Invitation to participate in ChatGPT research
Dear colleagues,
ChatGPT has obviously raised a lot of fears. Some students and faculty both are quite perplexed about how students are or should or should not be using it, and any AI-generated text is considered plagiarism by OSSJA. At the same time, we know that our students will enter professions in which generative AI is being incorporated into all kinds of workflows.
If we don’t train them how to use AI ethically—and help them understand why and when they should not use it—it may deepen the digital divide and increase inequity in education.
Lisa Sperber and Marit MacArthur, along with two graduate students, are testing strategies to use AI for very targeted feedback on draft writing assignments (never grading them, and not offering feedback on the final version), alongside structured peer review. They have been doing this in their own courses, and in Winter and Spring with four Writing Experience courses, in an IRB-approved (exempt) study.
They are now applying for a Teaching Innovation grant with L&S, to work with additional Writing Experience courses in 2024-25. If you want to participate, they would work to adapt materials for your assignments over the summer (details below). It would be minimal work for you and any TAs, and it would also help build students’ AI literacy and improve writing skills in your course.
If you’re interested in participating:
By Feb. 6th, please email Marit MacArthur at mjmacarthur@ucdavis.edu and include:
- The course(s) with writing assignments that you will be teaching in 2024-25 (WE courses are welcome but not required)
- Which quarter
- A rough idea of typical enrollments
- The typical number of TAs or Readers, if any
Expressing interest is not be a firm commitment—we just want an idea of which courses we’d likely be working with, which disciplines, etc. Thank you for considering this opportunity!
Warmly,
Marit
Marit J. MacArthur, Ph.D. (she/her/hers)
Continuing Lecturer, University Writing Program
Associate Director of Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) – Graduate level
Faculty Affiliate, Performance Studies Graduate Group
University of California, Davis
“AI, Expertise and the Convergence of Writing and Coding”
Inside Higher Ed, Sept. 28, 2023
“Saving Expertise, or Critical Editing as Manslaughter-by-AI Prevention Strategy”
Digital Rhetoric Collaborative, August 7, 2023
“Slow Listening: Digital Tools for Voice Studies”
Digital Humanities Quarterly 17:2, July 2023
What Lisa and Marit would do for your course, with your input:
- Add easy-to-implement, effective peer review for one or more drafts of writing assignments in a course;
- Develop rubrics for your assignment(s) if you don’t have them already, which eases grading and clarifies expectations for students, both for their own writing and for giving feedback on peers’ drafts;
- Share carefully designed and tested prompts to solicit feedback from ChatGPT on drafts (in incognito mode so that students are not sharing their work with OpenAI);
- Share reflection questions that students will be required to answer, about both the peer review and ChatGPT feedback (in low-stakes writing, required but without a formal grade for it) which encourages them to think critically about it, not let it write or think or think for them;
- Share optional readings about AI to discuss with students briefly early in the course, to promote AI literacy, which we strongly recommend! They really appreciate having the chance to talk through it with instructors.