With Heidi McKee and James Porter

Professors Heidi A. McKee and James E. Porter teach professional writing/communication courses in the Departments of English and Emerging Technology in Business & Design. Their most recent collaborative research focuses on human-machine teaming and the rhetoric and ethics of AI-based writing systems, an inquiry that  began with their co-authored 2017 book, Professional Communication and Network Interaction: A Rhetorical and Ethical Approach (Routledge).

This workshop will engage faculty in the exploration of issues and questions that arise with the use of AI writing technologies in teaching and learning. The facilitators will begin the workshop with a presentation that will demonstrate some AI-based writing systems  (especially the new ChatGPT) and share some current research about AI writing, including work the facilitators have done on human-AI collaboration. The workshop will then provide an opportunity for participants to test out some of these systems using their own writing prompts and will engage participants in discussion of some key questions, such as: What ethical and pedagogical concerns arise with the use of AI by students? What is an acceptable level of AI assistance (and does the answer depend on the course and/or disciplinary context)? Should we “AI-proof” writing assignments? How should we revise/update our policies on plagiarism and academic integrity to account for these systems? And, finally, how might AI help us and our students in meeting course outcomes? 

• When:
  • Thursday, February 9, 10:05-11:25
• Where: Zoom