Two seniors combined philosophy and film in their Spring 2020 ExCollege course to inspire students to search for their place in the world.

Everyone’s talking about The Great British Bake Off, Antoni from Queer Eye visited Tufts, and food blogs for all kinds of specialized diets fill Instagram feeds... In recent years, food-related content has taken off to become a dominant force in mainstream media. This semester, Tufts alumna Denise Drower Swidey (A90) is teaching An Insider’s Guide to the World of Food Media, in which students explore the history of food media’s popularization and have a chance to participate in the practice.

Every ExCollege course has its own special and unique moments. For Famous Trials in U.S. History, the Tuesday evening class shared an experience to remember for a lifetime: the announcement that the remainder of the semester was to be completed remotely. For the students — the majority of whom are seniors — the news was shocking and emotional.

The term “wandering” is defined as traveling aimlessly from place to place. But what does it mean to wander in a game? How does exploration in videogames reflect the real world and to lived experiences? Dr. Melissa Kagen and her students take on these questions and more in the Spring 2020 ExCollege class Wandering Games: Play, Performance, Protest. 

Rage, fear, elation, trepidation: these are just some of the emotions brought out by political discussion in today's divisive climate. On the other hand, many young people feel desensitized to political drama and hopeless about the prospect of change. How do we negotiate these feelings, or lack thereof? How can we relate what we feel to how we act?

With a wave of true crime podcasts and television programs surging in popularity recently, people seem more fascinated than ever in understanding the genre's connection to the real world. Yet, this Spring 2020 course asks how true crime in modern media shapes viewers' perception of crime. The truth can be much more distressing.

ExCollege Program Administrator Madeleine Delpha – the daughter of seasoned activists and an artist herself – developed Unraveling Craftivism, an advising seminar that allowed first-year students to explore the history of craft and its intersection with activism.

From Princess Leia to Rey, this Explorations course for first-year students looks at the portrayal of key female characters in the Star Wars saga.

Myths about America’s most secretive groups are shattered in the Fall 2019 ExCollege course The Secret History of U.S. Special Operations Forces, taught by a former special operations forces member.

Don’t cry for me, Argentina — because Thomas Wisniewski, PhD, a Lecturer on Comparative Literature at Harvard, is teaching the tango at Tufts in his Fall 2019 ExCollege course!

As residents of the Greater Boston Area, most Tufts students have familiarized themselves with the triumphs and tribulations of taking the T, Boston's metro system. Rosa Stern Pait is teaching an Explorations course for first-year students, titled Mind the Gap: Transportation in Media and Society, which explores different kinds of public transportation and how they're portrayed in media throughout the world.

Tufts alum provides a unique opportunity for undergrads to learn about global journalism in an interactive and engaging way. Students think critically about news consumption and navigate the dynamic between a reporter, a source, and the reader.