This paper highlights the design process and implementation for an "all majors" undergraduate course that allows students a chance to reconnect with the natural world. During this course students explore a wide range of biological and physical science based topics that seek to highlight human intervention and our impacts on the planet.…

The purpose of "The State of Computer Science in Illinois High Schools Series" is to analyze the landscape, structures, and pathways of computer science (CS) education in Illinois and to create a baseline by which to measure the expansion of CS education in the coming years. Beginning in the 2023-2024 school year, all districts in the…

Developing honors opportunities for students in engineering programs can be difficult, and the experience at the University of Pittsburgh is no exception. Often these students' degree requirements are so demanding that their opportunities for participating in honors experiences are severely limited. In each of the two semesters of their freshman…

Samuel Schuman writes that in the year after the 1983 national conference in Philadelphia, he had a gripe, and was not hesitant to express it. He wondered why an organization like this one does not do a better job of welcoming and orienting newcomers to Honors. At that point one of the elders of the organization, Dr. John Portz, responded,…

Post-pandemic exigencies such as isolation, technology fatigue, and financial pressures can be embraced as opportunities to return to, and strengthen, core values in honors involving student agency and community. This essay considers the pedagogical benefits of receding from technology in the classroom. Drawing on recent empirical research…

This pilot study describes a nascent first-year honors colloquia series using human-centered design (HCD). An interdisciplinary team of instructors redesigned the course with the intention of engaging the whole student in transformative learning and creating a curriculum that addresses problems and opportunities focused on the needs, contexts,…

The imposter phenomenon is characterized as difficulty internalizing success due to feelings of inauthenticity or phoniness despite contrary evidence of competence. Academically talented students in undergraduate honors programs could be more vulnerable to the imposter phenomenon as compared with other undergraduates because of experiences…

This article responds to a lead essay by Richard Badenhausen posing current challenges to honors education and requesting solutions. Frost argues that the place of honors in our undergraduate curriculum needs to be rethought in part because general education core requirements are shrinking; accordingly, the NCHC Basic Characteristics noting honors…

Deeply ingrained in honors culture and curricula is the value of connecting with and supporting students as whole persons. This essay offers personal experiences from the perspective of a compassionate educator who invests in the whole student, exploring how authentic teaching leads to rapport and belonging in the honors community and beyond. The…

Responding to Patricia J. Smith's essay on the appropriateness of professionalizing honors education, the author argues that discussions of specialization and standardization across honors programs should be suspended until academia has sufficiently dealt with the endemic problem of undercompensated contingent labor. The author further suggests…

Developing assessment and feedback strategies to assist students with progression and graduation is a key focus for many higher education institutions. However, student engagement with feedback is often poor and they can find it difficult to act upon; often stating the feedback is generic or of insufficient quality for improvement. Here, I present…

In this reflective essay, we explore how we and our students experienced trust and opened ourselves up to being vulnerable in two iterations of a course that was built on the pedagogies of ungrading and co-creation in teaching and learning (CCTL). As approaches that fall under the broader umbrella of critical pedagogy, ungrading usually involves…

Cognitive injustice, which nourishes and sustains current political, social and economic injustice, has been at the centre of the knowledge production enterprise since the colonisers embarked on their project of dispossession and plunder. In order to achieve global justice, the quest for epistemic justice needs to be brought to the centre of…

Can public university honors programs deliver the benefits of selective undergraduate education within otherwise nonselective institutions? We evaluate the impact of admission to the Honors College at Oregon State University, a large nonselective public university. Admission to the Honors College depends heavily on a numerical application score.…

Weekly, self-evaluative briefs are used to assess students' general wellbeing during the coronavirus crisis. Authors discuss the efficacy of personalized check-ins and remote, interpersonal rapport, suggesting a positive impact on student learning outcomes.