{"id":76819,"date":"2025-05-08T00:39:40","date_gmt":"2025-05-08T04:39:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?p=76819"},"modified":"2025-05-08T00:39:40","modified_gmt":"2025-05-08T04:39:40","slug":"ai-isnt-replacing-student-writing-but-it-is-reshaping-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/ai-isnt-replacing-student-writing-but-it-is-reshaping-it\/","title":{"rendered":"AI isn\u2019t replacing student writing \u2013 but it is reshaping it"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

I\u2019m a writing professor who sees artificial intelligence as more of an opportunity for students, rather than a threat.<\/p>\n

That sets me apart from some of my colleagues, who fear that AI is accelerating\u00a0a glut of superficial content<\/a>, impeding critical thinking and hindering creative expression. They worry that students are simply using it out of sheer laziness or, worse, to cheat.<\/p>\n

Perhaps that\u2019s why so many students are afraid to admit that they use ChatGPT.<\/p>\n

In The New Yorker<\/a>\u00a0magazine, historian D. Graham Burnett recounts asking his undergraduate and graduate students at Princeton whether they\u2019d ever used ChatGPT. No one raised their hand.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not that they\u2019re dishonest,\u201d he writes. \u201cIt\u2019s that they\u2019re paralyzed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Students seem to have internalized the belief that using AI for their coursework is somehow wrong. Yet, whether my colleagues like it or not, most college students are using it.<\/p>\n

A February 2025 report from the\u00a0Higher Education Policy Institute<\/a>\u00a0in the U.K. found that 92% of university students are using AI in some form. As early as August 2023 \u2013 a mere nine months after ChatGPT\u2019s public release \u2013 more than half of first-year students at Kennesaw State University, the public research institution where I teach, reported that they believed that\u00a0AI is the future of writing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s clear that students aren\u2019t going to magically stop using AI. So I think it\u2019s important to point out some ways in which AI can actually be a useful tool that enhances, rather than hampers, the writing process.<\/p>\n

Helping with the busywork<\/strong><\/h4>\n

A February 2025\u00a0OpenAI report<\/a>\u00a0on ChatGPT use among college-aged users found that more than one-quarter of their ChatGPT conversations were education-related.<\/p>\n

The report also revealed that the top five uses for students were writing-centered: starting papers and projects (49%); summarizing long texts (48%); brainstorming creative projects (45%); exploring new topics (44%); and revising writing (44%).<\/p>\n

These figures challenge the assumption that students use AI merely to cheat or write entire papers.<\/p>\n

Instead, it suggests they are leveraging AI to free up more time to engage in deeper processes and\u00a0metacognitive behaviors<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 deliberately organizing ideas, honing arguments and refining style.<\/p>\n

If AI allows students to automate routine cognitive tasks \u2013 like information retrieval or ensuring that verb tenses are consistent \u2013 it doesn\u2019t mean they\u2019re thinking less. It means their thinking is changing.<\/p>\n

Of course, students can misuse AI if they use the technology passively, reflexively accepting its outputs and ideas. And overreliance on ChatGPT can erode a student\u2019s unique voice or style.<\/p>\n

However, as long as students learn how to use AI intentionally, this shift can be seen as an opportunity, rather than a loss,<\/p>\n

Clarifying the creative vision<\/strong><\/h4>\n

It has also become clear that AI, when used responsibly, can augment human creativity.<\/p>\n

For example, science comedy writer\u00a0Sarah Rose Siskind<\/a>\u00a0recently\u00a0gave a talk to Harvard students<\/a>\u00a0about her creative process. She spoke about how she uses ChatGPT to brainstorm joke setups and explore various comedic scenarios, which allows her to focus on crafting punchlines and refining her comedic timing.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Note how Siskin used AI in ways that didn\u2019t supplant the human touch. Instead of replacing her creativity, AI amplified it by providing structured and consistent feedback, giving her more time to polish her jokes.<\/p>\n

Another example is the\u00a0Rhetorical Prompting Method<\/a>, which I developed alongside fellow Kennesaw State University researchers. Designed for university students and adult learners, it\u2019s a framework for conversing with an AI chatbot, one that emphasizes the importance of agency in guiding AI outputs.<\/p>\n

When writers use precise language to prompt, critical thinking to reflect, and intentional revision to sculpt inputs and outputs, they direct AI to help them generate content that aligns with their vision.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s still a process<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The Rhetorical Prompting Method mirrors best practices in\u00a0process writing<\/a>, which encourages writers to revisit, refine and revise their drafts.<\/p>\n

When using ChatGPT, though, it\u2019s all about thoughtfully revisiting and revising prompts and outputs.<\/p>\n

For instance, say a student wants to create a compelling PSA for social media to encourage campus composting. She considers her audience. She prompts ChatGPT to draft a short, upbeat message in under 50 words that\u2019s geared to college students.<\/p>\n

Reading the first output, she notices it lacks urgency. So she revises the prompt to emphasize immediate impact. She also adds some additional specifics that are important to her message, such as the location of an information session. The final PSA reads:<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery scrap counts! Join campus composting today at the Commons. Your leftovers aren\u2019t trash \u2013 they\u2019re tomorrow\u2019s gardens. Help our university bloom brighter, one compost bin at a time.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Rhetorical Prompting Method isn\u2019t groundbreaking; it\u2019s riffing\u00a0on a process<\/a>\u00a0that\u2019s been tested in the writing studies discipline for decades. But I\u2019ve found that it works by directing writers how to intentionally prompt.<\/p>\n

I know this because we asked users about their experiences. In an\u00a0ongoing study<\/a>, my colleagues and I polled 133 people who used the Rhetorical Prompting Method for their academic and professional writing:<\/p>\n