Artificial intelligence and

teaching writing

Susan Mast, English Language Fellow

Artificial intelligence and teaching writing
• Which AI language generators have you tried?
(ChatGPT, Google Bard, Bing AI, Perplexity,
HuggingChat, YouChat, Jasper Chat, ChatSonic,
ZenoChat, Invideo, etc.)
• What are the dangers of artificial intelligence?
• How can artificial intelligence help us with
teaching?
Artificial intelligence and teaching writing
I asked Chat GPT: “What are the dangers of artificial intelligence in
the classroom?”
Artificial intelligence and teaching writing
• How can we use artificial intelligence for good?

Editing tool, vocabulary compilation tool, tool to

teach critical thinking (because AI may invent
“facts”), tool to teach metacognition (because it
takes practice to write effective prompts for AI),
tool to create sample texts or conversations, tool
to get inspiration for lesson plans, tool for
personalized learning
Ask ChatGPT, Bard, Bing Chat, etc. some questions (examples
below). Revise your questions and ask again. How might you use AI?
• Make this paragraph more formal / more concise / less formal.
• Check my writing for errors in spelling and grammar.
• List and define 3 difficult vocabulary words in this paragraph.
• Write a fictional conversation between Romeo and Juliet.
• Suggest 5 possible titles for my essay.
• How can you help me teach writing?
• Suggest ways to teach high school students about ______.
• Write a sample paragraph about ______ for English learners.
• Write a paragraph about ______ that has no topic sentence. Then
improve it by adding a topic sentence.
• Write a sample haiku about ______.
Ask a follow-up question..

• Give me a shorter answer to the same question.

• Did you invent that fact? Where did you find it?
• Rewrite your answer in simpler English.
• Give me a funnier / less formal / different answer.
Ideas shared by teachers after experimentation and group discussions:
– suggest warmup ideas
- generate easy sample dialogs for students to complete and present
- suggest writing prompts
- check grammar; use as a translation tool
- create audiovisual aids
- simplify a text
- Quillbot (paraphrasing tool)
- evaluate texts = critical thinking
- keep track of lesson planning; suggest ideas
- find something I taught before on this topic
- help to create a presentation
- ways to differentiate for special needs
- ideas for teaching activities about online privacy etc.
- Coursera: How to generate effective prompts for AI?
- write content for PPT slides
AI acceptable use policies
Example: University of Texas at Austin https://security.utexas.edu/ai-tools (as of October 2023)

Acceptable Use of ChatGPT and Similar AI Tools

With the emergence of ChatGPT, Bard, and other large language model generative artificial
intelligence tools (hereinafter collectively referred to as “AI Tools”), many members of our
community are eager to explore their use in the university context. This advisory provides
guidance on how to acceptably use these AI Tools safely, without putting institutional,
personal, or proprietary information at risk. Additional guidance may be forthcoming as
circumstances evolve.
Allowable Use: Data that is publicly available or published university information can be
used freely in AI Tools.
Prohibited Use: At present, any use of ChatGPT or similar AI Tools cannot use personal,
confidential, proprietary, or otherwise sensitive information. ChatGPT or similar AI Tools must
not be used to generate output that would be considered non-public. Examples include
generating proprietary or unpublished research; legal analysis or advice; recruitment,
personnel or disciplinary decision making; completion of academic work in a manner not
allowed by the instructor; creation of non-public instructional materials; and grading.
Additional Guidance: For further guidance on the use of ChatGPT or other AI Tools for
teaching and learning, see the Center for Teaching and Learning (https://ctl.utexas.edu/5-things-know-about-chatgpt).
Will you use AI as your teaching assistant?
How?
When?
Why?
How to use AI as your writing assistant (for students)
1. Write what you want to say.
2. Read it aloud (or have Google Translate read it aloud). Does anything sound
wrong? Revise.
3. Ask ChatGpt, Bard AI, Bing Chat, etc to fix errors or improve your sentences.
4. Rewrite your prompt if the AI changed the meaning or did not understand you,
or if you don’t like the answer. (AI can write grammatical sentences but it can’t tell if your
writing makes sense, and it might change your meaning by accident.)
5. Check the meaning with Google Translate. Is this what you intended?
6. Revise your sentences.
7. Repeat the process until you are sure the sentences are correct and the
meaning is what you want to say.