Research

As well as remaining dedicated to excellence in personalized writing instruction, our team actively contributes original and data-informed research to scholarly conversations in Writing Studies and pedagogy more broadly. We are especially invested in expanding conversations about students’ use of generative AI and its implications for writing instruction.

Generative AI Pedagogy & Research

In the wake of rapid advancements in generative AI, writing centres continue to uphold a human-centric approach to personalized education that emphasizes personal engagement, critical thinking, and tailored learning. While generative AI has become indispensable for some students seeking writing support, the HSWC aims to create an empathetic and dialogic learning environment that cannot (yet) be technologically replicated.

Among UofT writing centres, the HSWC stands out for tackling generative AI head-on. In the 2024–2025 academic year, we began (1) collecting informal data on students’ use of generative AI for their writing; (2) developing programming on generative AI literacy; and (3) contributing to scholarly conversations through research and conference presentations.

Data on Students’ Use of GenAI

Nearly one-third (32%) of surveyed HSWC students reported using generative AI tools in their writing process—though they often did so in very different ways: to create structured outlines, to help with formal language, to understand concepts, to develop sample tests, to generate synonyms for database searches, to paraphrase and proof, to summarize readings, or (indeed) to generate text. This preliminary data collection is a pilot that we hope to refine next year, for our own pedagogical purposes and to help inform our policies and practices. As far as we are aware, the HSWC is the only writing centre at UofT collecting such data.

Workshops & Symposiums

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