Academic Support for Undergraduate Students
The faculty offers students a number of resources and opportunities to support their academic endeavours via the Office of the Faculty Registrar’s Student Success team. When advising students, you may find it helpful to direct them to the information below:
- Arrive Ready: An online program that helps new students gain academic skills before they come to U of T. Faculty members from a variety of academic units participate.
- Learning Communities (FLC & SLC): Small groups of first- and second-year students within the same program meet regularly to network and build academic skills. If you are teaching first- or second-year classes, your students can benefit from the support of a social group of peers outside the classroom. Faculty members from a variety of academic units can be advisors for Learning Communities.
- Meet to Complete: Group study sessions that take place daily in the Sidney Smith Commons.
- Recognized Study Groups (RSGs): Students in your class can form study groups of up to eight to review course material, prepare for tests and attend office hours. Instructors report that students in RSGs better understand course materials. As an instructor, you can use the promotional materials to encourage your students to join RSGs.
- Sidney Smith Commons (SSC): A physical space in Sidney Smith Hall and a corresponding website. Students can participate in a variety of programs, ask questions and get help from peers. As an instructor, you can learn about SSC programs and opportunities or work with the Student Success team to create tailored programming for your course.
English Language Learning (ELL) Program
The Arts & Science English Language Learning (ELL) Program works with faculty members to embed English-language development into for-credit courses. ELL can help you design unobtrusive ways to improve students’ scholarly reading, speaking and writing. Assessments show benefits for students, teaching assistants (TAs), faculty members and administrators.
In addition to supporting instructors and TAs, the ELL program also offers free, non-credit language instruction directly to undergraduate students — both for native speakers and those whose first language is not English. The program takes a holistic approach, encouraging students to immerse themselves in English and improve their reading, writing, speaking, critical thinking and listening.
Selected activities:
- Mini-Courses: Short, non-credit courses that take place over a period of three or five days.
- Communication Cafés: Workshops to help students practice speaking and oral presentations.
- Reading eWriting: Students write a series of emails to an ELL-trained writing centre instructor to strengthen their speed and ease of reading and reasoning.
Resources for Teaching Multilingual Students
- Responding to Student Papers Effectively and Efficiently
- Teaching Multilingual Students
- Grading Multilingual Students: Issues
- Grading Multilingual Students: Strategies
- ELL Practices for A&S First-Year Foundation (FYF) Seminars
To learn more about the English Language Learning program or discuss ways to embed English-language development into your courses or academic program, please contact ELL Coordinator Leora Freedman (leora.freedman@utoronto.ca).
Support for Graduate Students
- Graduate Student Professional Development: We offer a variety of supports for graduate students' development and well-being as they progress through their studies and prepare for their careers.