Compass is an initiative by MIT faculty across the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences. In the Compass class, students and faculty explore fundamental questions and how such questions relate to the everyday decisions we make about what is important to us, what is real and true, and what is right.
21.01 is seminar-style and taught in a “flipped classroom” format, with in-person contact hours spent on active group discussion, activities, and debates. There are no traditional lectures during in-person contact hours; instead, students will watch pre-recorded video lectures as homework preparation. Some lessons will have a podcast, in which MIT professors from diverse disciplines discuss big questions in the contexts of their fields and lives. In addition, the class includes field trips to a variety of local arts events, from which students may choose one or more to attend.
Each section is taught by one or two faculty, who will lead the two-hour in-person class. There will also be one-hour recitation each week, led by a TA. Sections will be small with no more than 18 students. In Spring 2025, we plan to offer sections at the following times (subject to change):
- Mondays 10am-12pm: Adam Albright and Emily Richmond Pollock
- Mondays 7-9pm: Alex Byrne
- Tuesdays 1-3pm: Arthur Bahr, Lily Tsai, and Esther Duflo
- Wednesdays 2-4pm: Anne McCants and Linda Rabieh
- Thursdays 9-11am: Sally Haslanger, Rebecca Saxe, and Esther Duflo
- All sections have Friday recitation