Reshaping the Learning Experience
The Experimental College at San Francisco State University is committed to fostering an inclusive and equitable educational environment where freedom in teaching and learning is paramount. We inspire students and educators to embrace diverse and flexible teaching methods, fostering creativity, experimentation and critical pedagogy in a supportive environment free from traditional methodologies and censorship.
We prioritize creating networks between EXCO participants and respected subject-matter experts in the community. By fostering these partnerships, we enable students and educators to undertake endeavors not traditionally possible within conventional academic structures.
We hope that the ideas and concepts developed here will be extended into the broader curriculum. As a college within the college, EXCO acts as a model for the university to integrate these innovative approaches into mainstream academic programs. We strive to push the boundaries of education, nurturing dynamic, inclusive and relevant curricula that is responsive to the needs of our community.
Why teach an EXCO course?
There are as many different reasons to teach an EXCO class as there are students who have taught or want to teach. Here are just a few:
- Do you want to challenge yourself to develop organizational and leadership skills?
- Have you wanted to pursue in more depth a part of a course you have taken (answer questions that were raised in the course but not answered?).
- Is there a topic you are passionate about and want to learn more?
- Is there a topic you know little about but want to learn more?
- Would you like to belong to a community of learners who want to change society for the better?
Our Goals
Primarily, we exist to serve students (or else nothing else matters). We exist to serve the needs of SFSU students, this means EXCO is whatever students want it to be, and whatever they make it.
This means we need to recruit and train student teachers for future semesters, according to common pedagogical and progressive education practices.
The experiment of the original experimental college was that students could run a better and more useful school than the administrators could; obviously, this has subjective meaning having to do with the goals of the institution, and one’s idea or goal of education. The original EXCO existed as a College within a College, with the goal of affecting change in the bigger College.
EXCO existed to fill a gap in the traditional system.
Generally, we should try to make friends on campus and not enemies…as much as possible.
We believe that the institution is here to educate students. Meaning help them progress through curriculum that they want to learn, at their own pace, for their own benefit. Progressive education practices are proven to help accomplish this: students learn faster and retain more when they have hands on experience. When they play an active role in decision-making they are more interested in the material. EXCO teaches students the skills that empower them to learn for themselves long after they leave SFSU and remember what they learned while they were here.
By modeling progressive education, we hope to influence the bigger University to adopt our principles. In this way we are also contributing to the progressive education movement.
Get Involved with EXCO
Whether you want to explore a new subject or share your own expertise, EXCO gives you the opportunity to shape your learning experience.
EXCO Frequently Asked Questions
There could be many reasons why you choose to take an EXCO course, from simple interest in the subject to the want to teach your own course. Regardless of your reason, you would be supporting student driven learning and take part in something unique and historic. You also get 1 (one) unit worth of credit.
Students gain one unit of upper division elective credit when taking and passing an EXCO 301 course.
All EXCO 301 courses are listed on Gateway as well as on the EXCO website. Students can enroll in an Exco course in the same way they would enroll for any SFSU course.
Before the semester begins, students sign up through Gateway during their period of registration. During the first three weeks of the semester you will need a permit number from the Exco student-teacher in order to sign up for the course (you must ask them for permission to sign up!)
After the first three weeks of the semester are over, students can only sign up for a course by completing a Waiver of College Regulations. These waivers are only granted if the student had already started taking an Exco course but had missed the deadline to register.
The times and locations are determined both by the university as well as the student teacher. Contact the student teacher to find out the times and locations if they are not listed in Gateway.
There are no requirements other than being an undergraduate student, submitting a proposal by the deadline, and having a passion for your topic.
One week after they submit it.
YES! The Director of the program will meet with groups of Exco teachers every other week during the semester they teach. There will be an orientation meeting before the semester starts as well as a handbook for you to use. The handbook provides examples of.
