AI and Integrated Writing

Georgetown’s Integrated Writing requirement recognizes that writing is a key form of learning and knowledge-making in all academic disciplines – and that expectations for what “good writing” entails vary widely among academic disciplines. The Georgetown Writing Program is committed to supporting faculty across disciplines in adapting their approach to teaching writing in their disciplines to address the rise of generative AI technologies. In response to AI, some faculty may choose to actively engage students in using AI tools to assist with writing and research in ways that align with the scholarly values and practices of their discipline; in other cases, faculty may choose to redesign writing assignments (and approaches to teaching them) in ways that strongly discourage or minimize AI use. No matter what approach to AI individual faculty choose, we believe that following research-based practices for teaching writing in the disciplines may be helpful. If you are interested in adapting any of these practices for your teaching, please contact J Palmeri, (j.palmeri@georgetown.edu), to schedule an individual consultation or group workshop.

Implement informal, in-class writing as an active learning strategy

Informal, in-class writing has long been recognized as a powerful active learning strategy – one that is likely to become even more important as we respond to concerns about AI use in homework assignments. Students can write in response to a reading or an inquiry question at the start of class as a springboard for discussion, or they can write reflectively at the end of a class lecture or discussion as a way to synthesize their learning. Students can also work together in class to draw concept maps or prepare short presentations that apply a key course concept. Faculty do not need to respond to or formally grade this kind of in-class writing for it to be valuable. Moreover, informal in-class writing activities can be a great way to help students prepare for high-stakes written exams.

Design writing assignments that have personal meaning for students and a potential life beyond the classroom

While there are no AI-proof assignments, students are more likely to avoid AI use when they find an assignment meaningful. Research on students’ writing experiences in college has found that students tend to find writing assignments most meaningful when those assignments enable them to apply course concepts to reflect on their own life experiences and also give them some degree of choice in engaging intellectual questions of interest to them. Students are also often motivated by opportunities to address real problems in their communities, to write or speak to audiences beyond the professor, and to practice forms of writing and speaking they believe they will use in the future.

Apply your scholarly expertise to teaching about (and perhaps with) generative AI

All disciplines in the university have relevant insights to bring to conversations about the ethical, technological, social, scientific, psychological, spiritual, educational, commercial, and/or aesthetic implications of AI. Even if you are not an AI expert, you can still take some time in class to teach students to apply the conceptual knowledge of your discipline to current AI conversations. In some disciplines, faculty may be actively using AI tools to conduct research or professional work – and in those cases, it is important for faculty to teach students what ethical uses of AI look like in their field. In other disciplines, faculty may be actively refusing the use of AI for their writing and research, and in those cases, they should discuss with students the reasons why refusing or strongly limiting AI use aligns with the values of their discipline. In some disciplines (such as Writing Studies), scholars are currently engaged in lively debates about AI; in those cases, it makes sense for scholars to introduce students to current debatable questions about AI in their fields (as well as to share their own evolving positions on those debates).

Provide Scaffolded Support for Writing Assignments

Students often turn to unpermitted uses of AI (or other kinds of plagiarism) because they are uncertain how to get started or find themselves pressed for time trying to complete a large writing project the night before it is due. Writing scholars have long recognized that we can mitigate academic integrity violations by breaking assignments down into smaller steps and providing students with support with each step. Not only does such scaffolding support help student learning, but it also requires them to document their active effort in writing over time. Some examples of scaffolding activities include

Design in-class brainstorming activities (freewriting, mapping, outlining, proposals) after an assignment is introduced.
Collaborate with librarians to provide research instruction, and follow up the session by requiring students to turn in an annotated bibliography of sources.
Assign students to bring to class a draft of a thesis statement and a bank of quotes they might use to support that thesis.
Discussing samples of previous student writing (or published writing) to teach students about the rhetorical moves required in the genre you are asking them to write.
Host an in-class essay drafting day (with intention setting at the start and a reflection at the end)
Assign students to write a first draft for peer response. Create a structured peer response activity that guides students in how to give feedback to each other, which will help them learn to meet your writing expectations.

Provide instruction in critical ways to use AI for specific, limited writing tasks

Generative AI tools can potentially offer student writers helpful assistance with generating ideas, conducting research, revising, and editing. When those uses are allowed in particular classes, students can benefit from instruction in how to use generative AI tools ethically and critically – including how to consider the unique affordances of limitations of different AI tools. For example, in the writing program, we strongly discourage the use of ChatGPT for locating research sources because of the high risk of inaccuracies; however, many of us provide instruction in how to use other AI research tools, such as Elicit and Research Rabbit, which search only peer-reviewed scholarly databases. If you would like to read more about how the writing program has been engaging critically with AI in our first-year writing courses, you can check out our statement on Teaching Critical AI Literacy.

Design speaking and multimedia composing assignments that align with scholarship and practice in your discipline

Scholars do not make knowledge through writing alone. It can be meaningful to engage students in giving poster and conference presentations, composing scholarly podcasts, or creating educational videos. Highly embodied forms of communication (whether live or digitally recorded) may become even more important in the coming years, as differences between human and AI-generated text become increasingly difficult to discern. Just as with writing, students will benefit from scaffolding support to learn how to prepare a presentation or compose a work of scholarly multimedia.