𝗣𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗺𝗯𝗹𝗲: AI has become a lot more prolific over the last year. It no longer exists solely in the hype cycle and there is plenty of evidence for its use. It’s integral that we ensure we aren’t simply using it for the sake of getting to terms with the new technology. When you use AI is as vital as how you use AI.
When considering the use of any technology, even pen and paper, we must take into account its impact on learning. This is no different when using AI tools. The initial step in any planning process is to consider the purpose of the assignment. On a grander scale, this purpose stems from the curriculum’s objectives. Once the purpose is established we then consider how the learner will understand these goals mechanically (writing structure), rhetorically (forming arguments), and situationally (audience-centric).
The integration of technology into this process should focus on increasing understanding within the same time interval or expediting the process while maintaining or enhancing learning progress. If your technology doesn’t achieve either of these outcomes, you need to reevaluate why you are using it.
To delve deeper into increased understanding, when it comes to using technology in writing, a good approach is to consider the typical writing process:
1. Pre-Writing
2. Drafting
3. Revising
4. Editing and Proofreading
5. Sharing/Publishing
Once you establish the purpose of your assignment (e.g. enhancing learners’ skills in planning and brainstorming), you can determine the best course of action. You might want to dedicate more time to this stage of the process and implement multi-sensory modalities as a result.
However, to assess the efficacy of students’ pre-writing stage, you need to see how they apply these skills when drafting. Already, this process becomes a significant time investment for the purpose of improving planning and brainstorming skills. In a low-tech environment, a logical decision could be to focus only on planning and brainstorming before moving on to another unit in your curriculum.
In this case, you might use AI to expedite other parts of the writing process, allowing you to focus on planning skills organically while AI verifies how planning translates into drafting. This is just one use case for integrating AI into writing. Alternatively, learners could interact with AI to plan more efficiently and then draft organically. If you trust the AI tool’s capabilities, you could integrate it directly in alignment with the unit’s objectives.
AI is now ubiquitous, so you are not limited to specific devices. Writing is one of the best manifestations of thought—equal to or even surpassing conversation in certain environments. This is largely due to embodied cognition, which involves using the entire central nervous system (CNS) to optimize mental schema formation (Piaget’s constructivism). With this understanding, if you have pen-enabled devices, you can leverage AI within this realm. Alternatively, students can handwrite traditionally and simply take a photo of their essay to receive AI-generated feedback on their mobile phones.
There is an extensive body of research demonstrating that students make greater progress when they receive effective feedback on their writing. Effective feedback is specific, actionable, and immediate. It is, quite literally, impossible for a single teacher to provide immediate feedback to an entire class. This is where AI can have the greatest impact on learning outcomes. AI cannot provide emotional depth, human perspective, or highly targeted analytical feedback in the way a teacher can. However, it can support teachers by handling mechanical and rhetorical aspects of feedback, allowing educators to focus on higher-order thinking skills and deeper engagement with students.
Previously, we tackled aspects of the writing process in isolation to progress through the curriculum. This approach helped learners develop an understanding of each stage but required additional instruction to help them transfer their learning and “tie it all together.” Alternatively, we attempted to address the entire writing process manually, creating cognitive overload for both students and teachers due to the burden of grading. In other cases, we focused only on marking the final product, making it difficult to provide process-based feedback that students could immediately act upon. These challenges arose from the limitations of the technology available to us at the time.
Now, we can expedite the writing process by integrating AI, allowing us to concentrate on the areas where students need the most support. If learners can draft and receive immediate AI-powered feedback on their revisions, educators can focus on other critical aspects, such as the rhetorical structure of arguments, the planning stage (as highlighted earlier), or refining a student’s editing skills.
In the future, AI may evolve to analyze writing styles and compare them to those of famous authors. It could suggest literary devices that would help students develop humor akin to Douglas Adams or craft suspenseful cliffhangers like Dan Brown (I know I’ve lost some of you with that last reference, but I do enjoy a Dan Brown novel every now and then!).
What will you focus on now that AI can cover so much ground?