Drafting a Policy for Critical Use of AI

Daniel Frank and Jennifer K. Johnson

Looking Ahead

Dan and Jennifer::
As the technology continues to develop at break-neck speed, our own and our colleagues' experiences with it continue to evolve. In order to reveal some of the ranges of conversations, takes, and developing approaches, we include here a video of interview clips from some of our Writing Program colleagues detailing their thoughts, approaches, and experiences to date with ChatGPT in their classrooms. While it’s clear that there is hardly a consensus among our department’s faculty in regard to these tools, we are pleased to see the conversation continue to unfold and by the careful thought we see evident in their responses.

EMBED VIDEO HERE https://descriptusercontent.com/published/450729b3-7e0e-44c0-bfad-e569397ee8bd/original.mp4

There is still much to figure out. The conversation is by no means over and the answers are far from set in stone. Indeed, much of the approach heard in both this video and in our reflections relies on the fact that without hands-on mediation and reflection, the writing itself won’t be good enough to do the job. This might not always be the case. What we must promote to students, then, is the value and importance of their own reflection, voice, and the power and importance of taking ownership over the choices involved in interacting with the tools. Inherent in this—and this came up several times in faculty discussions—is the question of motivation. Why is a student writing? What are the goals? Does the student have a purpose in mind? Do they have a desire to develop knowledge, expertise, an individual and powerful voice? Or is the student going through the motions in order to get the grade and move on? Unfortunately, the grade-based, transactional structure of the traditional educational apparatus tends to promote the latter rather than the former. There very well may be a point down the line when these technologies are advanced enough to make this transactional structure untenable. If we get to that point, we will all have a lot of work to do. A lot to rethink. But forgive a hint of optimism here when we suggest that perhaps we might restructure for the better.