Always Watched, Always Watching

The Role of Surveillance in Writing Educator Experiences with Generative Artificial Intelligence

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.31468/dwr.1147

Keywords:

generative artificial intelligence, writing pedagogies, teacher agency, surveillance

Abstract

Generative artificial intelligence is disrupting the pedagogies of educators who teach writing. Amidst the disruption, they are grappling with who this technology is asking them to become. Drawing on Foucault’s metaphor of the prison panopticon as a surveillance mechanism, we explore how teachers are positioned by surveillance of student writing post-generative AI. This paper highlights the experiences of two educators working in distinct policy contexts. Part of a broader study (n=39) exploring how language and literacy teachers in secondary and postsecondary contexts work with, around, or against the use of AI in student writing, the focal perspectives in this paper show the tensions of remaining the teachers they want to be while constrained by their institutional contexts. In understanding how these educators both resist and take-up the role of ‘AI detective’, the findings illustrate how writing pedagogies are shaped by surveillance. The role of the AI detective not only has implications for the ways educators see themselves, but also their ways of seeing learners. This research contributes to theory and practice at the intersection of artificial intelligence, writing practices, and teacher agency, offering critical questions to empower pedagogical responses to generative AI.

Author Biographies

Mercedes Veselka, York University

Mercedes Veselka is a PhD student in the Faculty of Education at York University. Her research examines the moving definitions of literacy and language to discover how educators adapt their pedagogical responses and identities to challenges in their practice.

Dr. Kathryn Hibbert, University of Western Ontario

Kathy Hibbert is a Distinguished University Professor and Professor of Curriculum Studies in the Faculty of Education at Western University. Her research typically asks how our ability to 'read' texts and to use and understand multimedia/other technologies shape our ability to communicate, to learn and to act upon that learning.

Dr. Lorelei Lingard, University of Western Ontario

Lorelei Lingard is Professor in the Department of Medicine and Senior Scientist at the Centre for Education Research & Innovation, Western University. She is a Distinguished University Professor at Western and an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.

Dr. Mary Ott, York University

Mary Ott is an Assistant Professor of Literacy in the Faculty of Education at York University and the principal investigator of this study. Her research explores social and material agency in curriculum making and engages teacher inquiry in literacy practices and pedagogies.

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Published

2026-01-06

How to Cite

Veselka, M., Hibbert, K., Lingard, L., & Mary, O. (2026). Always Watched, Always Watching: The Role of Surveillance in Writing Educator Experiences with Generative Artificial Intelligence. Discourse and Writing/Rédactologie, 35, 211–234. https://doi.org/10.31468/dwr.1147

Issue

Vol. 35 (2025)

Section

Special Issue: The Present and Future(s) of Writing in the Age of AI

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Copyright (c) 2026 Mercedes Veselka, Dr. Kathryn Hibbert, Dr. Lorelei Lingard, Dr. Mary Ott

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