6.3 Skipping the Writing, Skipping the Learning: Foregrounding Writing to Learn in the Age of Generative AI

Rim Fathallah,  Assistant Professor, John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design/Director, Daniels Writing, Jane Freeman, Director, Graduate Centre for Academic Communication, Paola Bohorquez, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream,  Woodsworth College, Director, Academic Writing Centre, Michael Cournoyea, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Kinesiology and Physical Education, Acting Director, Health Sciences Writing Centre, Daniel Aureliano Newman, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, English, Director of Graduate Writing Support, Faculty of Arts & Science

Conversations about writing and generative AI often focus on the writing product: Is it plagiarism? Is it good? Is it authentic? This roundtable shifts the focus to the writing process and the inextricable link between writing and learning. Four U of T Writing Directors will springboard discussion by sharing their observations on student uses/abuses of generative AI, identify challenges it poses to learning, and suggest ways to support student learning/writing skill development in the age of generative AI.

Writing specialists bring a unique perspective on student writing, working with students across disciplines, genres, proficiency levels, and stages of the writing process in the ungraded – and therefore safe – space of the Writing Centre.

The session will have three learning objectives:  

- To share five common challenges that students face with generative AI in writing, including:
* The inequitable impacts on multilingual learners and novice writers;
* The potential erosion of essential reading and research skills;
* Uncertainties about integrating learning literacies, writing literacies, and generative AI literacies;
* The significantly different roles of writing for knowledge acquisition and dissemination in various disciplines.
* The increased emphasis on university writing as transactional (i.e., writing submitted for grading rather than writing that is integrated into the learning process)
- To identify potential strategies to address these challenges.
- To reflect on the challenges collaboratively in breakout rooms.

This roundtable will promote active participation through Q&A, breakout rooms, and use of a Whiteboard.