OISE Student Success Centre (OSSC)
A Writing Centre and More!
NOTE: The OISE Student Success Centre offers both online and in-person appointments.
The OISE Student Success Centre (OSSC) is an academic skills and writing centre that offers OISE graduate students the opportunity to book appointments with an OSSC advisor to improve their abilities in a wide-range of areas. Our advisors have a range of professional and academic experience. Students are encouraged to consult the advisor profiles as a guide when booking appointments for a specific purpose.
Services Offered/Contact
Advisors at the centre will be able to provide support to students in the following areas:
- Academic Writing
- Career Supports (Resumes, Cover Letters & Mock Interviews)
- Coursework (e.g. Literature Reviews, Reflective Writing)
- General Teacher Skills Development
- Grant Writing including SSHRC & OGS (most advisors)
- Letters of Application
- Presentation Skills
- Research Skills/Processes
Areas of Specialization (Academic):
- Indigenous Learning (Stephanie Chartrand)
- K-12 Teacher Candidate Support (Susan He, Ty Walkland)
- Presentations/3MT (Hoda Gharib)
- Research Consultancy (Hoda Gharib)
Areas of Specialization (Careers):
- Academic Career Support (Diana Barrero)
- Careers in Higher Education Administration (Christos Orfanidis)
- Non-Academic Careers (Hoda Gharib)
- Teacher Candidate Career Advising (Susan He)
Also check out the Academic Skills Hub (ASH) for asynchronous modules on academic skills such as academic writing, reading, critical thinking, notetaking and more! ASH is part of the OnBoard@OISE initiative, which also includes the Academic Writing Group (AWG), Student Experience Passport (SEP) and the OISE Welcome Kit.
Please note:
We do not provide editing or proofreading services; instead, we work together with students through the writing process and give feedback to develop your skills long-term.
For newly admitted students or OISE alumni, please contact the centre directly to book an appointment at ossc.oise@utoronto.ca.
Address:
OISE Student Success Centre
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
University of Toronto
Room 8-203 (8th Floor), 252 Bloor Street West
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
M5S 1V6
Contact:
Michael Koslowski (Primary)
OSSC Coordinator
ossc.oise@utoronto.ca
Jeananne Robertson (Alternative)
Assistant Director & Student Success Counsellor
ossc.oise@utoronto.ca
Advising Schedule
Fall 2025
Monday, September 8th to Friday, December 12th
Winter 2026
Monday, January 5th to Friday, April 17th
*Closed from March 16th - 20th
Summer 2026
Monday, May 4th to Friday, August 21st
Holidays
We are closed for Holidays as per University of Toronto Holiday Schedule.
Summer Advisors
Christos Orfanidis
Expertise: Higher Education Administration and Policy; Ethics in Leadership and Organizational Studies; Digital Transformation; Sociological Theory and Methodology
Language: English, Greek
Services: Primarily career advising, in particular career acquisition, management, and development for aspiring higher education practitioners (CVs/Cover Letters/Mock Interviews) as well as further education planning. Secondarily, strategic advice on academic writing and oral presentations, specifically assignments, theses, conference talks and publications.
Learn more about Christos
Diana Barrero
Expertise: Qualitative research methodologies, Critical pedagogies, critical race theory, feminist theories
Language: English, Spanish
Services: Academic writing (revising academic essays, manuscripts, dissertation), presentation skills, research development (developing research questions, literature reviews etc), publishing
Learn more about Diana
Hoda Gharib
Expertise: Research proposals, literature reviews, mixed-methods research, survey research, qualitative data analysis (grounded theory), semi-structured interviews, psychology/sociology of social movements, social media analysis
Language: English
Services: Research skills, presentation skills, academic writing (including journal publications), conference preparation, ethics applications, scholarship applications, graduate school applications (research Master’s or PhD)
Learn more about Hoda
Stephanie Chartrand
Doctoral student, LHAE
Expertise: Peer-to-peer Indigenous student advising and engagement, Academic writing, reflective writing, grant writing, qualitative methods, and presentation skills
Language: English
Services: Academic writing, CV/resume/cover letter writing, presentation skills, research skills, and general study strategies.
Learn more about Stephanie
Susan He
Expertise: PSE access, student development, educational policies, professionalization in student affairs, qualitative methods, quantitative methods, mixed-methods
Language: English
Services: Academic presentations, academic writing, CV/resume/cover letters, practitioner development, teacher development, preparation for OISE MT job fairs
Learn more about Susan
Ty Walkland
Expertise: Academic writing, qualitative research, practitioner research, critical literacies
Language: English
Services: Academic writing, presentation skills, resume and cover letters, teacher skills development
Learn more about TyFrequently Asked Questions About Online Appointments
Log into the WCONLINE system approximately five to ten minutes before the start of your appointment. Then, open your appointment and click "Start or Join Online Consultation".
In situations where we/you are encountering technical difficulties with the online booking system, your advisor will email you with Zoom instructions.
- For your online appointment, make sure you have a working webcam, microphone, and a quiet space.
- Ensure that your local internet provider has not put up any firewalls. Firefox and Chrome browsers usually work best for online appointments on the WCONLINE system.
- Be sure that you have the latest version of your browser installed.
- Bring the rough draft of the assignment you would like to work on, your questions, and ideas.
- If this is a course assignment, bring the assignment instructions and/or syllabus.
- For in-person appointments, feel free to bring your laptop or a print out of the assignment.
- Please note we do not review your work outside of appointment times.
- Sometimes, appointments take the form of a conversation, brainstorming, or ideation session, so it's not always necessary to bring your work in progress.
If there are any accommodations we can provide in order to better facilitate your learning during an appointment or improve your experience at the OSSC, please contact Jeananne Robertson.
Students can have two active appointments at a time and book up to two per week. Each appointment lasts 50 minutes.
We do not allow back-to-back appointment bookings as we feel students should have time to reflect on the appointment and suggested changes or revisions before booking their next appointment with an advisor.
WCONLINE provides a legend (i.e. colour blocks) to easily identify when appointments are available, booked, online, etc. For easy viewing, please see the legend below, which is also available in the appointment booking system:
- White: Appointment(s) available
- Yellow: My appointment(s)
- Purple: Not available
- Blue: Unavailable (in person) appointment
- Red: Unavailable (online) appointment
If you need to cancel an appointment, please do so as soon as possible and at least 5 hours in advance. This will allow other students to plan ahead when booking an appointment.
Failing to cancel an appointment within the required time twice and/or missing an appointment twice will result in your account being blocked from booking further sessions.