Honors 110 Reflection
Overall, I felt that the University of Cincinnati’s Gateway to Honors class had a lot of good information buried underneath a lot of unnecessary additions. The
essential content of the class, such as learning the requirements to graduate with honors and continue in the University Honors Program, could have been disseminated in about ten minutes for each class, or even electronically without a class at all. The remainder of every class session, usually spent peer reviewing the essays of other students in your predetermined small groups, would quickly turn into a lesson on dealing with difficult people. These peer review sessions also tended to feel like they were accomplishing nothing very productive in particular. Content that needed to be addressed more thoroughly, such as how to use the iWebfolio e-portfolio, was covered in supplemental instruction times, which seems like somewhat of a waste because it could have been done during normal class times. There were several key components to Gateway to Honors that were very good and should be kept, such as getting to hear from upperclassman about their Experiential Learning projects. This kind of information was much more enlightening than talking with other first-year honors students that are unsure of the standards they are being held to. Gateway to Honors provides a solid foundation in the University Honors Program, but the course could be structured differently to be more accessible and provide different, more relevant information and assignments.
essential content of the class, such as learning the requirements to graduate with honors and continue in the University Honors Program, could have been disseminated in about ten minutes for each class, or even electronically without a class at all. The remainder of every class session, usually spent peer reviewing the essays of other students in your predetermined small groups, would quickly turn into a lesson on dealing with difficult people. These peer review sessions also tended to feel like they were accomplishing nothing very productive in particular. Content that needed to be addressed more thoroughly, such as how to use the iWebfolio e-portfolio, was covered in supplemental instruction times, which seems like somewhat of a waste because it could have been done during normal class times. There were several key components to Gateway to Honors that were very good and should be kept, such as getting to hear from upperclassman about their Experiential Learning projects. This kind of information was much more enlightening than talking with other first-year honors students that are unsure of the standards they are being held to. Gateway to Honors provides a solid foundation in the University Honors Program, but the course could be structured differently to be more accessible and provide different, more relevant information and assignments.