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SELF- DESIGNED HONORS EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING PROJECT PROPOSAL

Proposals are held to high standards. Each of these elements must be included in your proposal and project:
1. Abstract:
Provide a detailed overview of this project so that a reader with no background on this topic would fully understand
your projects goals and what you intend to learn. If you are proposing a global studies eperience! provide an itinerary.
What does the project entail and why is it personally meaningful?
"escribe the etent of your time commitment! including planning! eecuting! and reflecting throughout this project.
#our work and learning should be e$uivalent to a %&credit hour honors seminar. 'hile the $uality of the eperience and
your ability to meet learning outcomes are most important! you should epect to engage in at least 75-9 hours of
direct contact and(or preparation! research! and reflection. Describe both the quantity and quality of your time
commitment to this experience.
!" C#$$ect%#$ t# Lear$%$& O'tc#(es )%t*%$ a$ H#$#rs T*e(at%c Area:
#our project should result in substantial learning through which you make progress towards meeting specific learning
outcomes within the thematic area. #ou must e+,l%c%tl- choose )i.e.! copy and paste* +&% honors learning outcomes
associated with the thematic area )see page + for the complete list of learning outcomes*. List 2- honors learning
outcomes that you will ma!e progress towards achie"ing as a result of your project. #hen$ explain how your actions
related to the project will help you meet the learning outcomes you identified. %ro"ide specific examples.
%. C#$$ect%#$ t# G#als a$. Aca.e(%c T*e#r%es ),his is a two&part prompt*:
-. #our project must be related to your development )personal! academic! general education! or professional
interests*. &ow does this project contribute to your future academic$ professional$ and'or personal goals?
.. #ou are epected to connect academic theories or readings to your eperiential learning work. #our proposal
should identify several theories or readings you plan to eplore in your project. (ame 2- specific theories$
readings$ concepts$ or courses you will use to prepare or gain bac!ground !nowledge for your project. )xplain
how'why you chose your resources and how they will inform your project. %ro"ide citations$ as appropriate.
/. I$%t%at%/e0 I$.e,e$.e$ce0 a$.1#r Creat%/%t-:
#our project must include a uni$ue(independent(creative contribution and some aspect)s* of the project must be self&
initiated. What is your unique contribution to this project? What s!ills$ ideas$ or pre"ious experiences do you bring to
the table? &ow is your in"ol"ement unique as compared to other participants? &ow ha"e you demonstrated initiati"e?
5" Re2lect%#$:
0eflection leads to higher&level conceptual learning and can take many forms including journals! lab notebooks! blogs!
audio(video blogs! sketch books! and more. 0eflection is not merely a summation of activities completed and opinions
formed1 rather! it should be thoughtful! integrative! substantive! and well&crafted. #our project must have an active
reflective component. &ow will you acti"ely reflect on your learning throughout the experience? Describe the format
for reflection and what you will reflect upon *e.g.$ pro"ide a list of reflection questions+.
-dditionally! in order for a project to be considered completed:
#ou must write and submit a reflective essay through the honors database within one month of project
completion )more details available on the 23P website*.
#ou must document the eperience in your learning portfolio.
3" D%sse(%$at%#$:
#our eperience and learning must be shared with others publicly. 4onsider how your reflection can inform your
dissemination. Eamples of dissemination include presentations to groups at 24 and(or beyond! poster displays!
websites! published papers(articles! video compilations! scrapbooks! a well&developed blog! etc. &ow will you share
what you learned'created with others in a public forum? Why is the specific audience you,"e chosen rele"ant?
5. Pr#4ect A./%s#r:
Projects must involve the guidance of a faculty or staff member! mentor! supervisor! or other person with whom you
can develop a base of knowledge. Who will help you conceptuali-e this project and pro"ide you with support? %ro"ide
your ad"isor,s name$ title$ and contact information. 6ote: ,his will not be your honors advisor or another student.
5" 6'.&et:
- budget is not re$uired. ,o re$uest an honors grant to support this project! provide an itemi7ed budget listing all of
your project&related epenses and evidence to back up your estimates. ,o re$uest grant funding for unpaid research or
an unpaid internship! please list the total number of hours you will work per week and the total number of weeks. If you
plan to receive funding from other sources! please indicate that in your budget. Gra$t 2'$.%$& %s %(,acte. b- t*e
7'al%t- #2 -#'r ,r#,#sal"
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HONORS EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING PROJECT LEARNING O8TCO9ES
#our project should result in substantial learning through which you make progress towards meeting +&% of the learning
outcomes for an 3onors ,hematic -rea. #our proposal must focus on one thematic area1 choose one that best fits your goals.
Lear$%$& O'tc#(es 2#r t*e C#(('$%t- E$&a&e(e$t T*e(e:
Possesses awareness of purpose of service! including need for reciprocity! understanding of social issues! and ability to see
those issues from multiple perspectives.
0ecogni7es how public policies and practices! and power and privilege! have an influence on social issues. Eplores ways to
alter public policy and(or identify solutions.
0elates! communicates! and works effectively with others towards sustainable social change.
Participates in community and understands own role as citi7en of community.
Lear$%$& O'tc#(es 2#r t*e Creat%/e Arts T*e(e )adapted from ../01 /reati"e #hin!ing 2.L1) 3ubric+:
-c$uires or further develops competencies within a particular creative domain.
Possesses ability to define the creative problem1 ability to frame and develop a problem statement and appropriate
methodology.
Possess a well&developed awareness of theories and methods in the field.
"emonstrates(takes appropriate risk in successfully completing project )going beyond original parameters of assignment!
introducing new materials and forms! tackling controversial topics! advocating unpopular ideas or solutions! etc.*.
Possesses ability to embrace contradictions and integrate alternate! divergent! or contradictory perspectives.
Possesses ability to think innovatively.
4onnects! synthesi7es! and transforms ideas.
Lear$%$& O'tc#(es 2#r t*e Gl#bal St'.%es T*e(e:
Possess global literacy! including knowledge of geography! history! current world issues and similarities and differences
among cultures
0ecogni7e the interdependence of world economies! political systems and the environment
Interact with individuals from different cultures and epress a sensitivity! appreciation and respect for the comple range of
eperiences of diverse peoples
Participate in a global society and understand the role of a global citi7en
N#te: If you are planning a self&designed travel eperience! you must include a detailed itinerary. #ou are re$uired to attend a
pre&departure orientation session with 24 International Programs if your honors eperiential learning project involves
international travel. It is your responsibility to schedule a session with 24 International. -t minimum! your time abroad should
be at least 1 week. Proposals for eperiences with less than 1 week of travel will not be approved.
-dditionally! the 8tudent ,ravel Policy restricts 24 sponsored& travel to countries under a 2.8. "epartment of 8tate ,ravel
'arning. ,hose who wish to visit a country with a travel warning may download and complete a ,ravel Eemption 9orm.
Students traveling without a faculty or staff leader must individually request an exemption. 9aculty or staff leading a group of
students must complete a re$uest on behalf of the entire group.
,he 2niversity 3onors Program cannot approve any travel to a country with a 28 "epartment of 8tate ,ravel 'arning until
after the a travel eemption is granted by the International ,ravel :verview 4ommittee. This means that we cannot allow you
to count this travel as an honors experience nor can we give you a grant if the ITOC does not approve travel.
Lear$%$& O'tc#(es 2#r t*e Lea.ers*%, T*e(e:
Possesses knowledge of various leadership theories and identifies with the characteristics of leadership
Identifies the various characteristics of a leader in a given situation(role
3as the ability to relate! communicate and work effectively with peers
"evelops a vision of the future and acknowledges the impact of decisions )as applicable to the individual and affiliated
organi7ations*
Lear$%$& O'tc#(es 2#r t*e Researc* T*e(e:
-bility to frame and develop the research project $uestion or problem.
Possess a well&developed awareness of literature in the field.
%
9ormulate a theory! problem! or hypothesis for the proposed research project that is based on the literature review.
-bility to identify and apply appropriate methodologies to design research study! and collect and analy7e data.
"isseminate the research results and knowledge gained.
"emonstrate awareness of key weakness(limitations of the research and provide guidance on the most important and fruitful
directions for future research on this topic.
-bility to think beyond the just completed research and articulate how your world view has been impacted by the eperience.
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HONORS EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING PROJECT PROPOSAL FOR9
4omplete this proposal ,r%#r to your projects start date and upload it in the 23P "atabase
)https:((webapps.uc.edu(uchonorsstudent*. 4reate a project );-dd a new record<* in the ;,racking Project< tab and then
upload your proposal document as an attachment. #our submission will be reviewed during the net review cycle.

While the quality of the proposal is most important$ strong proposals are typically -4 pages in length *single-spaced+.
%lease maintain the proposal format.
6as%c I$2#r(at%#$
9ull 6ame: "ustin =ing
24 Email: king+dj>mail.uc.edu
4ollege: 4E-8
?ajor: ?echanical Engineering
,itle of Project: 'hat is 3onors@
,hematic 0esearch
Epected Project 8tart "ate: ?ay 1+! +A1/
Epected Project End "ate: "ue to the nature of this eperience! it will be ongoing! however most of what I report on
will be accomplished by -ugust B! +A1/
Pr#4ect I$2#r(at%#$
1. Provide a detailed abstract of your proposed honors eperiential learning project.
:ftentimes when I mention that I am in the 3onors program here at the 2niversity! I am asked what it is and
why it matters at all that I am in it. I have yet to find an e$uisite way to eplain any of that! even after reading
and rereading the Programs description on 2niversity sites and literature. ,herefore! the goal of this project is
to develop an understanding of the 3onors program! not just for myself! but for every student at every
university. ,he research performed during this project will yield an eplanation of the 3onors Program that
has real meaning for students and can be understood by everyone! not just whatever faculty wrote a few
sentences for 2niversity pamphlets and websites. I want to know why I am in this program and what it can do
for me by doing something for it ),his is starting to sound like a C9= inaugural addressD*.
I intend to spend an average of five hours a week for siteen weeks or so doing research oriented activities! such
as gathering information via books! websites! interviews! et cetera )eighty hours*. Planning will be done
continuously throughout the project in order to find perfect timeslots in which I can eecute every aspect of the
project efficiently1 I epect this to re$uire around ten hours )ten hours*. -s for the reflection portion! it will be
done continuously throughout my career here at the 2niversity! but for the sake of turning something in for this
project! I will try to take at least fifteen hours to go over all the information I have gathered during the project!
organise it! and determine eactly what it means )fifteen hours*. I epect this project to be far beyond the scope
of any research project I did in high school! as well as greater than research projects I have done for courses
here at the 2niversity. ,his brings my total time to one hundred five hours of committed time. ,hen! of course!
all the time I will spend presenting my findings to various groups of people through the ages.
-s for the $uality of this usage of my time! as I plan things out! I will develop myself as an 3onors student
while applying what I am learning about the program. -s I find out more about 3onors! I will better be able to
determine what else 3onors is! similar to a pu77le! at some point along the way to putting all the pieces
together! you figure out what the big picture is. ?y reflection on my findings will enable me to potentially
catch anything I missed while collecting the information! subtle things that line up and link together to form an
even deeper meaning of what the 3onors Program is and what it actually does.
Clearl- a$. t*#r#'&*l- a..ress *#) eac* #2 t*e 2#ll#)%$& ele(e$ts )%ll be e+*%b%te. %$ -#'r )#r::
B
+. 4onnection to Eearning :utcomes within the 3onors ,hematic -rea )identified above*
-bility to think beyond the just completed research and articulate how your world view has been impacted by
the eperience.
8ince this project hits so close to home and I will be spending considerable time understanding what I am
finding! I will verily think far beyond the research I perform. ,his project will directly impact how I view
the 3onors Program! and since the 3onors Program is supposed to help us view the world in a new light!
this project will thereby cause me to have a more refined view of the world. 0ather than just seeing what I
find as words and figures on paper )or! rather! in a word processing program* as most students tend to end
up seeing from their research projects! I aim to actually comprehend the information I gather and organise it
in such a manner that others can also understand it. -dditionally! it is $uite possible that I uncover a very
enlightening packet of information from this project that makes everything about the 2niversity and 3onors
program come clear such that I understand what eactly is going on and why it all eists in the manner it
currently does.
-bility to identify and apply appropriate methodologies to design research study! and collect and analy7e data.
I have done some pretty hefty research in the past! but I can take some time to review good methods for
developing a research project. 9rom what I find during the review and what I already know! I will be able
to effectively and efficiently complete my research. 9rom completing my research! I can study my findings
in order to better understand the information I spent so much time collecting. -fter I fully understand what
I have! I can organise it in a proper fashion for presentation and dissemination. 9rom there! I epect my
research and findings to be so profound or my conclusion to be put forth in such a clear manner that I will
be asked to present what I have found in front of new sets of 3onors 8tudents for several years.
%. 4onnection to Foals and -cademic ,heories )include reference list! as appropriate*
-. Personally! I want to complete this project so that I understand what 3onors is! why it eists!
why it matters! what it can do for me. I want to be able to be able to tell people about the
3onors program when I am asked about it in a similar fashion to how I can tell people about
,ribunal. -cademically! I can apply my research skills to find the answer to my $uestion.
-nswering this $uestion will help me improve myself academically. Professionally! I can
develop my skills in preparing reports! as I will do my best to organise everything in the
same manner I would were this research project given to me where I co&op. .y doing this! I
will effectively further develop my professional report preparation techni$ues and ability.
.. I will be performing this project as -ction 0esearch )which immediately solves a problem
through reflecting on what has been researched*.
-mong anything else I find along the way! I intend to apply the 8ocial Eearning ,heory.
I will utili7e such resources as G'hat is 3onors@ ) http:((nchchonors.org(public&
press(what&is&honors(*! G3onors! 4ollege Program )http:((www.petersons.com(college&
search(honors&college&program&difference.asp*! and G,he .enefits of ,aking 3onors
4ourses )https:((www.collegedata.com(cs(content(contentHgetinarticleHtmpl.jhtml@
articleIdI1AA+/*.
J
,he 8ocial Eearning ,heory will be used to enable me to find the answer to my $uestion
through in&depth observations of the information I find! whether it is numerical data on how
many 3onors students there are! or articles about 3onors Programs.
,he articles I have listed above seem to come from reliable sources and from a $uick glance!
contain some good information I can pull for my conclusive report )siting the sources
appropriately*. ,hese articles will be the first ones I use in my research1 I intend to find
others as well as use 2niversity records! polling of students! and interviews with 2niversity
faculty among other things.
/. Initiative! Independence! and(or 4reativity
I personally took the initiative to develop the concept of this project. I will be performing the research by
myself unless it is deemed necessary that I assemble a team of other 3onors students to aid me. I will study the
information I collect and draw conclusions based on my findings. I bring with me my eperience as who I am!
an Engineer! 3onors student! -44E6" student! my eperience from all previous research projects I have
performed! as well as the thirst for the knowledge of the answer to the $uestion I currently pose here in this
proposal. I currently do not intend for there to be other participants performing this research with me! therefore!
my involvement is independently created and entirely uni$ue. I demonstrate initiative by seeking an answer
that plagues much of the society of the 2niversity! I want to find out what this Program is! and I have taken the
time and performed the work necessary to fill out this proposal such that I could perform the research for an
3onors Proposal.
B. 0eflection
,hroughout the project! I will have to actively understand the information I am gathering such that I can
redirect myself if necessary to another part of the $uestion I am asking or new resources with better
information. .ased on this! I can reflect on what I am finding and how it impacts what I know and how I
will go about everything in the future. I intend to reflect on everything by organi7ing my information and
determining if it sufficiently answers my $uestion! and what I can do based on my findings.
& "id I gather sufficient information from reliable sources@
& "id this information answer the $uestion@
& 'hat does the information say about the $uestion@
& 'hat is 3onors@
& 'hat can I do with this information now that I have assembled it@
:f course! I will write and submit a reflective essay and document the eperience in my portfolio.
J. "issemination
.y reflecting on my findings! I will be better prepared to present my research at conferences! in lectures! to
anyone in a conversation when this topic arises! et cetera. - poster could effectively display some of my
research! but if it were to contain a good description of the meaning of my research and what 3onors
actually is! the poster would need to be $uite immense. I will document the project fully in my portfolio
from notes I keep during my research. ?y audience is all students at every university! as well as the faculty
at those universities! incoming students! and parents. ,his audience is the one that would be concerned with
what the 3onors Program is. If people had a better understanding of what 3onors is! perhaps more people
would want to be in the 3onors Program! similar to how so many people are trying to get into the -44E6"
program.
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5. Project -dvisor )list the persons name! title! and contact information*
Personally! due to the nature of this project! I feel that my 3onors advisor would be the best staff member to
be my advisor on this project. -dditionally! I could finally develop some sort of relationship with my
advisor! as I have unfortunately never met him. I will contact him presently to determine if he will accept
the nomination as advisor for my project.
K. .udget )if applicable*

L+BA
,his money will be used to cover the epenses I will have from taking on this project. ,his is intended to cover
costs including fuel I would not have had to purchase were I not going places to ac$uire resources and
information! parking at the 2niversity when I need to access records and speak with my advisor or interview
various faculty on what they know about the 3onors Program at the 2niversity! and materials! including
materials to prepare my presentation )posterboard! printing! books! et cetera*. ,his number might seem a little
low to you )especially considering the price of fuel these days*! that is because I intend to attempt to combine
trips and make stops at places when I am already out and about for other reasons! this way I do less damage to
the environment! minimal impact there for maimum impact to my research and findings.