Join the Discussion

We have a Facebook Group!  If you'd like to add to the conversation, please join the group.  It's a very small group so far, but with time we'll have a real forum to discuss ways to address AI and prevent it's misuse in the writing classroom.

In particular, here are some conversations I think we need:

• Personal experiences address AI in your classroom.  How are you dealing with AI misuse?  What conversations are you having with your students?  How are you addressing the concerns?  How are you teaching the environmental issues? 

• Lesson plans to boost student engagement without AI.  It's not enough to be "anti-AI" — we need to directly support independent research and critical reasoning skills.  Our students should be fully engaged with writing and research — and that means showing students that they don't need AI "shortcuts" that limit thinking.  Ultimately, this will help them make responsible decisions with their technology usage in the future, including with AI.

• Activities that specifically show students the uses and limits of AI — particularly in-class work where we can put the shortcomings of AI in context for our students to see.  Although I personally am not a fan of AI-centered assignments, I do believe we need to teach the technology.  Even if your assignment might be too much AI for my classroom, sharing that assignment will help us discuss how teachers individually choose their stance.

• Strategies for identifying when a student submission has been generated by AI — and just as importantly, ways to prevent false positives that wrongly label hardworking students as plagiarizing.

• No shaming.  I can't pretend to have all the answers, and I don't believe I know all the questions that need asking.  I'm honestly hoping we get a few teachers in the discussion who are pro-AI — that's important for the debate.  I have misjudged AI's utility a number of times.  I do strongly believe its being misused and abused, and I strongly believe we need to limit its use in the classroom — and that creates blindspots in my viewpoints.  I have a significant bias, as will many who subscribe to site that's specifically called "Writing Without AI."  So if you believe we need more AI in the classroom, you may well have ideas that I've simply never considered.  If nothing else, the debate will force us all to evaluate our positions and develop more coherent ways of discussing them.