Honors Course Guidelines for Independent Study Sections

According to the Lake Land College catalog course description, “independent study is designed to permit the student to pursue a course of study not typically available under traditional course structure.” In other words, it is an opportunity for a student to investigate an area of interest associated with course content to a larger extent than has been done in the course. In addition, an independent study may be a special project for a student with unusual interests and abilities.

Independent study may be done for a maximum of four (4) credit hours per semester and may be used as elective credit for the associates in arts, science, or applied science degrees. The four-credit-hour limitation may be waived for students enrolled in the honors program. A minimum of thirty (30) hours of time is expected for each one hour of academic honors credit in independent study.

Students must contract with an appropriate instructor for the objectives to be accomplished in the course. Approval by the Division Chairperson, Director of the Honors Program, and Vice President for Academic Services is also necessary.

Considering an Independent Study

1. Decide upon the exact area of interest to you. In other words, narrow down your area of inquiry. For example, if a student is interested in abnormal psychology, they must decide on one particular aspect of this vast field to explore. For example, they may decide to investigate the therapies used by area nursing homes to treat elderly individuals suffering from dementia.
2. Do some research to see if your idea is workable. Find out if there are sufficient resources readily available to you to pursue a quality, in-depth study.
3. Review Bloom’s Taxonomy (required for contract), formulate preliminary study questions, and compose a proposal of your objectives and specify how they could be met.

Setting up an Independent Study

1. Within the first month of classes, check with an instructor qualified in the area of the proposed study to see if he/she is available and willing to act as your supervisor for 1-4 credit hours. If so, set up a meeting to review your project proposal and to create objectives and a timeline for completion.
2. Once developed, the student will complete the Honors Independent Student contract and provide it to their supervisor for their approval and signature. Other signatures required are the Division Chair, the Director of Honors Program, and the Vice President for Academics. The student and supervisor will determine who is responsible for obtaining the remaining signatures. Honors Independent Study Contract is due to the Director of Honors Program with all signatures no later than mid-term.
3. Upon final approval, the student and instructor will receive a copy of the signed Honors Independent Study contract. The student’s official college transcript will have (H) next to the course. The original contract will be filed in the Admissions & Records Office, and a copy will be filed with the Vice President for Academic Services.
4. Students approved for independent study will be charged for tuition and fees per credit hour for the course (INS299).

Bloom’s Taxonomy

In 1956, Benjamin Bloom headed a group of educational psychologists who developed a classification of levels of intellectual behavior important in learning. The taxonomy consists of six levels that involve knowledge and the development of intellectual skills, from the simple recall or recognition of facts, the lowest level, through increasingly complex and abstract mental levels, to the highest level, which is creation.

These six levels are described below. To distinguish a course as one that merits HONORS designation, it must involve the first three levels as well as intellectual behaviors that fall within the upper three levels.

Level 1 – Knowledge (Remembering)

This requires the observation and recall of information and the knowledge of specific terms, concepts, principles, theories, dates, events, and places. Skills will include remembering, memorizing, recognizing, recalling, and identifying.

Some key verbs are: arrange, define, describe, duplicate, identify, know, label, list, match, memorize, name, order, quote, recognize, relate, recall, repeat, reproduce, select, state.

Assessment cues may include:

• Who, what, when, where, how…?
• Describe…

Examples of the demonstration of knowledge may be:

• Recite a policy, poem, or passage.
• Quote prices from memory to a customer.
• List the safety rules.
• Make a timeline of the main events.
• Define the 6 levels of Bloom’s taxonomy.

Level 2 – Comprehension (Understanding)

This requires the ability to understand information, to grasp meaning, to translate knowledge into a new context, to be able to interpret and explain facts, to be able to state a problem in one’s own words, to order and group, to organize and select facts and ideas, to infer causes, and to predict consequences.

Some key verbs are: comprehend, classify, convert, describe, differentiate, discuss, explain, estimate, extend, generalize, give examples, identify, infer, interpret, paraphrase, predict, recognize, report, restate, review, select, summarize, and translate.

Assessment cues may include:

• Summarize…
• Contrast…
• Predict…
• Distinguish…
• Discuss…
• Extend…
• Retell…

Examples of the demonstration of comprehension may be:

• Rewrite the principles of test writing.
• Explain in one’s own words the steps for performing a complex task.
• Translate an equation into a computer spreadsheet.
• Prepare a flow chart to illustrate the sequence of events.
• Explain the purpose of Bloom’s taxonomy.

Level 3 – Application (Applying Knowledge)

This requires the ability to use a concept, method, or theory in a new situation, to solve problems using specific facts, rules, or knowledge, and to apply what was learned in the classroom into novel situations in life.

Some key verbs are: apply, calculate, change, choose, complete, construct, demonstrate, dramatize, employ, examine, experiment, illustrate, manipulate, modify, operate, practice, predict, prepare, produce, relate, schedule, show, sketch, solve, use, and write.

Assessment cues may include:

• How is…an example of…?
• How is…related to…?
• Why is…significant?
• Apply this information to produce…result.

Examples of the demonstration of application may be:

• Use a manual to calculate an employee’s vacation time.
• Apply laws of statistics to evaluate the reliability of a written test.
• Design a market strategy for your product using a known strategy as a model.
• Write an instructional objective for each level of Bloom’s taxonomy.

Level 4 – Analysis (Differentiating among component parts) – Honors Level

This requires the ability to identify the organizational structure of something, to identify parts, their relationships, and their organizing principles, to see patterns, to distinguish between facts and inferences, to identify motives, to recognize hidden meanings, and to subdivide something to show how it is put together.

Some key verbs are: analyze, break down, compare, connect, contrast, diagram, deconstruct, discriminate, distinguish, explain, identify, illustrate, infer, order, outline, question, relate, select, separate, and test.

Assessment cues may include:

• What are the parts or features of…?
• Classify…according to…
• Outline/diagram…
• How does…compare/contrast with…?
• What evidence can you list for…?

Examples of the demonstration of analysis may be:

• Troubleshoot a piece of equipment by using logical deduction.
• Recognize logical fallacies in reasoning.
• Conduct an investigation to produce information to support a point of view.
• Reflection through journaling.
• Gather information from a department and select the required tasks for training.
• Make a family tree showing relationships.
• Compare and contrast Bloom’s cognitive domain taxonomy with his taxonomy for the affective or emotional domain.

Level 5 – Evaluation (Critiquing or justifying) – Honors Level

This requires the ability to make judgments about the value of ideas or materials, to compare and discriminate between ideas, to assess the value of theories and presentations, to make choices based on reasoned argument, to verify the value of evidence, to recognize subjectivity, to make value decisions about issues, to resolve controversies or differences of opinion, and to develop opinions, judgments, or decisions.

Some key verbs are: appraise, argue, assess, choose, compare, conclude, contrast, convince, criticize, critique, decide, defend, estimate, evaluate, explain, grade, interpret, judge, justify, measure, predict, rank, rate, recommend, score, support, test, value.

Assessment cues may include:

• Do you agree…?
• What do you think about…?
• What is the most important…?
• How would you decide about…?
• What criteria would you use to assess…?
• Would it be better if…?
• Challenge the assumption that…

Examples of the demonstration of evaluation may be:

• Select the most effective solution.
• Hire the most qualified candidate.
• Explain and justify a new budget.
• Write a letter to…advising of changes needed at…
• Judge the effectiveness of writing objectives using Bloom’s taxonomy.

Level 6 – Synthesis (Creating, designing, and planning) – Honors Level

This requires the ability to use old ideas to create new ones, to generalize from given facts, to relate knowledge from several areas, to predict, to draw conclusions, and to create a unique, original product from a combination of ideas.

Some key verbs are: arrange, assemble, collect, combine, compile, compose, construct, create, design, develop, devise, explain, formulate, generate, integrate, invent, manage, modify, organize, plan, prepare, propose, rearrange, reconstruct, relate, reorganize, revise, rewrite, set up, substitute, summarize, write.

Assessment cues may include:

• What would you predict/infer from…?
• What ideas can you add to…?
• How would you create/design a new…?
• What might happen if you combined…?
• What solutions would you suggest for…?

Examples of the demonstration of synthesis may be:

• Build a structure or pattern from diverse elements.
• Put parts together to form a whole, with emphasis on creating a new meaning or structure.
• Write a company operations or process manual.
• Design a machine to perform a specific task.
• Integrate training from several sources to solve a problem.
• Revise a process to improve the outcome.
• Sell an idea.
• Design a classification scheme for writing educational objectives that combines Bloom’s cognitive and affective domains.