November 2025
Jo Marie Reilly, Keck School of Medicine of USC, shares a teaching approach she uses in her clinical education courses that uses brief humanities “touchpoints” (images, film, poetry, or music) paired with simple reflection prompts to deepen learning. These quick activities encourage students to practice observation, interpretation, and empathy, building skills that directly support clinical and scientific reasoning while boosting student engagement.
September 2025
Patrick Corbin, USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance, highlights community-based learning as a powerful strategy that connects students with local organizations and experiences beyond the classroom. Through adaptive dance sessions co-created with community partners, students build empathy, practice collaboration, and apply theory in meaningful ways. This approach shows how community engagement can enrich learning across disciplines. This resource includes tips from CET for incorporating community-based learning in your own courses—even in small, practical ways.
May 2025
Mary Byram Washburn, Dornsife, Linguistics Department, shares her “5-Minute Pidgin” activity, a dynamic example of active learning through collaboration and constraint. Students work together to complete a task—building origami hats—without a shared language, simulating a key concept in her introductory linguistics course: pidgin language formation. This playful constrained collaboration activity deepens understanding, builds communication skills, and offers a flexible model instructors can adapt across disciplines.
February 2024
Are you looking for a new way for students to effectively communicate their research? Elizabeth Fife, Viterbi School of Engineering, describes how the Three Minute Thesis (3MT) presentation format challenges students to share their research in a concise and engaging manner and prepares them for future academic presentations, conferences, and job interviews. Find out how in the latest What a Great Teaching Idea.
December 2024
Antonio Elefano, Professor (Teaching) of Writing, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences, uses oral advocacy assignments to engage students in critical thinking and questioning.
November 2024
Eugenia Mora-Flores, Professor of Clinical Education, with Distinction, Assistant Dean of Teacher Education, Rossier School of Education, uses a collaborative visual summary activity at the end of a unit of study to assess learning in her courses.
September 2024
Mellissa Withers, Associate Professor at USC’s Keck School of Medicine, Department of Population and Public Health Sciences uses retrieval activities to help students recall information in her courses.
May, 2024
Miriam Burgos, Professor of Clinical Marketing at USC’s Marshall School of Business, uses breakout groups to provide students with opportunities to engage with course content to support deep learning.
April, 2024
Pragna Patel, Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Medicine at USC’s Keck School of Medicine, uses sketching activities to help students develop critical thinking skills in her courses and beyond.
March, 2024
Victor Fazio, Adjunct Professor of Criminal Justice at USC’s Bovard College, uses elevator pitch assignments to help students effectively crystalize and communicate their thoughts about big ideas.
Center for Excellence in Teaching