Overview
utmONE Foundations courses support students to develop fundamental learning strategies, and sharpen their academic skills so that they can be successful in their university studies. The small-size of these classes provide a supportive classroom environment where students can build connections with their peers, professor and teaching assistant.
These courses are for-credit and can count toward students' distribution requirements. Depending on the course students can use the 0.5 credit toward their Humanities (HUM), Social Science (SSC), or Science (SCI) distribution credits.
Each utmONE Foundations course is taught around a theme that allows students to strengthen their academic skills while exploring an interesting topic as part of a scholarly community.
utmONE courses are exclusions to each other. Additionally, utmONE Foundations and utmONE Scholars seminars are exclusions to each other. This means you can only take one utmONE course for credit.
Highlights of all utmONE Foundations Courses
- Supportive classroom. utmONE courses are smaller than most first-year classes, capped at 55 students per lecture and 28 students per tutorial. This means you'll have more personal contact with your instructor, TA and fellow students. You'll get to know your classmates and work together more than you might in a larger class.
- Academic foundations. The skills you are taught in utmONE aren't only meant to support your success in utmONE courses, but to support you in your other courses throughout your entire degree. You'll build a strong foundation including critical reading and writing skills, using academic sources, note-taking, time-management and preparing for exams while also exploring the theme of the course collaboratively with your classmates.
- 0.5 credits toward your distribution requirements. Each utmONE course is one-term in length and provides 0.5 credits toward your distribution requirements that you need to graduate. Depending on the course, you can earn distribution credits in either Science (SCI), Social Science (SSc) or Humanities (HUM). For more information on distribution requirements visit the Office of the Registrar website.
- No Pre-Requisites. There are no pre-requisites for the utmONE courses. All students from all programs of study are welcome to enroll, space allowing
How to Enroll
Students can enroll themselves in a utmONE course via ACORN on their enrolment date. Search for the course code or you can find all courses offered by the Institute for the Study of University Pedagogy by selecting the department from the drop-down menu in the Timetable Builder or through the Course Enrolment page in the Academic Calendar.
utmONE Foundations courses offered 2025-26:
UTM108: Critical Thinking for STEM Learning (SCI, SSC)
UTM110: Generative AI and the Scholarly Research Act (SSC, HUM)
UTM111: Tools of the Trade (SCI, SSC)
UTM118: Science of Learning (SCI, SSC)
Our utmONE Foundations courses are open to all students studying at the University of Toronto Mississauga.
Questions?
Please direct your questions to isup.advisor@utoronto.ca.