AI, Authenticity, and Undergraduate Writing
"The Future of Writing" Generated 9/17/23
What’s at Stake (Problems and Possibilities):
The development of increasingly sophisticated chatbots and other AI text generators (AITGs) promises to be consequential to many fields within and beyond the university, but by nature has specific and immediate implications to undergraduate essay writing. Speaking with undergraduate students on UC Berkeley campus makes it clear that many already have at least some knowledge of and experience with AITGs, and increasingly ambitious marketing practices by the companies developing this tech and widespread adoption and implementation in various aspects of life suggest that this trend will only continue. When Microsoft first made ChatGPT available to the general public, many were concerned that the product, and especially its newer GPT4 iteration, could match the quality of human writing and mimic thought with a sufficient degree of accuracy to pass for authentic and accurate student writing. Since then, news articles, TikTok campaigns, viral memes, and the worst fears of educators and those that care about education worldwide.
What the Tech Can and Can’t Do (and What it Sometimes Does:)
A Way Forward (Best Practices/Are You Worried About Cheating?):
Metacognition and discovery
Invested iteration
Assignments and Activities:
The development of increasingly sophisticated chatbots and other AI text generators (AITGs) promises to be consequential to many fields within and beyond the university, but by nature has specific and immediate implications to undergraduate essay writing. Speaking with undergraduate students on UC Berkeley campus makes it clear that many already have at least some knowledge of and experience with AITGs, and increasingly ambitious marketing practices by the companies developing this tech and widespread adoption and implementation in various aspects of life suggest that this trend will only continue. When Microsoft first made ChatGPT available to the general public, many were concerned that the product, and especially its newer GPT4 iteration, could match the quality of human writing and mimic thought with a sufficient degree of accuracy to pass for authentic and accurate student writing. Since then, news articles, TikTok campaigns, viral memes, and the worst fears of educators and those that care about education worldwide.
What the Tech Can and Can’t Do (and What it Sometimes Does:)
A Way Forward (Best Practices/Are You Worried About Cheating?):
- Emphasis on iterative and recursive writing practices
- Emphasis on multimodality
- flipped classroom activities (Ryan? See below?)
- Requiring students to complete all of their writing in a Google Doc (shared Google folder) and relying on track changes to ensure a ‘natural’ writing process.
Metacognition and discovery
Invested iteration
Assignments and Activities:
