This resource provides guidance for incorporating community building activities into a course to foster belonging, increase engagement, and build collaboration and communication skills. It includes strategies and considerations for using community building activities as well as sample activities categorized by purpose. Keywords: community building, icebreakers, belonging, inclusion, collaboration, group work.
This resource provides an overview of creating and using community agreements in a course to support respectful and productive student engagement. It includes options for how to create agreements, tips for implementation, and example agreements.
Keywords: community agreements, discussion norms, discussion guidelines, community guidelines, challenging discussions, academic discussions, dialogue, student engagement.
This resource provides strategies for integrating current event topics into your course.
Keywords: current events, discussion, challenging discussions, academic dialogue, facilitation, controversial topics, active learning.
This resource provides suggestions for effective communication with students to advance your teaching goals and to help maintain work-life balance and wellbeing for both instructors and students. It lists an array of options for communicating with students and identifies campus resources available to faculty when communications require intervention.
A brief introduction to mindfulness including examples of contemplative pedagogical practices that can be incorporated into courses to support student learning and wellbeing. Created in collaboration with Mindful USC.
A panel discussion on strategies to engage students with appropriate support services at USC. Hear from Patrick Prince, Associate Vice Provost for Threat Assessment and Management, Lynette Merriman, Associate Vice Provost for Campus Support and Intervention, and Naddia Palacios, Senior Associate Vice Provost for Student Life, about how their resources and programs support USC faculty and students.
Kiran Dhillon, Annenberg School of Communication; Lori Mesrobian, Dornsife Latin American and Iberian Cultures; Kendra Walther, Viterbi Information Technology Program; and Mellissa Withers, KSOM Population and Public Health Sciences, participants in the 2022-2023 Faculty Learning Community on Alternative Assessments and Grading Practices, share their experiences with the implementation, lessons learned, challenges, and opportunities of ungrading and grading for equity. The ideas discussed during this roundtable can be further explored in these books and articles.
Psychological safety is recognized as a foundational component to encourage student openness, creativity and risk-taking. In this video Ken Perlman, USC Marshall, leads a discussion on ways to create psychological safety and enable an inclusive learning environment.
A brief video that introduces faculty to some of the initial actions found within the LGBTQ+ Classroom Inclusivity Guidebook and how to orient their learning environments in ways that best support LGBTQ+ students. The video was created and narrated by Karrie Kingsley.
A video workshop on considerations when teaching in a hyflex, or hybrid streaming, learning environment
Center for Excellence in Teaching