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| Learning how to write involves learning how form and content work together in a piece of writing. Below is an activity that is good for helping students analyze the relationship between form and content and has the added benefit of demonstrating some limitations and possibilities of using LLMs as a writing aid.
LLMs are very good at producing the formal aspects of a writing task. |
Writing in the Age of AI
Regina Martin, Chair of Denison’s Writing Committee, shares resources and ideas on teaching writing in the age of AI.
AI and Cognitive Deficits: An Activity
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| Part of our job now is to help students make better decisions about how and when to use AI in their learning. I use this slide deck in week 2 of my W101 to talk with students about how AI use affects their ability to learn. It works best if you use it in the context of a specific writing assignment you have already introduced to students. |
Align AI Policies with Learning Goals
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| As we approach the new semester, it’s important to reflect on how your course documents (syllabus, assignment sheets, etc.) communicate clearly to students the rules around AI use in your classes as well as the relationship between those rules and the course learning goals. Here’s my advice:
AI Policy: Articulate a clear AI policy in your syllabus, and if it makes sense to do so, articulate an AI policy in each assignment sheet. |
We are Not in an AI Apocalypse
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This is my final dispatch for the semester, and I’m pleased to offer this concluding observation: We are not (yet) in an AI apocalypse!
Here’s what I mean by that:
- The more I use AI, the better I understand the amount of work it takes to transform AI-generated content into a high quality, college-level essay. I am, therefore, less worried about students offloading cognitive labor if and when they integrate AI into their writing process.
Peer Review Activity: Feedback Isn’t The Point
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| A few weeks ago, I experimented with a method for integrating AI into peer review. My goal was to see if AI can be used by students as a tool for evaluating their own writing. When I do peer review, I give students a guide with a series of steps and questions designed to help them dissect their drafts and analyze them via my grading criteria. |
Identifying Unsupported Claims
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In my W101, I am using AI-generated writing to teach students two things: (1) the pitfalls of submitting unrefined AI output in their assignments and (2) how to evaluate and revise writing. For example, I developed this group activity to help students learn how to identify unsupported claims.
When prompted to write a college-level essay, AI tends to generate a lot of unsupported claims.
Characteristics of Good College-Level Writing
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In my W101, in most class periods, students do a graded in-class writing (ICW) assignment. A few weeks ago, I did an experiment: I required students to use a large language model (LLM) like ChatGPT or Gemini to do the ICW.
I gave them the following instructions: “Use an LLM of your choice to write a response to the ICW prompt.
AI Feedback on Writing: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
Students frequently ask AI for feedback on their writing, so we need to teach them how to interpret that feedback. This week I am sharing some materials I developed to do that. In my W101, when students peer review rough drafts, I am now integrating lessons on AI feedback. I teach an 80-minute class, and during the first half, students work in pairs on a traditional peer review exercise.
AI Literacy Assignment Part 1
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| I spent my summer developing a suite of AI literacy assignments that are appropriate for writing courses. Over the next several CfLT newsletters, I will share those. I developed them for my ENGL 342: Utopian and Dystopian Fiction class, which I am currently teaching. The first assignment consists of two parts. I’ll elaborate on the first part this week. |
Voice and Independent Thinking
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| This fall I have redesigned my W101 to experiment with new methods of assessment given that many students will use AI to write their essays. Because the quality of a written artifact is no longer necessarily a sign of student learning or a reflection of their ideas, I have shifted some of my assessment criteria to focus on evidence of student learning. |