Theory and practice

You, Me, and ChatGPT:

Emphasizing Writing Processes Through Generative AI

Cheating, ChatGPT, and Challenging My Unoriginality

ChatGPT. I never thought I would use it for anything; the name alone was synonymous with cheating in my vocabulary. That is, until one day when my Rhetorical Theory professor mentioned that it could be a useful tool in the classroom. Needless to say, I was shocked. What on earth could make cheating useful in the classroom? ChatGPT and other forms of generative AI were seedy technological threats that tempted students to lead a life of plagiarism and unoriginality. What I didn't realize was that I was approaching the topic with parroted unoriginality that could rival the most ridiculous of AI-prompted essays.

My professor explained that AI, while it could be a slippery slope, could actually serve a purpose when approached in the right light. For my instructional purposes, that light is not the homey bedside lamp of a student who has been left to their own devices with AI (though some instructors do allow students to use AI on their own for any assignment, and that is their prerogative); it is instead the flicker of the fluorescent lights in my own future classroom. Before you shut your laptop in disgust, dear reader, let me explain how I myself went from despising AI usage to aiming at leveraging it, at least in a monitored way.

Funny Failes and Classroom Failure

My Rhetorical Theory professor demonstrated how ChatGPT can be used as a tool in the classroom for showing students what not to do. He had my class pick a few topics that we then prompted ChatGPT to write about, and the results were ... not great. As students in a graduate writing program ourselves, we could easily pick apart some of the lackluster elements of the generated texts. While this exercise did far more to highlight the flaws of AI than it did to note its potential benefits (which is still a good lesson in and of itself), I was stunned at the fact that a professor had willingly utilized AI in any capacity at all with his students. This, to me, was a revolutionary turning point in my line of thinking simply because it showed me that classroom usage of AI can be permissible, possible, and productive. My professor then encouraged us to play around with ChatGPT for non-academic purposes on our own time just to get a feel of what it can and cannot do. My mind exploded from the shock of it all.

When I gathered all the pieces of my broken brain in the slump of my recliner that night, I was well enough to download the ChatGPT app with a steady hand. I would try it. I would. I did.

I decided to have it write a play about a town where everyone was named Jake, thinking that this would be a good opportunity to test the AI's ability to write humor. What it spit back at me technically met the requirements I had given it, but there was nothing intentionally funny amongst the boring and bare-bones mix of Jake, and Jake, and Jake's dialogue. Make it funnier, I typed. It came back with the same play that had a few incomprehensible knock-knock jokes thrown in. On the one hand, I was disappointed in the all-powerful AI that I had feared. On the other hand, I could procrastinate readying my apocalypse bunker a little longer.

It seems that the funniest thing AI can do is fail to be intentionally funny.

How Can We Use AI Effectively During Class Sessions?

The Hutson et al. study not only describes the advantages of AI usage for students but also some of the unignorable drawbacks. As I mentioned previously, AI-based plagiarism might be less of a concern than we realize (though it is still a valid concern to a degree).

The study itself emphasizes that students themselves are eager to maintain the uniqueness and distinctness of their own writing voices, and that they, too, have worries about AI taking their writing style and their "originality" away from them (Hutson et al. 6). These writing researchers later convey that we as instructors in this early generative-AI world have a level of responsibility to "guide students in effectively and ethically using AI in their writing process[es]" (Hutson et al. 9). To alleviate both student and educator worries on this front, and to fulfill our duties as guides, I suggest that instructors consider the following classroom activity, along with administering an AI statement to their classes:

-Have your students give you a topic to feed ChatGPT or another AI tool.

-Ask the students to not only consider the failings of the AI in generating an effective essay but also the revisions they would make to strengthen. You may choose to have them discuss this as a class or in small groups, or you may have them work on it individually as in-class assignment that they will later share.

-Have the students reflect on the changes they chose to make, and then have them relate the process they went through to their own individual writing experiences OR to how they will approach their own writing in the future.

Activities like this paired with AI syllabus statements can gives students a newfound confidence and a sense of direction when it comes to both writing and using AI, and the latter might be more important than you think.

AI Is Here to Stay

It might be scary to admit that the world is changing, but the fact of the matter is that it is always changing; if not generative AI, we'd be dealing with something else in the classroom. However, AI is becoming more and more present in the world and in many of the professional fields that students will participate in, so facing the fear and uncertainty that surrounds it in our own classes can send an important-- and even an empowering--message to our students that they can increase their AI literacies safely and effectively. I believe this is what Harvard lecturer Houman Harouni is getting at when he says in "Embracing Artificial Intelligence in the Classroom" that "the medium is part of the message" (qtd. in Ross). The medium of AI in the classroom is a conquerable one; the medium is an aid, if we only use it as one.

My AI Syllabus Statement

In the classrooms of the Digital Age, the topic of generative AI must be addressed. Generative AI can be defined as any machine-based system capable of learning and generating content based on information and user-supplied prompts. Text-based AI tools such as ChatGPT and visual-arts-based tools such as DALL-E are examples. 

Students should note that the use of generative AI is not acceptable for activities, papers, or other assignments outside of our classroom sessions, meaning that generative AI should not be used without my explicit permission. This is because First Year Composition Students require guidance in using these sorts of technologies and in navigating their limitations and pitfalls. It is also integral to your education that you develop as an individual writer with your process and your own unique voice before you can individually turn to AI as a tool for the augmentation (not the replacement) of said voice.  

With that said, some of our in-class assignments and activities will require the use of generative AI in an attempt to enhance your learning experience and how you think about and approach the writing process and the technologies associated with it. Some in-class organizational and revision-based activities, for example, will require instructor-guided and/or approved use of generative AI. 

Please recognize that different classes at KSU may implement different AI-related policies, and it is up to you as an agent of your own education to make sure that you follow the policies set in place for each individual course. 

A Short Statement Justification

It is important to be as direct and clear as possible, especially with beginning college students, so I chose to include a brief definition of what I consider generative AI to be to ensure we're all on the same page. Directness is a theme throughout my statement as I go on to detail why I will not allow my students to use AI for assignments outside of the classroom environment or without my guidance. I also make sure to provide them with the exact instances in which AI will be used and the precise reasons why that is the case.

And now, dear reader, I'm off to consult my collaborator on my play.