| INTRODUCTION - DHC Program Overview |
The Davis Honors Challenge is a unique honors program that recognizes a wider range of student talents and appeals to a greater diversity of learning styles than traditional honors programs. Each year the program offers new challenges to students and faculty by offering collaborative, multi-disciplinary seminars on contemporary problems. Students participate in the program on a year by year basis and can apply to participate in the program during any academic year. Each of the program's components builds on the other, giving students the opportunity to practice the skills they learn and develop more complex skills. In the fall, first and second-year students participate in honors discussion sections and then in the winter or spring take the honors seminar and an additional honors discussion section. In addition to the academic portion of the program, the DHC also seeks to build a sense of community among students by offering students the opportunity live in a DHC residence hall, participate in a mentoring program and by sponsoring social events throughout the year. Currently, over 500 students and 55 faculty members participate in the program.
The Davis Honors Challenge (DHC) is an open-application, campus-wide honors program for highly motivated students who want more challenging course work, closer contacts with faculty and dynamic interactions with similarly motivated peers. DHC offers students the opportunity:
The mission of the Davis Honors Challenge is to enhance the
undergraduate experience of highly-motivated students and to
prepare them for the challenges they will face in business, professional
or academic careers. The Davis Honors Challenge accomplishes
this mission by offering an academic program that encourages
students to think critically, learn collaboratively, solve real-world
problems by working in teams, improve oral and written communication
skills, and develop new research skills. It is also the mission
of the Davis Honors Challenge to provide a full range of academic
services to students in the program and to promote creative approaches
to student learning and faculty development on the Davis campus.
Several recent assessments of the state of US higher education have come to the conclusion that traditional, discipline-based programs for both undergraduate and graduate students are not providing the kind of education that students need in order to deal with the complexities, challenges and uncertainties of the workplace of the twenty-first century. A primary criticism of undergraduate education is that teachers pay too much attention to transmitting specific subject matter and not enough to developing critical thinking, analytical interpretation, and oral and written presentation skills. A corollary to this observation is that the traditional lecture-based, content-oriented curriculum fails to meet the needs of capable students with different learning styles.
From the point of view of the business community, the disciplinarity of the traditional curriculum produces students who are often ill-prepared to deal with new issues and new problems that cross disciplinary boundaries. What industry wants are employees who have the flexibility to explore new areas, who are comfortable with and capable of working collaboratively in teams, and who can communicate their work to non-specialists. The general public also expects undergraduate programs to produce flexible life-long learners.
The response to these calls for change in undergraduate education has been called the shift from the Instruction Paradigm to the Learning Paradigm. A key component of this shift is the change from the view that students are passive receivers of knowledge to the view that they are active learners who can be given considerable responsibility for the generation of their own knowledge, usually in a collaboration with other students.
Unlike other honors programs, DHC does not select for GPA or SAT scores. Instead, students must complete an essay application. Selection is based on evidence for
Entering first-year students who file a "Statement of Intent to Register" at UC Davis are mailed detailed information about the DHC application process. Continuing students may obtain information and an application from the DHC Office after the beginning of spring quarter.
Honors Discussion Section: A discussion section in a General Education course that is led by the professor teaching the course. These sections provide students with a more challenging encounter with the material in the course. Enrollment in honors discussion sections is limited to fifteen students.
Honors Course: A General Education Course open only to honors students. Enrollment is usually limited to twenty students.
Honors Seminar: A collaborative, multi-disciplinary exploration of a complex, contemporary problem. Honors seminars seek to model the modern work place by asking students to develop strategies addressing open-ended problems. Students work in teams and gain experience with group dynamics and collaborative decision- making. Each seminar presents its findings to the entire DHC community.
Honors seminars are led by faculty members chosen for their commitment to undergraduate education, their willingness to create an active learning environment, and their ability to nurture higher-level reasoning skills. Seminars are offered only in the winter and spring quarters. Enrollment in each seminar is limited to twenty students.
Honors Contract: A one-unit student designed program of independent study done in conjunction with an upper-division course. Each student develops an individual educational plan, which must be approved by the course instructor.
Third-year Honors Seminar: Team-based work on actual problems drawn from the public or private sector. Each team collaborates with an outside interested party. Students conduct research, analyze data and develop solutions. Final reports are presented to the outside party in oral and written form. Third-year seminars are offered only in winter and spring quarters.
First-Year Students take two honors discussion sections or honors courses, and one honors seminar.
Second-Year Students have the option of taking two honors discussion sections or honors courses, and one honors seminar, OR one honors discussion section or honors course, one honors contract, and one honors seminar.
Third-Year Students must complete two honors contracts and a third-year honors seminar.
Fourth-Year Students have the opportunity to participate in a year long pilot program collaboratively developing and presenting an honors thesis/project.
Students who satisfactorily complete the Davis Honors Challenge receive transcript notation for each academic year of participation.
The opportunity for an enhanced first-year experience resulting from living with other DHC students in the Nova learning community. Students in Nova have the opportunity to participate in a service-learning program.
A special program to prepare DHC students early in their academic career for national and international fellowship competitions.
A mentorship program that pairs first-year DHC students with current students in the fall quarter to help facilitate the transition to college life and answer questions about life as a student at Davis.
Access to the DHC computer lab.
Special library privileges.
Career and software workshops
"Probably the primary reason I chose this university was the personable and dedicated faculty, and this program has been a superb example of those qualities."
"The seminar was very useful in fostering the ability of students to work in groups and complete one collaborative project, rather that several different projects."
"The discussion session was great! One of my best classes."
"After completing an entire year of the DHC program, I can say that I have found it to be a terrific opportunity for learning to work with other students, and with professors on a more individual level."
"Since we were allowed to work extensively in groups, we learned how to organize, plan and produce work efficiently and productively."
The DHC program offers faculty two exciting teaching opportunities, with the honors discussion sections and the honors seminars. The honors discussion section offers faculty the opportunity to try new approaches to teaching general education courses and discussion sections in a supportive setting with motivated students. The honors seminars and year long faculty workshop offer the opportunity for training in new approaches to teaching, such as active learning and collaborative learning techniques, as well as the place to try out new approaches to teaching.
Through a FIPSE grant offered by the U.S. Department of Education, the DHC has developed a year long workshop that provides the faculty members guiding the honors seminars with the skills they need to make the seminars function effectively. During the workshops, faculty have the opportunity to participate in a mutually-supportive teaching community, to discuss theoretical and practical issues pertaining to the seminars, and to attend presentations by guest speakers. Past participants have said that what they learned during the weekly workshops would have an effect on all of the courses they taught.
An on-line Faculty handbook is also available for faculty leading the honors seminars. Each chapter of the handbook covers key issues that arise during an honors seminar and offers ideas for dealing with them. Some of the issues covered in the handbook are: how to form teams, how to foster critical thinking, and how to develop an assessment plan for an honors seminar.
Faculty who lead honors discussion sections also participate in several quarterly meetings to share ideas, and new approaches to providing students with a more challenging encounter with course material. The DHC also provides faculty with feedback from discussion section students two weeks into the quarter and at the end of the quarter.
"In twenty years of teaching, this has been the most exciting class that I've ever taught."
"The students were so interested, so alert and so alive. It was wonderful."
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