Lesley Wilton

Dr. Lesley Wilton, OCT, a former Microsoft Systems Engineer, is an accomplished academic who earned her PhD in Education from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) at the University of Toronto, where she investigated social practices and new literacies in online learning. with a focus on teaching with technology. Dr. Wilton built on her MEd research with York University where she examined pre-service students’ perceptions of digital literacy, establishing her deep commitment to understanding and advancing digital competence in education. With a robust academic and research background, Dr. Wilton is currently a Sessional Lecturer III at OISE, where she has been teaching and researching for more than a decade. She is also a former Assistant Professor (CLT), Teaching Stream in the Faculty of Education at York University. Along with these experiences, her dedication to pre-service students is apparent after more than a decade of teaching and mentoring pre-service candidates at YorkU, OISE and as an Instructor and Faculty Supervisor in the BEd program at Ontario Tech University for more than five years.

At OISE, Dr. Wilton has been actively involved in developing and teaching courses on AI in Education and AI Ethics in Education, one of the few educators in this emerging field. Her commitment to fostering a comprehensive understanding of AI in education is reflected in her ongoing research and numerous publications. Dr. Wilton’s scholarly work includes co-editing the Handbook of Research on Online Discussion-Based Teaching Methods and authoring significant papers like “Quiet Participation: Investigating Non-Posting Activities in Online Learning” in the Online Learning Journal. Her research consistently explores the critical aspects of technology Integration, with a focus on the integration of artificial intelligence systems, and its implications for teaching and learning. She is has been the AIED cluster leader at Digitallife.org since it began, and leads a small research group (AIR) at OISE/University of Toronto.

She actively participations in national and international conferences, such as the Literacy Research Association (LRA) and AERA, where she Chaired the Best Paper Committee for the Online Teaching and Learning SIG for many years. She is an active contributor to the IEEE, where she is Vice-Chair of the P7015 SA, developing the Draft Standard for Data and Artificial Intelligence (AI) Literacy, Skills and Readiness, is leading an IEEE SA committee that is updating the whitepaper on Concepts for Classification of Adaptive Instructional Systems, and serves on the IEEE AIS P2247.4 Recommended practices for Ethically Aligned Design of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Adaptive Instructional Systems, and IEEE SA P3396 Recommended Practice for Defining and Evaluating Artificial Intelligence (AI) Risk, Safety, Trustworthiness, and Responsibility. Her volunteer participation underscores her leadership in the field and her commitment to advancing educational technology research.

She joins the call for more in the education field to publish research on issues of AIED. She can be followed @LesleyWilton on Twitter.

Education and Certifications

Ph.D., Ontario Institute of Studies in Education (OISE), University of Toronto (2017)

M.Ed, York University

Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer, Mississauga, ON (1996)

Publications

Wilton, L., Brett, C., Ip, S., Engineer, R., & Tassis, A. (2025). What is AI? The need for AI literacy in education. In G. Tchibozo (Ed.), International perspectives of generative AI in education – Insights from research in diverse educational contexts. Springer (forthcoming)

Wilton, L., Brett, C., & Ip. S. AI Context Counts in Education. 17th annual International Conference of Education, Research and Innovation, Seville, Spain, November 11-13. ICERI Proceedings, pp. 7663-7673. (forthcoming)

Bramwell, D., Wilton, L., Engineer, R., Ip S., & Tassis, A. (2024). Gen-AI Systems in Context: Ethical Understandings and Model Cards. HELMeTO 2024: 6th International Conference on Higher Education Learning Methodologies and Technologies Online, Rome, Italy, September 25-27, 2024. (forthcoming).

Wilton, L, Brett, C., & Ip, S. (2024). From TPACK to Model Cards in AIED—Supporting AI Readiness and AI Literacy in Education. EDULEARN24 Proceedings, pp. 7941-7947.  doi: 10.21125/edulearn.2024.1869

Wilton, L, Ip, S, Sharma, M., & Fan, F. (July 2022). Where is the AI? AI Literacy for Educators in Artificial Intelligence in Education. In: Rodrigo, M.M., Matsuda, N., Cristea, A.I., Dimitrova, V. (eds) Artificial Intelligence in Education. Posters and Late Breaking Results, Workshops and Tutorials, Industry and Innovation Tracks, Practitioners’ and Doctoral Consortium. AIED 2022. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 13356. Springer, Cham.

Wilton, L. (2022). Not Busy Work! The benefits of new literacies and social practices in online discussion. In Designing for Meaningful Synchronous and Asynchronous Discussion in Online Courses. https://ecampusontario.

Wilton, L., & Brett, C. (Eds.). (2020). Handbook of Research on Online Discussion-Based Teaching Methods. Hershey, PA: IGI Global.

Wilton, L., Khan, R., Brett, C. & Alexander, P. (2020). Private Interactions in Online Learning Discussions: Instructor perspectives. In Wilton, L., & Brett, C. (Eds.) Handbook of Research on Online Discussion-Based Teaching Methods. Hershey, PA: IGI Global.

Wilton, L. (2020). New literacies, social practices and active learning in e-discussions. Conference Proceedings of the 9th Annual Saltise Conference.

Wilton, L., Theodore, A., & Vocino, J. (2020). Chapter 5 – Balancing the 4 Frames: Kindergarten and Remote Teaching. In Kay, R. (Ed)., Thriving in an Online World: For Busy K-12 Educators, pp. 35-47.

Wilton, L. (2019). Quiet Participation: Investigating non-posting activities in online learning. Online Learning Journal, 22(4).

Wilton, L., & Brett, C. (2018). Beyond apps: Unpacking Perceptions of TPACK and Global Competencies in Pre-service Education. In Niess, M. L., Angeli, C. & Gillow-Wiles, H. (Eds.), Handbook of Research on TPACK in the Digital Age. Hershey, PA: Information Science Reference.

Wilton, L. (2017). The Three Rs of Online Learning: Interpretive Views of the Social Practices of Reading, Rereading and Revisiting. (Doctoral Dissertation). University of Toronto, ON, TSpace.

Presentations

Wilton, L., Brett, C., & Ip. S. (November 12, 2024). AI Context Counts in Education. Presented virtually at 17th annual International Conference of Education, Research and Innovation, (ICERI), Seville, Spain, November 11-13.

Wilton, L. (November 8, 2024). Keynote: Responsible use of AI in the independent education space. Ontario Federation of Independent Schools (OFIS) Leadership Summit, at Centennial College, Scarborough.

Wilton, L. (October, 31, 2024). Fireside Chat: AI Literacy, 15th Canadian EdTech Leadership Summit – Presented by MindShare Learning at University of Toronto, Scarborough Campus.

Wilton, L. (October 31, 2024). Digital Life Institute AGM: AIED Cluster.
Wilton, L. (October 29, 2024). AI Literacy in Education. Guest Lecturer, CTL1808 Curriculum Innovations in Teacher Education.

Engineer, R., & Wilton, L. (October 3, 2024). Bridging the AI Literacy Gap: Perspectives and Challenges presented virtually at the Fifth Symposium of the Southern Ontario Universities on “Reimagining Languages and Literacies Education (CERLL).

Bramwell, D., Wilton, L., Engineer, R., Ip S., & Tassis, A. (September 27, 2024). Gen-AI Systems in Context: Ethical Understandings and Model Cards. Presented at HELMeTO 2024: 6th International Conference on Higher Education Learning Methodologies and Technologies Online, Rome, Italy, September 25-27, 2024.

Wilton, L. (September 6, 2024). Unlocking the future of learning with Dr. Lesley Wilton on AI Ethics and Literacy. Podcast (28:54) with MindShare Learning.

Wilton, L, Brett, C., & Ip, S. (July 1, 2024). From TPACK to Model Cards in AIED—Supporting AI Readiness and AI Literacy in Education. Presented virtually at EDULearn, Palma (Spain), July 1, 2024.

Wilton, L. (March 26, 2024). AI Literacy in the Education Field. Track Panel Presentation on AI Literacy, Skills and Readiness at Applied Machine Learning Days/EPFL (AMLD/EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland. Presented in person on March 26, 2024. See APML/EPFL Switzerland March 2024.  Panel Discussion and Program.

Wilton, L. (August 12, 2023). AI Ethics for Educators. Presented at AI and Education Conference, Erindale Academy, Ontario, Canada.

Wilton, L., Engineer, R., Ip, S., Brett, C. & Tassis, A. (June 13, 2023). Curious, Concerned, Confused? The need for AI Literacy for Educators. Roundtable presented in online format at the 2023 Supporting Active Learning & Technological Innovation in Studies of Education (SALTISE) Conference, Montreal, QC, Canada. June 12-13, 2023.

Wilton, L., Ip, S., Tassis, A. & Engineer, R. (May 31, 2023). Talking about AI: A Comparative Analysis of Teaching Sophisticated Content in Online Learning. Research presented at the 2023 Conference of the Canadian Society for the Study of Education (CSSE), Toronto, ON, Canada. May 28-31, 2023.

Wilton, L., Ip, S., Tassis, A. & Engineer, R. (May 29, 2023). AI in Education: Its impact and the Need for AI Literacy. Research presented at the 2023 Conference of the Canadian Society for the Study of Education (CSSE), Toronto, ON, Canada. May 28-31, 2023.

Wilton, L., Ip, S. & Tassis, A. (May 5, 2023). Talking about AI: The Challenge of Teaching Sophisticated Content in Online Learning. Research presented at the 2023 American Educational Research Association (AERA) Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL, USA. May 4-5, 2023.

Wilton, L., Ip, S., Sharma, M., & Fan, F. Where is the AI? Educator perspectives. Presented virtually at 23rd International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Education, July 27-31, on July 28, 2022, Durham University, UK.

Wilton, L., Ip, S., Sharma, M., & Fan, F. (June 2022). What AI? Making a case for AI Literacies for Educators. Paper presented at 11th Annual SALTISE Conference, June 2022.

Wilton, L., & Bernholtz, S. (May 15, 2022). Student APProval: Building a dynamic reading comprehension program for struggling middle school readers. Paper presented at Canadian Society for the Study of Education (CSSE) Annual Conference (Online).

Wilton, L. (April 29, 2022). Are you there? Learner Behaviours in Asynchronous Online Discussions. Speakers Series: Building Research Connections. York University.Wilton, L. (Feb. 11, 2022). AI Literacy – An Important Conversation. Invited speaker, SMT Centre, OISE, University of Toronto.

Wilton, L. (Oct. 21, 2021). Artificial Education in Education, What Counts? Invited speaker, University of Minnesota.

Wilton, L. (June 2, 2021) New literacies, social practices and active learning in e-discussions. Roundtable presented in online format at 10th Annual Saltise Conference.

Carvalho, R., Raman, P., Boldyreva, E., Ndubuisi, A., Burron, G., Zhang, X., Ghasempour, E., Wilton, L., & Slotta, J. (June 2021). Designing a Global Community of Critical Action Educators. ISLS Annual Meeting, 2021.

Wilton, L., Stodolak, M., & Brittain, P. (Dec. 9, 2020). AI is here. Have some fear? 5 assurances to allieviate and educate you on the potential of artificial intelligence in K-12 education. The Learning & Training Conference, 2020, Education Session in the K-12 Stream.

Wilton, L. (December 2019). Towards an Understanding of New Literacies and Social Practices in Online Learning. Paper presented at Literacy Research Association’s (LRA) 69th Annual Conference, Tampa, FL. Nov. 29-Dec.2.

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