In my writing center, we usually put together a self-scheduled ongoing education option along with our regular scheduled offerings. This semester we used a student post on Jane Rosenzweig’s The Important Work blog. Here are the discussion prompts that go along with the reading. I also included the debrief form items we use as a completion tracker and assessment–we put them into a Google Form that the mentors fill out to get credit.
The Important Work is a blog run by the head of Harvard’s Writing Center. Read this post: “At My High School No One Is Talking About AI,” by high school student Sam Barber. Meet with your partner and discuss some of these prompts. You can address these in any order, and it’s fine if you don’t discuss them all. After the discussion, complete the reflection form to get credit for the hour!
- Sam writes about their peers, who are making extensive use of GenAI, and the teachers at their school, who are pretty silent on the issue (except for saying “don’t use it”). And then there’s Sam, who feels set apart from both groups.
What positions on this issue do you see in your own academic community? Is it clearly defined as students and teachers? Who agrees with you, and who feels differently? How do the differences between high school and college play into this? - Sam complains that nobody is teaching them to make responsible decisions about using GenAI–does that feel like your experience? How have you learned about it? Is there a role for peer writing mentors in that process?
- Sam differentiates between using GenAI to cheat vs. using it as a (possibly unreliable) study aid: “Even when they’re not using AI tools to cheat, it feels like almost everyone at my high school uses AI in some capacity for their schoolwork.”
What do you think of how Sam draws the distinction–do you see a similar dividing line? Are there additional perspectives on access, equity, or technology you would add?
- One thing I noticed at the end of the article, is that despite Sam’s clear frustration, the solutions they propose are less about punishment and instead ask for education and agency from their teachers. What are you looking for from professors? from the college? from peers?
Debrief form:
Who was your discussion partner?
What date and time did you meet?
What was one memorable idea, observation, or example you got from your partner?
What questions/topics generated the most discussion?
What is one thing from your discussion that would be valuable to share with the rest of the Program?
MarkShea_AppliedLing 