OISE Student Success Centre (OSSC)
About the OISE Student Success Centre
NOTE: The OISE Student Success Centre is offering online appointments and a limited number of in-person appointments.
The OISE Student Success Centre (OSSC) is an academic skills and support centre that offers OISE graduate students the opportunity to book one-on-one 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 subject.
Services Offered/Contact
Advisors at the centre will be able to provide support to students in the following areas:
- Academic Writing
- French (select advisors)
- English Language Development
- Academic Writing Group (New)
- Literature Review
- Presentation Skills
- Resume and Cover Letters
- Mock Interviews
- Teacher Skills Development
- Indigenous Learning (New)
Please note:
We do not provide academic support for Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) grant and Ontario Graduate Scholarships (OGS) scholarship applications. Please inquire with your department about workshops and resources on these award competitions.
We do not provide editing or proofreading services; instead, we work with students to give feedback and work together through the writing process to develop your skills long-term.
Address:
OISE Student Success Centre
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
University of Toronto
202 - 8th Floor, 252 Bloor Street West
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
M5S 1V6
Contact:
Alex Merrick (Primary)
OSSC and Career Coordinator
416-978-1599
alexandra.merrick@utoronto.ca
Jeananne Robertson (Alternative)
Assistant Director & Student Success Counsellor
416-978-2448
jt.robertson@utoronto.ca
Advising Schedule
Summer 2023
Monday, May 1, 2023
to Friday, September 1, 2023
Fall 2023
Monday, September 11
to Friday December 15, 2023
Winter 2024
Monday January 8
to Friday April 19, 2024
Holidays
We are closed for Holidays as per University of Toronto Holiday Schedule.
Advisor Profiles
Christos Orfanidis
Expertise: Student success; academic and professional development; socially responsible leadership, teaching and learning
Language: English, Greek
Services: Academic reading, writing, and publishing; grant writing and research development strategies; further graduate education choice consultation; CV/resume and cover letter development; career selection advice; interviewing skills; EDI and pedagogical statements; lesson planning, public speaking and presentation skills; inbound and outbound international student experience; English language development
Claudio Jaramillo-Yanquepe
Expertise: Curriculum, language policy, critical pedagogy, qualitative methods, ethnographic case studies, critical applied linguistics
Language: English, Spanish
Services: Writing and reading skills, English language proficiency improvement, data visual representation
Diana M. 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
Elena Danilina
Expertise: International and EAL teaching, plurilingualism, oral communication, digital technologies and language learning, cross-cultural communication
Language: English, German, Russian
Services: Academic writing, English language development, presentation skills, teacher skills development, CV/resume/cover letter writing, interviewing skills
Gabrielle Breton-Carbonneau
Expertise: Academic writing, working with multicultural learners, ESL/FSL teaching, qualitative research
Language: English, French
Services: Academic writing, presentation skills, resumes and cover letters, French language proficiency
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)
Jasmine Pham
Expertise: Academic writing, reflective writing, grant writing, publishing, quantitative methods, qualitative methods, mixed-methods, lesson and unit plans, pedagogical statements, international student experience, and presentation skills
Language: English, Cantonese, Mandarin, Korean
Services: Academic writing, CV/resume/cover letter writing, presentation skills, research skills, general study strategies
Michael Koslowski
Expertise: International and ESL teaching, plurilingualism, oral presentations, adjusting to new educational cultures
Language: English
Services: Academic writing, English language development, research development, transition advising, presentation skills, teacher skills development, interview preparation
Sana Abuleil
Expertise: Navigating research databases, academic writing, resumes and cover letters, lesson plans/mock lessons
Language: English, Arabic
Services: Research skills, academic writing, English language development, designing teacher-trainee resources
Stacy Alexandra Costa
Expertise: Academic writing, qualitative methods, learning sciences, curriculum development, digital technologies & education, science, mathematics and technology education
Language: English, Portuguese
Services: Presentation skills (in-class presentations, conference presentations), academic writing (planning, organizing, writing and revising academic papers, dissertations, articles), resumes (preparation for interviews), mathematics concept development (STEM), English language proficiency improvement (grammar, listening, reading, pronunciation)
Stephanie Chartrand
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.
Susan He
Expertise: PSE access, student development, educational policies, professionalization in student affairs, qualitative methods, quantitative methods, mixed-methods
Language: English, Mandarin
Services: Academic presentations, academic writing, CV/resume/cover letters, practitioner development, teacher development
Ty Walkland (on leave)
Expertise: Academic writing, qualitative research, practitioner research, critical literacies
Language: English
Services: Academic writing, presentation skills, resume and cover letters, teacher skills development
Wenyangzi Shi
Expertise: Academic writing, oral presentation, qualitative research methods, multilingualism, teacher development, international student experience
Language: English, Mandarin, Japanese
Services: Academic writing, proposal preparation, presentation skills, resume and cover letter review, interview preparation
Ximena Martinez Trabucco
Expertise: Qualitative research methods, ethnographic techniques, experienced classroom teacher, adjusting to new educational cultures
Language: English, Spanish
Services: Organization of ideas for academic writing, presentation skills, teacher skills development
Frequently 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 and microphone, and a quiet space.
- Ensure that your local internet provider has not put up any firewalls for modes of this form of communication. 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.
- Please note we do not review your work outside of appointment times.
- If this is a course assignment, the assignment instructions and/or syllabus.
- For in-person appointments, feel free to bring your laptop or a print out of the assignment.
If there are any accommodations we can provide in order to better facilitate your learning during an appointment or improve your experience in the writing centre, please contact Alex Merrick or Jeananne Robertson.
Students can have two active appointments at a time, and book up to five a month. 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 on 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 but at least 12 hours in advance. This will allow other students to plan ahead when booking an appointment.
If you fail to cancel your appointment within the required time or miss the appointment twice, it will result in a "missed appointment" and you will be blocked from booking further sessions.