Experimental College (ExCo), 1968-2007
| Oberlin College Archives
Administrative/Biographical History
The Experimental College (ExCo) is both a student organization and a department of the college that sponsors for-credit courses taught by Oberlin students, administrators, townspeople, and faculty. The group was established in 1968 by the Educational Plans and Policies Committee; its charter was approved in 1979. ExCo supplements the regular college curriculum by offering classes not typically available in traditional courses of study. These courses reflect the current academic, cultural, social, political, and intellectual trends of the Oberlin community.
As of 2013, students could earn from one to three credit hours for an ExCo course, and could apply up to five ExCo credits toward the 112 credit hours required for graduation. ExCo offered 63 courses in the Fall of 2013 covering an eclectic mix of sports, martial arts, dance, games, crafts, music, languages, sexuality and gender studies, activism and politics, cooking, meditation, popular culture and media, improvisational comedy, and letterpress printing.
Sources Consulted
Anita Buckmaster, “Learning by Teaching: The ExCo Experience,” Around the Square, November 1995, 4-5.
Experimental College website at http://new.oberlin.edu/parents/academics/experimental-college-%28exco%29.dot, accessed 27 February 2014.
Experimental College Charter, May 1, 1979, Experimental College Records (RG 9/18).
Author: Anne Cuyler Salsich Forms of Material (links to similar genres) Administrative Information
The records of the Experimental College are limited to a small amount of administrative files, course catalogs, course evaluations, videotapes and slides. The records are arranged in the following four series:
Series 1. Administrative Files, 1970-88 (0.4 l.f.)
Series 2. Course Catalogs, 1968-97, 2001-07 (0.6 l.f.)
Series 3. Course Evaluations, 1987-89 – Restricted (0.4 l.f.)
Series 4. Non-Textual Materials, 2000-02 (0.2 l.f.)
INVENTORY
Series 1. Administrative Files (0.4 l.f.)
Box 1
Alumni, 1970-87
EXCO Instructor Listing, Fall 1987
Historical File, 1988, n. d.
EXCO History, used in 1987 Program Review
Reports to the Educational Plans and Policies Committee, 1975, 1980
*EXCO Section Enrollment Reports, Spring 1988 (restricted)
Series 2. Course Catalogs (0.6 l.f.)
Box 2
Course Catalogs
Fall 1968
1969
1970
1972-88 (17 f.)
Box 3
Course Catalogs
1989-1992
1993-1997
2001-2007
Series 3. Course Evaluations – restricted (0.4 l.f.)
Box 4
Course Evaluations by Course Coordinator (restricted)
Baggett, Alice and Jim Davis--The Films of Woody Allen, 1988-89
Cheavens, Joe--Tae Kwon Do, 1988-89
Ellis, Rhian--Beginning Welsh, 1988-89
Levy, Morris--Understanding Elvis Presley, 1988-89
Pawelek, Josh--Steel Drum Band, 1988-89
Reid, Annie--Women’s Forum: Lesbian Desire and Feminist Ideals, 1988-89
Reid, Matt--Underground American Fiction, 1988-89
Silberman, Karen and Antonia Rudenstine--Women and Body Image,
1987-89
Stoecker, Matt--Swingtime Jazz/Big Band, 1989
Talbert, John--Tai Chi, 1988-89
Thompson, Debbie--Water Polo, 1989
Weiss, Jeremy--Survival Skills, 1988-89
Series 4. Non-Textual Materials (0.2 l.f.)
Box 5
Videotapes [2010/010]
Beginning Aerial Dance on the Low Trapeze, taught by Hannah Logan and
Florence Edwards, student performances, 2000-2002
Photographic Materials
Slides (35mm) [2009/052]
Slides by Al Fuchs of The Life and Times of Drew Barrymore,
taught by Sarah Crane and Sarah Trick, Fall 2000