I work in Writing and Learning at the University of Alberta. My office is in 2-10 Cameron Library. I meet with students about their writing, run workshops and retreats, and teach longer grant-writing programs. Departments also ask me to teach sessions for their students.
Generative AI
Discussion of AI in education is often polarized. I start with what students are already doing and the questions they bring to the room. We read course rules and talk about privacy, authorship, and academic integrity as they come up in actual cases. Students examine sample documents and decide whether an AI response would help with the work in front of them. The point is to keep their interest in research while giving them better grounds for judging these tools.
Current projects include a six-module Canvas resource on responsible AI use and a grant-writing lab called True, Accurate, and Complete. Both are described on the AI projects page.
Graduate communication
Some workshops deal with the writing process. Recent examples include Starting Your Draft, When Writing Gets Stuck, Finishing Strong, and The Hard Truth About Paraphrasing. I also teach grant writing for SSHRC, NSERC, and graduate law programs. Other sessions deal with theses, journal articles, conference presentations, or the thesis examination. A separate set of materials looks at academic writing and neurodiversity.
The document and its readers determine the advice. A multidisciplinary grant committee needs something different from a supervisor reading a revised thesis chapter. I account for the discipline, the assessment criteria, and how far the project has progressed.
Teaching approach
Relational pedagogy informs how I teach. I ask students what they are trying to do and what conditions they are working under before I offer advice. Their supervisors and departments matter here. So do committee expectations and institutional rules.
Earlier teaching
Before and during the first years of my current role, I taught undergraduate sociology at the University of Alberta and Concordia University of Edmonton. Courses included Sociology of Religion, Social Movements, Criminology, Social Psychology, and the Social Studies of Surveillance. I also taught introductory sociology and courses on deviance and conformity.