Experimental College

The Experimental College is a campus organization that creates new courses, influences the undergraduate curriculum, and works for faculty and student collaboration within the arts and sciences. The ExCollege draws on the scholarly experience of the thousands of professionals in the greater Boston area. ExCollege instructors are hospital administrators, practicing artists, attorneys, architects, computer specialists, business executives, filmmakers, reporters, policy analysts, museum curators, writers, advanced graduate students, and Ph.D.s from a variety of disciplines.

ExCollege Courses

ExCollege courses can best be characterized as general education courses based on student exploration of new areas of inquiry. While wide-ranging, they tend to involve issues of current importance and/or interdisciplinary subject areas that do not significantly overlap what’s being offered in the traditional departments. They are also intended to be discussion- based and participatory in nature. Each semester there are about 30 undergraduate courses ranging from "Going Green: A Practical Guide to Environmentalism" to “Introduction to Game Development" to "Making Films for Social Change" to "Reading Infinite Jest: David Foster Wallace and the Future of the Novel" to "Introduction to Forensic Anthropology" and "The AIDS Epidemic in Theatre and Film.” 

ExCollege Teaching and Learning Methods

Interactive and collaborative teaching methods are strongly encouraged, and many instructors have incorporated such dynamic elements in their teaching as small-group work, case-study method, role-playing, simulations, and service learning. Student participation has always played a key role in the administration and activities of the ExCollege.

Student Involvement

Since its founding in 1964, students have been full voting members on the ExCollege’s governing board, have served on committees that evaluate all course proposals, and have taught courses of their own design. Nearly 1,500 undergraduates take advantage of these academic offerings each year – enrolling in over 100 courses, including their peer-taught, first-year seminar programs: Explorations and Perspectives.

Read courses descriptions of classes currently being offered through the ExCollege.