AI and Teaching Writing and Research

Since our PWR courses fulfill the first- and second-year writing requirement, a core component of our learning objectives is that students grow as writers and researchers, developing their own voice, style, and strategies that they can apply in a variety of different communication contexts within and beyond Stanford classrooms.  

However, a fact of our current times is that Generative AI is becoming more ubiquitous, both as a program that writers can use (i.e., ChatGPT) and also as a tool or feature integrated into many of the platforms we already rely on (i.e., Google, Microsoft Word, JSTOR, Grammerly). For this reason, it's important to develop a pedagogical approach to GenAI use that aligns clearly with your own and the Program's learning objectives and that allows students to develop competencies that will benefit them as writers in the 21st century.

Below you'll find some common ways in which GenAI can be incorporated into the PWR learning environment, while still allowing students to grow as independent writers themselves.

• Using GenAI for invention
• Using GenAI for ideation
• Using GenAI for research
• Using GenAI to develop style
• Using GenAI to talk about audience in relation to the rhetorical situation