the impact that transition into the practice of teaching had on the autonomy of pre-service secondary teachers of Mathematics.  It was based on the belief that a Mathematics teacher’s autonomy depended on: beliefs about Mathematics and how it was learned, reflections on the teaching practice, and social constraints of a secondary school culture. Data was collected between January 2009 and March 2010.  In Phase I (Quantitative) the participants (N = 30), selected from ten State University of New York teacher preparation colleges and universities, completed five instruments to quantify the three factors of …

Evaluation Of An Adult Education Technology Program, Iwasan D. Kejawa

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Theses and Other Student Research

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the adult education technology program at a chartered alternative adult education center in Florida. The adult education center had a low rate of students passing the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT). This study examined the impact of the use of computer technology in an effort to improve student learning in mathematics, reading, and science. Computers at the institution were used by all students for tutorials to prepare them for the FCAT and to obtain a high school diploma. The research questions for this study were as follows: 1. Is the education technology …

Raising The Bar: Encouraging High Level Thinking In Online Discussion Forums, Mary M. Christopher, Julie A. Thomas, Mary K. Tallent-Runnels

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

More universities are offering online instruction for students though we know little about effective online learning. Some have found online instruction increases student participation while others have reported that students prefer the traditional face-to-face format This study of gifted education graduate students follows the expectation that online students ought to have time to be more thoughtful with online course interactions as compared to the time-constrained interactions in a face-to-face course. Researchers evaluated students’ thinking levels (as per Bloom’s Taxonomy) in the online discussion forums required by a graduate course in gifted education. Results indicate there was no relationship between the …

The National Honors Report, Volume Xxiv, Number 2, Summer 2003

The National Honors Report

LEARNING COMES TOGETHER

1. The Age of Discovery and the Age of Transition: Discovery and Research in the New Millennium by William Knox ... l Knox asks us to rethink the idea of discovery in an age when a new discovery one minute becomes old news in the next. What will the future hold in an age of accelerated contact? How are honors programs to respond to such rapid change?

2. Travels with Noah by Brian Adler ... 5 Several journeys with Adler's son, Noah, lead to a discovery about monuments of the intellect as well as existing, physical monuments. …

The National Honors Report, Volume Xxiii, Number 4, Winter 2003

The National Honors Report

ASSESSMENT

Figuring It Out

Introduction

1. "Just a Buzzword?" by Margaret Brown ... 1 In the next article by Ron Dotterer he asks if assessment will still be a hot topic in 2008-and he was writing in 1988. What is the answer?

Why Do It?

2. "Assessment: A Retrospective Look" by Ron Dotterer ... 2 In this article, Ron Dotterer, at that time honors director at Susquehanna University and a member of the NCHC Executive Committee, provides an overview of assessment, which he calls "a new and improved brand name" for evaluation. Assessment, Dotterer asserts, focuses too much on outcomes. …

The National Honors Report, Volume Xxiv, Number 1, Spring 2003

The National Honors Report

THE GEOGRAPHY OF HONORS

1. Think, Believe, Act on a Himalayan Scale by Rosalie Otero … 1 In Rosalie Otero's Presidential Speech, she reminds us that we learn through the quest for learning. Setting our sights higher is the challenge of honors: finding a new and different view of the world and getting there with groups more and more diversified and through means expanding to include virtual journeys.

2. Earl Brown: Colleague, Leader, and Friend by Bob Spurrier … 6 A tribute to former Executive Secretary Treasurer Earl Brown upon his reaching the top of his profession, thanks to the …

The National Honors Report, Volume Xxiii, Number 3, Fall 2002

The National Honors Report

Peaks & Valleys

Those Pesky Parents

1. "Parent to Parent" by P.K.Weston ... 1 Let those parents know what they need to know: inevitable changes in their sons and daughters; practical issues; the program's responsibilities in their children's education. Includes letter to parents & copy of the program outline with notes. Weston says to borrow freely.

2. "From Fred's Mother" ... 5 This letter has been reprinted several times to remind us what honors is all about. Fred's mother says "teach my son." Introduction by Freddye Davy, Hampton University. As always, thanks for sharing this letter, Freddye.

Those Irksome Issues …

The National Honors Report, Volume Xxiii, Number 1, Spring 2002

The National Honors Report

THE THREE R’S & MORE

RECRUITING

1. "Selling People on Honors Education" by Lydia Daniel & Joan Digby … l A challenge to honors folks to promote the value of honors education on the local level. With a generic press release that can be adapted to fit particular honors programs' or honors colleges' needs. How to promote honors as well as a specific program or college. How to buy the new third edition of Peterson's Honors Programs and Colleges. From the co-chairs of the NCHC's External Relations Committee.

1. A. PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAMS

2. "A Summer of Excellence" by Gerald T. Szymanski …

The National Honors Report, Volume Xxiii, Number 2, Summer 2002

The National Honors Report

What do they mean?

1. "Numbers, Mountains, and the Supersonic Fly" by Len Zane ... 1 Zane in his Presidential Address (San Francisco, 1996) told us about Mount Whitney, height 14496.811 feet-as Zane says, that's 14496 and 811 thousands of a foot. How do they know, he asks. How? He reminds us to be skeptical of the beguiling effect of numbers. Originally appeared in Winter 1997 issue.

2. "Number Theory" by Margaret Brown ... 6 What can we do with all the reports from NCHC committees, with all of the reports from the NCHC office?

What kind of numbers are …

The National Honors Report, Volume Xxii, Number 3, Fall 2001

The National Honors Report

Cover Story

"Highlights" by Rosalie Otero ... 1 From Conference Planner, Rosalie Otero, about the upcoming conference, "Fields of Discovery." Otero says, "[o]ur conference offers fields of discovery to participants in the conference. Honors Programs are sites where we discover new academic fields, explore links between them, and stimulate field-based leaming .... Chicago's diverse ethnic neighborhoods, museums, public art, education and research facilities, and business enterprises invite many fields of exploration that have bearing on honors education." Conference at a Glance by Rosalie Otero … 2

A Special Invitation

1. "2001 NCHC Conference Session on Honors Advising" by Bob Spurrier …

The National Honors Report, Volume Xxii, Number 1, Spring 2001

The National Honors Report

Cover Story

"NCHC Stepping Stones: Imagination, Ideas, Discovery" by Joan Digby …1 In her presidential address, Joan Digby, whose conference was titled "The World of Imagination," has always been interested in the creative process. For Digby, honors education is life-long learning, a honing of skills made possible by honors that allow us to march through those open fields of discovery.

Teaching

1. "Design Your Own Space Mission" by Carol Browning …4 Browning, Chair of the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, describes an honors section of a science research for non-majors. A good example of using faculty resources to share …

The National Honors Report, Volume Xxii, Number 2, Summer 2001

The National Honors Report

COVER STORY

"Growing More Than Corn" by Daniel Abben, Lynn Cunningham, Shauna Duffy, Julie Kretzmer, Jason McLaughlin, Mary Beth Pistulka, Katy Rose Resnick, Alexa Spencer & Emily Wolf ... 1 Nine honors students from Clarke College, Dubuque, Iowa in required two-semester honors colloquium create their own website about multiculturalism and diversity in Iowa. With Katherine "Katie" Fischer, instructor. The philosophy and process (and its many zigs and zags) behind it. Website based on students' individual research topics, which include Orthodox Hasidic Jews in Postville, IA; women's role in Catholic church; militia groups; and minorities in honors programs. Presented at the …

The National Honors Report, Volume Xxi, Number 4, Winter 2001: Classics Ii

The National Honors Report

1. "Issues in Honors” by Robert C. Angel… 1 Reprinted from The Superior Student Vol. 3, No.4 (May/June 1960): 18-24. A 1960's presentation which raises concerns faced now, forty years later: admission, enrichment or acceleration, for example. Angell poses questions, makes suggestions based on his experience but always puts forth an alternative point of view for consideration. A thoughtful presentation. For newcomers to honors as well as faculty and directors in established programs.

2. "[T]he ICSS 1959” by Joseph W. Cohen… 6 Reprinted from The Superior Student Vol. 2, No.6 (October 1959): 3-5. From an opening address by one ofthe …