Ep #23 ChatGPT and Essay Writing: My Policy Statement

Homeschool Writing and Then Some

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Have you tried out ChatGPT or other Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI)? If you have, you know that the things it can do are pretty amazing.

I remember my son Ty (PT major, fitness fanatic) raving about its capabilities shortly after it became freely available in November 2022, because it was able to “miraculously” create a custom-made meal plan and exercise program in about 2 seconds, saving him many hours of time and effort.

When I finally I got around to trying it out for myself more than a year later, I was equally impressed. But also concerned, as many educators are, about the potential for students to use AI unethically in their school work.

So I set out to learn all I could about GenAI, because I realized that I needed to have a policy statement in place concerning GenAI before my students began to work on their first essay of the year.

In this episode, I share my findings as well as the policy statement I developed. Some of the topics I cover are

✅Why some educators think the college essay is dead and that it’s time to blow up the current system of traditional writing and try something new

✅Why other educators think the college essay is NOT dead and that it’s more important than ever to teach traditional writing skills

✅How some educators are striving to find middle ground by combining GenAI with traditional writing instruction

✅Why students need to be careful when using Grammarly

✅The reasons that all GenAI is banned in my English classes

Links Mentioned:

“The College Essay Is Dead.” By Stephen Marche

“The End of High School English.” By Daniel Herman

“The Case for Writing: Competency Is Essential.” By Annie Checkitelli.
“The College Essay is Not Dead: Using Scaffolding and Presentations to Create ChatGPT-Resistant Research Projects.”

“AI Can Mimic Students' Writing Styles. How Are Teachers Supposed to Catch Cheaters Now?” By Alyson Klein.

“In a Brave New (Writing) World, Let's Hold on to Some Basics: Tech tools can ease many aspects of the writing process--but we still need to teach students the bedrock skills of writing." By Betsy L. Woods.

“Why I’m Not Scared of ChapGPT.”

“1 in 3 College Applicants Used AI For Essay Help. Did They Cheat?”

"AI and the Death of Student Writing."

"Oxford encourages students to use AI when writing essay"

"I'm a Student. You Have No Idea How Much We're Using ChatGPT."

“How AI could save (not destroy) education” T