Learning-by-Contract is designed to help honors-eligible students receive honors credit for courses not regularly designated as honors. It should be especially useful to students seeking honors credit for higher-level courses within their areas of emphasis. Under the Learning-by-Contract option, the student and the professor enter into an agreement which details the work that must be completed to earn honors credit. Students should expect to receive additional guidance from the professor. Honors credit should not be awarded simply for superior performance on the regular course assignments. Learning-by-Contract is a voluntary program for both the student and the faculty member, but once the commitment is made, it is expected that both parties will uphold the agreement.
Examples of what the contracted honors project might
entail:
1. A written product, appropriate to the discipline, revised repeatedly
with the guidance of the professor of the course. This work should
reflect higher level of understanding of the material and extra effort on
the part of the student. The final draft should be of outstanding
quality.
2. Additional readings, of a different type and/or technical level from
that required for the course. The student should demonstrate an
understanding of these readings through a class presentation, an oral
examination by the professor, or a formal paper.
3. Individual research appropriate to the discipline. This may involve
more laboratory and/or library work than that required of other students
in the course. The research findings should be presented at the end of
the semester.
4. Class presentations and/or prepared portfolios. Designed for work in
the creative or performing arts, class presentations or portfolios must be
judged by appropriate professional standards.
5. Any mutually acceptable project which examines the course material in
both broader and deeper perspectives.
PROGRAM GUIDELINES:
1. Honors work requires a deeper understanding of the material.
Therefore, it is expected that a student must receive a "B" or
better in the regular coursework to earn satisfactory completion of the
contracted work and to earn honors credit for the course.
2. The Honors Learning-by-Contract should be completed by the
honors-eligible student and the professor, with a description of the work
expected of the student and returned to the Honors College no later than
the end of the third week of the semester (first week of the summer
semester). Once approved, the professor and the student will receive
a copy of the contract.
3. Periodically, the type and quantity of honors contracts being
completed in the department should be reviewed. In courses where the
demand is particularly high, perhaps an honors section of the course
should be offered.
4. Honors Learning-by-Contract should be established only for regular
academic courses which meet the requirements for general education or the
requirements within the student's area of concentration.
5. Honors Learning-by-Contract may not be offered for internships, field
work practicums, technical training courses, special readings courses,
special research courses, or correspondence courses.
6. Faculty are encouraged to participate, but they are cautioned to limit
the number of students with Honors contracts so they can give the students
ample guidance, without being overloaded.
7. The Honors College requests that only full-time ranked faculty members
offer Learning-by-Contract. No contract will be approved with teaching
assistants or adjunct faculty.
ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURES:
The student's grade card will only show the grade received in the regular
coursework. The honors designation will be processed separately and hand
posted to the student's transcript after the Honors Learning-by-Contract
Completion Form is processed by the Honors College and the Registrar's
Office. The steps to complete for the Honors Learning Contract are as
follows:
1. After the Honors Learning-by-Contract form has been completed, signed
and approved as indicated in the program guidelines, both the instructor
and student will receive a copy of the approved project.
2. At the end of the semester, the instructor will receive an Honors
Learning-by-Contract Completion Form from the Honors College: