A Green Sheet is a formal, student-initiated agreement that allows an Honors Program student to earn Honors credit when no Honors version of the course was available for students that term (i.e., no Honors Option and no Honors Only or Accelerated Honors sections of the course). Like Honors Optional courses, Green Sheet projects can be a valuable way for students to engage creatively and purposefully with course-related content, and Green Sheets are even more individualized to student interests and goals.
Green Sheets are intended to be rare. If you are open to supporting more than the occasional student seeking honors credit in your course, please consider talking to your curricular representative about setting up the course with an Honors Option on all sections rather than having students initiate Green Sheets. Setting up your course with an Honors Optional designation instead of allowing Green Sheets can streamline the honors process for you and your students plus reduce administrative work for the L&S Honors Program and L&S Academic Deans Services.
Eligibility
The following points may be helpful to remember when a student approaches you about a Green Sheet:
- Student Eligibility: Must be in the L&S Honors Program and have already successfully completed an Honors course at UW-Madison. Exceptions may be made for students pursuing Honors in the Major in a department with limited honors course options (please encourage the student to email the Honors Program). First-semester freshmen cannot earn honors credit through a Green Sheet.
- Course Eligibility: The course was not set up with an Honors Optional designation nor is there an Honors Only or Accelerated Honors section/version of the course being offered that term.
- Instructor Consent: Faculty are encouraged to consider students’ requests to engage more deeply in a course via the Green Sheet process, but faculty are not obligated to support a student’s request to complete a Green Sheet.
- L&S Honors Program Consent: Students must submit Green Sheet proposals to the L&S Honors Program by the proposal deadline and gain official Honors Program approval in order to receive honors credit.
Green Sheet Timeline
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First few weeks of the semester: Discussion of the plan
- Student reaches out to you to discuss interest in pursuing a Green Sheet project and share what they might like to do. The student should have already reviewed Green Sheet Information for students.
- Together, you develop and agree to a project idea and details for the Green Sheet proposal.
- The student can also be meeting with an L&S Honors Program advisor for guidance with their plan.
Sixth week of the semester (or earlier): Student submits a proposal
- Students must submit a Green Sheet Proposal Form to the L&S Honors Program by that term’s deadline.
- For fall and spring courses, Green Sheet proposals are due the Friday of the sixth week of the semester.
- For summer courses, Green Sheets are only possible during the 8-week session. Proposals are due by Friday in the third week of that session.
- When the student submits their proposal, you will get an automatically generated email for your records that includes information about the student’s submission.
Before the eighth week of the semester: Feedback and approval from Honors Program
- Honors Program advisors will review the student’s proposal and confirm eligibility for a Green Sheet.
- If required, the student will be asked to provide additional information or make revisions to their project plan.
- Your input is valued as the content expert in guiding the direction of the project.
- Honors advisors assess the anticipated workload and depth for the project and suggest revisions that support consistent expectations across Green Sheets.
- Once approved, you and the student will be notified.
- The L&S Honors Program will work with L&S Academic Deans Services to have the Honors Option added and selected for that individual student’s enrollment.
Throughout the semester: Completion of Green Sheet Project
- The student should complete all components of the Green Sheet project according to agreed-upon deadlines.
- We encourage projects for which the work can be spread out as much as possible.
- Note that these projects are not given a final letter grade nor included in the student’s final grade; we encourage you to help the student focus on the process as much as the product.
What can make for a meaningful Green Sheet experience?
Green Sheet projects should enrich the student’s academic experience and increase student-faculty interaction without causing an undue burden on either side. Green Sheets also allow the student to take more ownership over their learning. Meaningful experiences could incorporate:
- Interactions with and reflections about academic talks, reading groups, or relevant campus events that supplement course goals
- Application(s) of course content to outside problems or areas of interest
- Connecting with appropriate primary and secondary literature and research questions that could not be prioritized in the regular syllabus
- Use of less traditional assignment formats, such as a creative writing piece, a performance, or a media project
Green Sheet Best Practices
- Prompt the student to be the driver of developing their Green Sheet project; they have initiated this process and should come to you with ideas of what topics interest them or an experience/end product they might want to develop a project around.
- Establish specific check-in points to hear about the student’s progress and offer guidance or feedback throughout the semester.
- Use office hours or other times that are convenient for you to check in with the student.
Grading Policies
Guiding Principle
- The Honors Program’s guiding principle for grading, affirmed by the Faculty Honors Committee, is that no student should be disadvantaged through having undertaken (or attempted) an Honors project.
- In practice, this means that Green Sheet work must be separate from graded components of the course and not factor into the student’s final letter grade.
- Honors credit is earned on a satisfactory/unsatisfactory basis.
Final Grades
- A student with an approved Green Sheet will appear as taking the course for honors in your grade roster.
- By assigning a final grade in Faculty Center grade roster, you are confirming that the student successfully completed the agreed-upon honors project.
- If the student did not successfully complete the Green Sheet project, please communicate about this with the student and submit an Honors Optional Selection Change: Instructor Form.
Q Grades
- If you need to submit grades before a non-completion of a Green Sheet project can be addressed, you can assign the temporary grade of Q (for “Question”).
- You will be prompted to update the “Q” grade to the final letter grade after filling out the Honors Optional Selection: Instructor Form.
- Students cannot graduate with the temporary “Q” grade.
B or Better Rule
- Students must earn a final grade of B or higher in an Honors course in order for the course credit to count towards an L&S Honors degree requirement. This is true for all types of Honors courses and for all L&S Honors degree tracks.
- If a student completes their Green Sheet work in a satisfactory manner but earns a final grade below a B, it is still appropriate for the Honors Option to appear on their academic record, since they completed the Honors-specific work. However, due to the B or better rule, DARS will not apply the course credits toward Honors-specific degree requirements for that student.
Student Perspectives
- “I challenged myself by working with a J-School professor I had always wanted to take a class with, and was able to curate my own project based on my interests. By analyzing some of my favorite protest novels, I have been identifying the trajectory and characteristics of narrative in social justice movements — a topic I wouldn’t have been able to study in-depth otherwise.”
- “I most enjoyed being creative through my honors projects for classes. I definitely feel that I’ve been able to develop a more in-depth understanding of course concepts through these projects.”
Contact Us
We are eager to support you at any stage of supporting a Green Sheet.
Email Christine Evans, Associate Director of Advising and Curriculum, at cmevans3@wisc.edu, or the L&S Honors Advising Team at advisor@honors.ls.wisc.edu.