Turning Challenges into Gold: Cross-Listing Introductory Honors with Advanced Classes in the Visual Arts

INTRODUCTION Jim Lacey has offered an insight on the benefits of challenging courses for honors students: he prefers to think of an honors course not as a highly specialized, intensive-writing, and discipline-specific academic course but as the ideal general education course: "The courses themselves, I believe, should be challenging, different, and fun for instructors and students alike. When possible, they should be team taught and interdisciplinary; they should involve off-campus activities; and, instead of papers and exams, they should feature projects, preferably in teams" (79). During the early planning stages of the new course called Museum Experience at South Dakota State University, the faculty member serving as project director had all these components in mind. While this course was specific to the honors college and institutional context of SDSU, its conception, development, and implementation offer an example of how an honors course can evolve from the merger of national ideals with local needs. BACKGROUND: TAKING ON A NEW CHALLENGE The honors college at South Dakota State University (a public land-grant institution of almost 13,000 students) is well integrated with numerous departments and programs. Currently including over 350 students and still expanding, the honors college offers general education courses, interdisciplinary colloquia, and contracted upper-division classes that integrate the regular course content with opportunities for research, service, leadership, and travel. In order to graduate with honors college distinction, students entering the college must complete fifteen credits of honors general education (lower-division) courses, which are offered in collaboration with the respective departments, in addition to three to six upper-division credits within the students' chosen major, three to six credits of honors colloquia, and three credits of research-driven honors independent study under supervision of a faculty mentor. In addition to regular offerings of art appreciation classes in large-size classroom settings and online, the Department of Visual Arts at South Dakota State University periodically offers a small-size class specifically for honors students. Art Appreciation is an introductory theoretical course at the lower-division level, aimed at teaching students how to look at art. Like the regular art appreciation courses, the honors section fulfills a general education requirement for graduation and does not have any prerequisites; therefore, it can be taken by any honors students, regardless of their chosen major. Aligned with the vision of the honors dean, Timothy Nichols, that "Honors is an enriched, challenging, personalized pathway that allows talented, motivated students in any major to make the most of their academic experience at SDSU" , the honors art appreciation course strives to push both students and faculty outside their comfort zones. In the words of Alexander Werth, faculty members involved in teaching honors courses in general have the unique opportunity "to explore new pedagogical strategies and settings" (44). The honors art appreciation section, scheduled for spring 2011, was facing a challenge in the estimated enrollment number. A mutual desire to accommodate those honors students that were choosing a course in the visual arts activated a constructive dialogue between the dean of the honors college, the head of the visual arts department, and the honors art history faculty, culminating in the decision to take on an outstanding challenge by cross-listing the 100-level honors art appreciation course with a new 400-level special topic course in the visual arts. The cross-listed section was initially conceived as a one-time occurrence to solve a temporary issue. The title Museum Experience chosen for the new course would allow the instructor ample margins for creative logistic solutions within course planning, at the same time providing a unique experience to the cross-listed honors students. …