AI and Writing Instruction?
Let’s ask the National Writing Project
Artificial Intelligence may be an oxymoron, but it is required on our highways, in the sky, in agriculture, in our military, the film industry. Ordinary life is unthinkable without artificial thinking. AI itself seems benign if awesome. It has come for writing instruction.
Around 2008 or so, as the assessment coordinator at Sacramento State University, I reluctantly looked into AI as a tool for writing instruction and assessment on campus. Writing assessment had become a focal point as our accreditation agency ratcheted up pressure on administrators to provide evidence of “closing the assessment loop.” Automated scoring might be a winner. I remember reading some articles and studies and talking several times with a colleague in the English Department who coordinated the Writing Program, Dan Melzer. Neither of us could advocate for it.
Yet the web has preempted English Education like it or not. Check this out.
We may need an FDA in the Education Department. Educational Testing Service uses automated scoring of constructed responses, including written responses, but the information ETS presents below depicts a constrained, targeted application of AI. There are no promises to assess clarity, tone, word choice, no additional advanced suggestions for a better night’s sleep.
Speaking of writing, there is a comment button below. NCTE and the National Writing Project are encouraging you to comment. Yes, my bet is the Stokes in the author line is A3WP’s Laura.
