New One: learning without borders is an exciting first year foundation program that provides a small class learning experience for intellectually curious and socially-engaged students who want to think together with their peers and professors about what it means to be responsible global citizens in the 21st Century. The program reflects New College’s commitment to social justice and community-engaged scholarship, and its concern for the development of students as active and accomplished learners.
The four seminar courses offered in New One focus on topics of current significance for communities in Toronto and beyond. They address elements of our everyday lives that connect us locally and globally. These elements—namely, food, language, digital technology, art and culture–can bring us together but can also divide us, and privilege some over others. They provide lenses through which to examine our local and global interconnectedness and interdependence; they challenge us to consider and imagine how we might live our lives with more social and ethical responsibility. (See Courses at the left of this page for descriptions)
In addition to the topic-based small weekly seminars, students in the program get together in regular plenary sessions to explore, in a range of different ways, the overarching theme of learning without borders: we learn across the disciplines; we learn in classrooms and community settings; we learn from the stories of senior students who have embraced the opportunities of university life and from those who have had international educational experience; we learn in creative, collaborative, conventional and unconventional ways.
The activities that comprise the program have a two-fold aim: to provide a range of opportunities that contextualize and enhance students’ course-based knowledge, and to build students’ academic skills and capacities for learning, preparing them for their subsequent years at university and the work world. New One students do fields trips to different Toronto community hubs, listen to lectures given by community leaders and professors, visit exhibitions, participate in workshops on their topics and on different modes of university learning, attend academic presentations with the broader college and campus community, and have conversations with New College’s senior students about university experiences and leadership opportunities. These enriching activities are integrated with coursework via innovative forms of inquiry, class discussions, reflective writing exercises, oral presentations, and group projects. A Knowledge Fair at the end of the year shares, showcases, and celebrates students’ research projects.
Who should apply to New One?
New One welcomes students from across the sciences, social sciences, humanities, arts, and commerce, and from diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds.
- Are you curious and open to exploring challenging intellectual and social problems ?
- Are you interested in looking at issues from different angles and perspectives?
- Are you interested in thinking about questions of social justice and possibly getting involved in community initiatives?
- Are you ready to collaborate with others in tacklng and solving problems ?
- Are you keen to develop your communication, critical thinking and research skills?
If you answered “yes” to all or most of these questions, New One is a good fit for you.