Instructors across campus are partnering with Stanford Digital Education (SDE) to create hybrid versions of their courses for classrooms in Title I high schools, or those schools where at least 40 percent of students are from low-income families.

The course-development effort puts SDE on track for rapid growth of its dual enrollment program over the next three years, doubling the number of courses it has developed from five to 10.

“We offer courses that represent the breadth of Stanford – what we call ‘full catalogue education’ – spanning science and engineering, the social sciences, and the humanities,” Matthew Rascoff, vice provost for digital education, said. “If we want to expand students’ intellectual horizons, we have to offer opportunities to learn subjects that are not typically taught in their high schools. They’re courses that students get to learn, not ones they have to learn.”

SDE was established a few years ago to expand access to Stanford University and other selective universities, as well as to run other programs to promote innovations in learning. From its launch in fall 2021 through spring 2025, SDE courses have enrolled some 2,400 students at more than 80 high schools serving low-income communities in at least 17 states and Washington, D.C. Surveys of these students have found that the experience gives them confidence to apply to schools that they had considered out of reach and helps them to feel better prepared to succeed in college.

Past and present SDE courses are: Introduction to Computers; the ethics course Searching Together for the Common Good; Raise Your Voice: Learn to Write Successfully for College and Beyond; Introduction to Bioengineering; and Between Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr.: Race, Religion, and the Politics of Freedom.

SDE’s courses have typically been offered in collaboration with the nonprofit National Education Equity Lab, though SDE provides select courses entirely on its own. Students take the courses in classrooms in their high schools, with teachers from their schools working with Stanford teaching fellows on Zoom to teach the courses. Stanford faculty members create the course curriculums, record lectures to be available online, and provide digital materials that students can access on the web.

Upon successful completion of an SDE course, students earn credits from Stanford as well as from their high schools.

New courses in development

Here is a quick overview of the new courses.

Black Life, Culture, and the Emergence of the Field from Emancipation to the Present (African and African American Studies 217). Instructor: Kimberly Thomas McNair, PhD, lecturer in African and African American Studies in the Stanford School of Humanities and Sciences. Now underway as a pilot at Niagara Falls High School in Niagara Falls, N.Y., and slated to be offered in high school classrooms nationwide in fall 2025.

This course examines African American life, history, culture, and the development of the field of African American Studies over the last 160 years. It will introduce students to the intellectual history of African American Studies as a field of study – its genealogy, development, major debates, and its global context. The syllabus includes the writings of W.E.B. Du Bois, Zora Neale Hurston, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, and James Baldwin, among others. In addition, film, music, and new media will be used to develop a critical understanding of key concepts and themes.

Building Forces: An Introduction to Engineering Analysis (Engineering 101). Instructors: Thalia Anagnos, engineering professor emerita, San Jose State University; Sarah Billington, UPS Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Stanford; and Sheri Sheppard, Richard W. Weiland Professor in the Stanford University School of Engineering Emerita. Slated to be offered in the 2026-27 academic year.

In this course, students explore the world of structures and forces, learning how engineers use the power of physics to ensure everything stays in place. Lectures examine structures in static equilibrium, where all forces are balanced, ensuring safety and efficiency. This process, known as “engineering analysis,” is the backbone of successful design. In addition to learning theory, the course provides a taste of what it’s like to be an engineer: students experience engineering through interactive lectures, discussions, panels with real engineers, and labs.

Creative Hustle (previously offered in Stanford d.school and StreetCode Academy). Instructors: sam seidel, director of K12 strategy and research, Stanford d.school, and Olatunde Sobomehin, founder and CEO of StreetCode Academy. Slated to be offered in high school classrooms nationwide in fall 2025.

Creative problem-solving is essential to survive; Creative Hustle helps students learn how it can help them to thrive. Based in part on a book co-authored by the two instructors, this course is designed to empower high school students to chart their own creative paths, with a special focus on envisioning what they would like to do after graduating. Through hands-on exercises, spirited discussion, real-world case studies, and a dynamic online format, students identify their unique gifts, set meaningful goals, and take actionable steps toward a fulfilling, values-aligned career.

Exploring Artificial Intelligence (Computer Science 106EA). Instructor: Patrick Young, lecturer in the Computer Science Department, Stanford School of Engineering. Slated to be offered in spring 2026.

Originally designed for non-computer science majors, this course provides a conceptual understanding of artificial intelligence; it is not a programming class. Lessons explain a typical machine learning pipeline, the different problems that machine learning is used to solve, and common issues that arise (such as overfitting and drift) when using machine learning. Next the course covers how neural networks work and examines specialized versions of neural networks for processing images, sequence data, and text. The course also explores generative artificial intelligence (AI) systems for text and images and considers ethical and social issues related to AI.

Reporting, Writing, and Understanding the News (Communication 104). Instructor: Janine Zacharia, lecturer in the Communication Department, Stanford School of Humanities and Sciences. Slated to be offered in fall 2025.

This course serves as a gateway to journalism, providing lessons in journalism practice along with study of the value and role of news in democratic societies. Students learn beat reporting and writing skills, including source development, interviewing, story structure for news and feature articles, and the ability to deliver stories on deadline. The class includes exercises and assignments that mimic what journalists encounter in a newsroom. Throughout the course, students consider how news is defined and learn to think critically about the way stories are covered, while getting hands-on experience exercising their news judgment in their own work.