The Learning Communities (LC) Course Experience
Our Learning Communities (LC) courses are designed to support your transition to USD by blending academic coursework with community-building opportunities and personalized support.
LLC: For First-Year Students
The Living Learning Community (LLC) is a yearlong experience for new first-year students. You’ll take one LLC course in the fall and another in the spring, creating a strong foundation for academic success and connection during your first year at USD.
TLC: For Transfer Students
The Transfer Learning Community (TLC) is a one-semester experience tailored for new transfer students. You'll take one TLC course during your first semester to help you build community and engage with USD's academic rigor, right from the start.
What Makes an LLC or TLC Course Unique?
- Core Curriculum Integration
Every LLC and TLC course fulfills the First-Year Integration core requirement. Many also satisfy additional core areas—check individual course listings for specific details. - Weekly LC Hour
All courses include a dedicated LLC or TLC Hour one night a week from 7–8 p.m., offering opportunities for interactive learning, community engagement, and co-curricular programming. - Peer Mentorship & Support
Each course is paired with a Scholastic Assistant (SA)—a trained peer mentor who supports your academic and social transition to USD. SAs collaborate with your faculty member and help organize events and activities that enhance your overall experience. - Faculty Advising (First-Year Students Only)
If you're a first-year student, your fall LLC course instructor will also serve as your academic advisor until you officially declare a major.
See below for our Fall 2026 LLC and TLC course offerings.
Integration through Learning Communities
As you begin your academic journey at USD, you’ll be introduced to the integrative nature of learning through our Learning Communities (LC) program. Whether you’re part of the Living Learning Community (LLC) for first-year students or the Transfer Learning Community (TLC) for transfer students, your experience will encourage you to think across disciplines and engage with complex ideas from multiple perspectives. This experience will not only broaden your academic horizons, but it will also strengthen your critical thinking and communication skills.
All LLC and TLC courses fulfill the First-Year Integration component of USD’s core curriculum, providing a strong interdisciplinary foundation for your future studies.
What is Integration?
Integrative learning encourages students and faculty to connect ideas across disciplines, synthesizing knowledge from diverse areas and engaging with meaningful, big-picture questions. This approach will help you draw connections between your academic studies and real-world experiences, both inside and outside the classroom.
Integration is a multifaceted concept that bridges curricular and co-curricular experiences. Through this process, you will develop the ability to synthesize ideas and build essential core competencies.
First Year Integration Learning Outcomes
Recognize
Recognize broad connections between multiple disciplines, perspectives, and/or approaches to learning.
Articulate
Articulate how the integration of multiple disciplines, perspectives, and/or approaches to learning can enhance one’s understanding of practical issues and problems.
In the Learning Communities program, we emphasize the importance of recognizing broad connections across disciplines and articulating the value of approaching complex problems from multiple perspectives. This is achieved through the exploration of real-world issues tied to each Learning Communities theme.
To support you in achieving the learning outcomes of First-Year Integration, we’ve built two signature academic experiences into the program:
- You'll practice integration by engaging in an Integration Series or Interdisciplinary Faculty Exchange. Your Learning Communities theme will determine which of the two experiences you'll participate in.
- You'll demonstrate your integrative learning through your projects at your theme's Integration Showcase.
The timeline for this experience varies by student group. Fall first-year students participate in First-Year Integration over two semesters—practicing in the fall and showcasing their learning in the spring. Transfer students and spring-admit first-year students complete the entire experience within their first semester at USD.
Practicing Integration
Recognize
Throughout the semester, Learning Communities faculty connect course content to the overarching LC theme—for instance, exploring how natural disasters relate to advocacy and social justice. To deepen this integrative experience, you'll also participate in a dedicated academic event that encourages you to explore a complex issue from a perspective outside of your LC course.
Aligned with USD’s mission and vision, these interdisciplinary, faculty-led events often address pressing global and societal challenges such as housing insecurity, climate change, or immigration. These events are designed to broaden your understanding of key issues by highlighting the value of multiple disciplinary perspectives.
Following the event, you'll complete a self-reflection assignment where you'll consider how your thinking evolved after engaging with new viewpoints. Your LC faculty will provide feedback on this reflection to support you in strengthening your understanding of integrative learning. Depending on your theme, you'll either participate in an Integration Series or an Interdisciplinary Faculty Exchange:
- Interdisciplinary Faculty Exchange: An academic event that features either a guest lecture or a mini team-taught lecture by two professors, offering a different disciplinary perspective on a shared topic.
- Integration Series: An academic series where faculty from a variety of disciplines present diverse perspectives on a central issue, encouraging students to think critically and make interdisciplinary connections.
Demonstrating Integration
Articulate
You'll demonstrate your competency in First-Year Integration through your First-Year Integration Project, which includes both a deliverable—such as a presentation, exhibit, or written work, typically shared at the Integration Showcase—and a reflection assignment. Successful completion of this project and your LC course fulfills the First-Year Integration (CINL) core curriculum requirement.
Integration Showcases
As part of the Learning Communities experience, you'll be challenged to integrate concepts and ideas across multiple fields of study. You will complete your introductory integration experience by participating in your theme's Integration Showcase. Participating in your Integration Showcase will allow you the opportunity to demonstrate your interdisciplinary learning, reinforcing the inter-connectivity of knowledge and thereby promoting the value of the liberal arts.