Comic Artist Chandler Wood recently created the first of a series of cartoons based on the innovative teaching at USC Annenberg.

The first cartoon drawing (left) captures USC Annenberg Professor Henry Jenkins and his communications course, Public Intellectuals: Theory and Practice, taught for the first time in Fall 2013. In a blog post about the outcome of the class, Jenkins called it one of his “peak intellectual experiences in a classroom.” The class consisted of graduate students from journalism, communication and cinema backgrounds, but they all had the same desire to be able to effectively communicate ideas to the public.

“By the end, all of them seemed to have grown enormously — it is too easy to say they found their own voice, since most of them had a powerful voice before, but they learned to use their voice more effectively in the service of their personal and professional agendas,” said Jenkins.

Assignments for the class included blog posts, op-eds, interviews and other projects, all based on research done by the students. The course also welcomed numerous guest speakers from the faculty at USC Annenberg, as well as elsewhere at USC. Many guest speakers discussed their own failures after taking “meaningful risks,” which allowed students “to reflect on what choices are right for them and what is gained and lost by thinking out loud in public.”

As a result of the positive outcome and reception of the course, Jenkins said that he will continue to incorporate the subject into his teaching at USC Annenberg.

“Annenberg supports experimentation and innovation in ways that more conservative institutions might not,” said Jenkins.

Jenkins added that he hopes that faculties at other universities will strive to provide a similar class for their students as it forces students and faculty to address the complexities of the communication field.