Thank you for your interest in developing an honors option course. The idea is that you will be allowing students the option of taking your class as either a regular version or an honors version. The process for generating an honors section of your course is described below.
1. Developing Content
Making an honors option course means adding to or altering the content to an existing course to make it suitable for earning the "honors" distinction. For example, you might add some extra sections of a text you are using, which honors students will study independently and/or with the help of a couple Panopto lectures. Or you might require an additional research paper, class presentation, etc. You should develop a separate version of the syllabus for honors students or an addendum explaining the extra requirements.
2. Determining Access
There is no reason to limit the course to those enrolled in the Frederick Honors College at Greensburg. You can decide whether anyone can opt to take the course, only qualified students (say, those with at least a 3.5 GPAA), or only honors students. If you do want to be selective in who you allow in, we suggest you indicate that instructor approval is required for registering for the course.
However, as a general rule, we request that you allow any member of the honors college who meets the prerequisites for the regular version of the course to enroll in the honors section.
3. Requesting an Honors Section
Requesting an Honors Section is a two-step process: a) Complete the online Honors Section Proposal Form; and b) inform your division chair of your plans.
a) The Honors Section Proposal will automatically be submitted to Honors College management personnel. We will read the proposal and offer feedback on proposed honors content if we think there are any concerns. The proposal allows us to keep track of the honors courses being offered in the upcoming semester and make honors students aware that the option exists. We will maintain a list of all honors courses offered for a given semester.
You only need to fill out the form the first time you create an honors option for a given course. In future semesters you can skip this step, but we still ask that you inform us (at upghonor@pitt.edu) when you offer the honor section in any future semester so we can maintain an up-to-date list of honors courses.
b) Let your division chair know that you plan to offer an honors option for one (or more) of your courses. You can do this when you normally make course requests. It is, technically, a second section of the same course, so add the honors version as a second section with the exact same name and course number as the original. The only difference is that in the box where you indicate gen ed information, put "honors."
If you decide to offer an honors section after you have already submitted course requests, you should still complete the online Honors Section Proposal; then just notify your division chair and the registrar that you wish to add an honors section to a course.
4. Managing Canvas Access
The registrar’s office will merge your new honors section with the regular section of the course on Canvas, so while technically there are two different sections of the course with different rosters, they will be combined in the Canvas page for the regular section. When submitting final grades, however, remember that your honors students will occupy a separate roster.
Questions? Direct any questions or comments you have to upghonor@pitt.edu. Please feel free to give us feedback on your experience with this process.