USC offering class on selfies

The University of Southern California or USC is offering a class about selfies.

Informally known as #SelfieClass, it is a freshman-level course that is officially designated as "Writing 150: Writing and Critical Reasoning: Identity and Diversity."

As the name would suggest, self-reflection and introspection are a part of the lessons, but there's also a larger component of how that representation fits into the global, 21st century world.

Teaching the class is associate professor of writing Mark Marino who has expertise in the digital media world.

According to him, people who take selfies are "constructing an image of their identity - their gender, their ethnicity, their sexuality, their socioeconomic status."

Students have echoed this sentiment, saying that the selfies they have taken reflect deeper feelings about themselves and the groups they do and do not prefer to be with.

Assignments include regular entries to journals and blogs in addition to a service component where students are learning to move beyond their current social circles to help others apply for scholarships.

Similar courses are also being offered at UCLA and Penn State.