2025 Theses Doctoral

In Wonder: Writing as Discernment Between the Call, the Self(s), and (Generative Artificial) Technology

Hammond, Kelsey Margaret

This dissertation is a call—and a pause. At a moment when generative artificial intelligence is being rapidly integrated into writing classrooms, I ask not simply what we should do in response, but how we might discern—how we might pause, wonder, and reflect on what this technology is asking of us, and what we are becoming in relationship with it. Grounded in Ignatian spirituality and shaped by the epistemological and poetic practices of writing, this work proposes that discernment is a necessary and ongoing process for navigating human-technology relationships.

Through a recursive structure that moves between wonder, theory, practice, and becoming, I explore how writing can serve as a meditative, ethical, and spiritual practice—one that helps students and educators alike to respond to the call of our moment. Drawing from Heidegger, I trace how writing offers a way of attending Dasein, a call of Being-there in the world. Each chapter dwells in relational tensions between the call, the self(s), and technology, culminating in a proposed framework for discernment that invites teachers and students to reflect on their own engagements with generative AI through attention, intention, and relationality.

Alongside this framework, I offer implementable writing practices and exercises that can be adapted in both secondary and post-secondary educational settings. These are not prescriptive methods, but invitations—ways of helping students and educators pause, ask questions, and dwell in the uncertainty of meaningful learning.